“It is a solid Jamaican Movie and I hope the
audience will enjoy it. It features a lot of home-grown talent, faces Jamaicans
are accustomed to, and that I think makes it all the more exciting”
Jamaican-Canadian Jeremy Whittaker-directed film commenting on his film
Destiny that made its debut on Wednesday October 18th 2014 at the
Carib 5 Cinemas in Cross Roads, Kingston
Jamaica finally has an official Movie that’s
speaks to our cultural reality aside from shooting people.
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Jeremy Whittaker-directed film Destiny is doing
well at the box Office for Carib as reported in the article “Whittaker
facing his Destiny”, published Saturday, October 25, 2014 by Cecelia Campbell-Livingston, The Jamaica Observer at the Carib 5
Cinemas in Cross Roads, Kingston.
Jamaican born but migrated to Canada in his
teens, he attended the University of Toronto and majored in Communication,
Culture and Information Technology (CCIT) and film production. According to the
article “Whittaker's
Destiny”, published Tuesday, September 24, 2013 By Cecelia
Campbell-Livingston, The Jamaica
Observer.
He also did a stint in Jamaica as a producer
for Television Jamaica's hit
morning time program, Smile Jamaica.
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Already the Jamaican-born Canadian Film
Director and his film production company, Grasshopper Productions Ltd, is
getting incredibly positive reviews about the Movie on the Facebook page
Destiny - Jamaican/Canadian Indie Film, even pre-launch, before the Movie
was shown as noted in the article “A Date With
Destiny”, published Thursday October 9, 2014, by Shereita Grizzle, Gleaner Writer,
The Jamaica Gleaner and “Jeremy
Whittaker’s date with Destiny”, published Saturday, October 11, 2014, The Jamaica Observer.
Tickets for this Movie are quite pricey, at
JA$4,500, around the same price for a feature phone.
But it's for a good cause, as a part of it is
really being siphoned off by the Kiwanis Club of New Kingston, for the Blood
Bank's National Blood Transfusion Unit. Those cellphone priced tickets are
being sold at the following locations:
1. Answers Gifts and Home Centre in Tropical
Plaza, Half-Way Tree
2. Carib 5 Box Office, Cross Roads
3. Base Kingston in Manor Park
The Jamaica Gleaner has praised the Movie for
its high production quality and soap-opera-ish story line, which they gave away
in the article “'Destiny': A
Must-See Film”, Published Saturday October 18, 2014, The Jamaica Gleaner.
Especially because of the fact that this Movie,
filmed partially in Jamaica and Canada showing panoramic vistas of the island,
unlike a another popular Jamaican Movie, Shottas
(2002) or even the more recent Better
Mus Come (2010) or others as listed on the Jamaican Movies Website, has no
shooting, no sexually explicit scenes and no stunts.
In my book, that's boring and thus a reason not
to see the Movie!
Still, the fact that it's shot in Jamaica by a
Jamaican film-maker with Jamaican Media Personalities caught my interest and I
thus felt compelled to do a blog article. For those who are unfamiliar with
what the Movie is about, scope out Grasshopper
Productions Ltd YouTube Trailer for the Movie above.
Jeremy Whittaker-directed film Destiny - Soap Opera Plot with Jamaicans
in familiar roles
The Movie basically involves a Canadian Lisa
Collen (played by Jamaica-born, Canada-based Karian Sang) who gets the news
that her parents died. So after catching her boyfriend Michael in the sack with
a white girl, she decided to come back to Jamaica to see her granny and claim
the land.
At that point the Movie begins to turn into
Royal Palm Estate, a very popular Series here in Jamaica. Turns out her
father's been sleeping with Candy aka Grace 'Spice' Hamilton as stated in the
article “Spice's
'Destiny' leads to Movie role”, published October 17, 2014, The Jamaica Star, who lays claim to the
lands as a lawyer, played by Munair Zacca, looks on. At this point the Movie
looks to be getting interesting.
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Then she falls for this dude name Sean, who
plays the part of a musician who surprisingly looks a lot like Christopher
Martin, the same dude on tour in Africa that’s stricken by Ebola as chronicled
in my blog
article entitled “Alaine
and Christopher Martin on Tour in Africa – Denyque is Reppin’ for Millennials
on DRS 2014 as they'll return with Ebola Virus”
Micheal comes back, apparently having heard
that his girlfriend is loaded, re-ignites his interest in her, despite his
cheatin’ ways. From there, folks,
everything in the movies starts resembling a Soap Opera.
Oh yes, the Movie has a lot of local Media Personalities
playing what appears to be cameo roles of their already well-known public
personas on Radio and Television to complement the more seasoned actors as
noted in the article “Jamaican
Artistes Face 'Destiny' - Christopher Martin Plays Major Role In New Jamaican
Film”, published Sunday October 6, 2013, The Jamaica Gleaner.
Jamaican audiences were well pleased to see the
familiar faces now officially on the big screen as Movie stars:
1.
Kerstin
Whittaker
2.
Munair
Zacca
3.
Grace
'Spice' Hamilton
4.
Latifa
'Tifa' Brown
5.
Ian 'Ity'
Ellis
6.
Khadine
'Miss Kitty' Hylton
The soundtrack for the Movie is also Jamaican
and is produced by Clive Hunt with tracks done by the following artiste:
1. Christopher Martin
2. Busy Signal
3. Yvad
4. Spice
5. Sly and Robbie
6. Chronixx
Jamaica's Film Industry's Destiny - Grasshopper Productions Ltd
jumpstarts in the right direction
He says that Destiny is a part of a ten (10) year
plan for his film company Grasshopper Productions Ltd, which currently only has
a Grasshopper Productions Ltd
Facebook page, to release more Jamaican films, with the next one due in
June 2015 as stated in the article “Whittaker's
Destiny”, published Tuesday, September 24, 2013 By Cecelia
Campbell-Livingston, The Jamaica
Observer, having been launched last week on Wednesday October 15th
2014.
I certainly can't answer that, but from the
reaction of people who’ve watched the Movie, the positive portrayal of the
island desires that there be more such images of Jamaica. This would promote
the breadth and beauty of the island as well as the Natural acting talent that
exists in Jamaica. Not to mention a boost to our Music Industry as Dancehall
and Reggae Music was featured in the Soundtrack.
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Together, they plan to renovate the Goodyear
Tyre Factory in St. Thomas to build a film studio as explained in the article “Hollywood
Ready To Roll: First Movie To Begin Filming In St Thomas In September”,
Published Monday June 23, 2014, by Keisha Hill, Gleaner Writer, The Jamaica Gleaner.
One thing for sure is that we're making
progress from Perry Henzel’s The Harder
They Come (1972). As sure as the Sun will shine, it's a part of Jamaica's
Destiny to get's our Movie Time in the Spotlight.
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