Six Pioneers Inducted into Film Academy

Six pioneers in the film industry were inducted into the newly established Jamaica Film Academy on Friday, February 22, marking the final day of a three-day Reggae Film Festival.
Inductees were script-writer, Trevor Rhone; film producer, Chris Blackwell; actor, Carl Bradshaw; film director, Perry Henzel; cinematographer, Franklyn St. Juste, who began his film career as a cinematographer at the Jamaica Information Service (JIS); and documentarian, Cynthia Wilmot, who joined the JIS in the mid-1960s to make short documentaries on government topics.
Minister of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports, Olivia Grange, in her remarks at the Courtleigh auditorium in Kingston, said she was grateful for the persons in the Jamaica film industry, who have “made sacrifices to build a local (film) industry.” “I must also congratulate them on their wonderful achievements personally and their willingness to put their talents to work for the rest of the country. To these first inductees into the Jamaica Film Academy, I say that it’s recognition richly deserved. You are pioneers, paving the way with your superior creativity and vision. You have played a phenomenal part in putting the name of this little country firmly in the international neon lights and on the world stage of movies and film-making,” the Minister said.
Miss Grange said she was confident that Jamaica would be a film-producing power. The Jamaica Film Festival, observed as part of Reggae Month, was held from February 20-22.