BAD FRIDAY: RASTAFARI AFTER CORAL GARDENS

A documentary film directed by Deborah A. Thomas and John L. Jackson, Jr.

Producers: Deborah A. Thomas, John L. Jackson, Jr., Junior "Gabu" Wedderburn, and Junior "Ista J" Manning

Musical Director: Junior "Gabu" Wedderburn

SYNOPSIS

For many around the world, Jamaica conjures up images of pristine beach vacations with a pulsating reggae soundtrack. The country, however, also has one of the highest per capita murder rates in the world, and the population is actively grappling with legacies of Western imperialism, racial slavery, and political nationalism – the historical foundations of contemporary violence in Jamaica and throughout the Americas. BAD FRIDAY focuses on a community of Rastafarians in western Jamaica who annually commemorate the 1963 Coral Gardens "incident," a moment just after independence when the Jamaican government rounded up, jailed and tortured hundreds of Rastafarians. It chronicles the history of violence in Jamaica through the eyes of its most iconic community, and shows how people use their recollections of past traumas to imagine new possibilities for a collective future.

Format: A feature-length documentary (running time 63 minutes) shot in DV, mini-DV and HD that also includes archival footage, reproductions of still photographs, and an original score composed by Junior "Gabu" Wedderburn. BAD FRIDAY is in English and Jamaican patois, with English subtitles.

Style: The film is shot mostly in an observational and ethnographic style, with hand-held shots of Rastafarians giving us the history of the movement, explaining the events leading up to the Coral Gardens "incident," and offering testimonials about their own experiences of violence at the hands of the Jamaican state as a result of that incident. The film concludes with a discussion of reparations, both broadly (for those who were trafficked as a result of the trans-Atlantic slave trade) and specifically (for those Rastafarians who suffered at the hands of the Jamaican security forces in 1963). BAD FRIDAY is not dominated by experts and talking heads, as the subjects speak for themselves. The film was shot on location in Jamaica, and the original score features modern renderings of the traditional musical forms that comprise the roots of reggae music.

Trailer

BAD FRIDAY focuses on a community of Rastafarians in western Jamaica who annually commemorate the 1963 Coral Gardens "incident," a moment just after independence when the Jamaican government rounded up, jailed and tortured hundreds of Rastafarians. It chronicles the history of violence in Jamaica through the eyes of its most iconic community, and shows how people use their recollections of past traumas to imagine new possibilities for the future.

Press Links

January 24, 2012 | by ivetteromero | Repeating Islands European Release of "Bad Friday: Rastafari after Coral Gardens"

January 24, 2012 | Caribbean Creativity Bad Friday: Rastafari after Coral Gardens now out on DVD

January 24, 2012 | FriendFeed Bad Friday: Rastafari after Coral Gardens now out on DVD

January 23, 2012 | by reggaefilms | reggae.com Bad Friday: Rastafari after Coral Gardens now out on DVD

January 23, 2012 | Caribbean Entertainment Magazine Bad Friday: Rastafari after Coral Gardens now out on DVD

January 23, 2012 | by Emiel Martens | Abeng News Magazine Bad Friday: Rastafari After Coral Gardens

January 23, 2012 | Reggae & Jamaican Film News Bad Friday: Rastafari after Coral Gardens now out on DVD

January 16, 2012 | Caraïbisch uitzicht Europese première van Bad Friday: Rastafari after Coral Gardens

January 16, 2012 | GoodTimes Entertainment Magazine Europese première van Bad Friday

January 15, 2012 | by Dutch Rasta - www.dutchrasta.nl Rootical Vibrations: Bad Friday

January, 2012 | Caribbean Creativity Rootical Vibrations V: Rasta Struggles

January, 2012 | reggae.be 10/02 Rootical Vibrations V

November 11, 2011 | by Ethnolust Documentation and Dissemination

October 24, 2011 | by Andrea E. Shaw | Jamaica Primetime Making Bad Friday Better: An Interview with Deborah Thomas

July 3, 2011 | by Howard Campbell | The Gleaner 'Bad Friday' - Documentary resurrects Jamaica's forgotten past

July 2, 2011 | by Mel Cooke | The Gleaner 'Bad Friday' documents brutality to Rastafari

May 16, 2011 | Stabroek news Bad Friday and its aftermaths: Rastafari and Reparations in Jamaica

Past and Upcoming Screenings

Purchasing the Film

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CREDITS

Directed by Deborah A. Thomas and John L. Jackson, Jr.

Produced by John L. Jackson, Jr., Deborah A. Thomas, Junior "Gabu" Wedderburn, Junior "Ista J" Manning

Camera Operators:

Deborah A. Thomas
Junior "Gabu" Wedderburn
John L. Jackson, Jr.
Philip "Ambokele" Henry
Alvin "Muggy" Davis

Editor:

John L. Jackson, Jr.

Narrator:

Carol Narcisse

Artist:

Philip "Ambokele" Henry (portrait of Rudolph Franklin)

Sound Engineers:

Junior "Gabu" Wedderburn and Alain VanAchte

Musical Composition/Direction:

Junior "Gabu" Wedderburn

Additional Compositions:

Thomas Brett, Bongi Duma, Horace James

Musicians:

Akete, Grant Braddock, Thomas Brett, Lindewe Dlamini, Horace James, Jordan, Thulu Mabena, David Ondrick, Sanga of the Valley, Abbashani Wedderburn, Junior "Gabu" Wedderburn

Vocalists:

Bongi Duma, Trejah Ethiopia, Philip "Ambokele" Henry, Horace James, Kheswa, Ras Menelik, Derrick Passley, Carl "Rev" Richards, Clyde Wedderburn

Musical Compositions:

"Hard Times Ska"
"Saga"
"Here Comes the Rastaman"
"Supplication Chant"
"Stepping Dub"
"Binghi Chant"
"Take I Home"
"Second Line"
"Rastaman Chant"
"Testify"
"The Elders Song," written and performed by Queen Takiyah
"Babylon," written and performed by Uzalo
"Zion Calling," written and performed by Uzalo
"Dry Bones Dub"

Audio mixed and recorded at AV Studios, Brooklyn, New York

Archival Footage:

The National Library of Jamaica
The Jamaica Gleaner Co., Ltd.
BBC Films
University of Pennsylvania, Film Archives

Distribution and Marketing Consultant:

Emiel Martens, Caribbean Creativity

Special Thanks:

Ancient Vibrations
Philmore Alvaranga
Dierdre Hart Chang
Barry Chevannes
Jasmine Cobb
Andrew Crocco
Michael X. Delli Carpini
Esther Figueroa
Honor Ford Smith
Ras Flako
Lord Anthony Gifford
Sonia Harris
Robert A. Hill
Mike Henry
Jake Homiak
Icient Iyah
Ras Iyah V
Ras Jahnoi M. Jaja
Tshani Jaja
Ras Kanaka
Carol Lawes
Brother Roy McPherson
Gretta Moody
Carol Narcisse
Jahlani Niaah
Annie Paul
Sheree Rhoden
Bianca Robinson
Mario Rodriguez
Robert Simpson
Hugh Small
Bongo Jerry Small
Riley Snorton
Vanessa Spence
Sonjah Stanley
Queen Takiyah
Brother "Kiddie" Thompson
Roselly Torres
D. Alissa Trotz
Uzalo
Khadijah White
Eddie "First Man" Wray
The Pitfour Nyabinghi Centre
The Rastafari Coral Gardens Committee

The Annenberg School for Communication and the Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania

Distributed by Third World Newsreel

Extra Special Thanks to:

All the elders who went through the struggle and were willing to recount their experiences.

In Memorium:

Junior "Ista J" Manning, without whose vision and hard work this project would not have been realized, and who worked tirelessly to ensure the continued growth of the worldwide community of Rastafari.

Deborah A. Thomas

Producer and Co-Director

Thomas is Professor and Chair of the Graduate Group in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the author of Modern Blackness: Nationalism, Globalization, and The Politics of Culture in Jamaica, Exceptional Violence: Embodied Citizenship in Transnational Jamaica, and co-editor of the volume Globalization and Race: Transformations in the Cultural Production of Blackness. Prior to her life as an academic, she was a professional dancer with the New York-based Urban Bush Women.

John L. Jackson, Jr.

Producer and Co-Director

Jackson is Richard Perry University Professor of Communication and Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. He has produced several fiction and non-fiction films, features and shorts. He is the author of Harlemworld: Doing Race and Class in Contemporary Black America, Real Black: Adventures in Racial Sincerity, and Racial Paranoia: The Unintended Consequences of Political Correctness.

Junior "Gabu" Wedderburn

Producer and Music Director

Wedderburn is an accomplished percussionist who has performed and recorded with a variety of well-known reggae artistes, and who has also composed percussive scores for dance. His own percussion group, Ancient Vibrations, presents traditional Afro-Jamaican rhythms and chants, the roots of reggae music. Wedderburn has played with The Lion King on Broadway since it began development in 1997.

Junior "Ista J" Manning

Producer

Prior to his death in March 2010, Manning, a Rastafarian from Trelawny who was based in Montego Bay, organized the annual Coral Gardens Commemoration and was leader of the Ethio-Africa Diaspora Union Millennium Council. Manning was also a member of the Reparations Commission that was appointed by the Jamaican government in March 2009.

About Coral Gardens

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About Reparations

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About the Soundtrack

Purchase the Soundtrack

Curriculum

--- under construction ---

Contact Us

Deborah A. Thomas - Producer and Co-Director

deborah.thomas@sas.upenn.edu

John L. Jackson, Jr. - Producer and Co-Director

jjackson@asc.upenn.edu

Junior "Gabu" Wedderburn - Producer and Music Director

gabujr38@yahoo.com