The course focuses on two broad issues: understanding 16mm celluloid film as a hands-on artistic medium, from its chemistry to its practical applications, and exploring what filmmaking can mean in Jamaica. All chemical processes are designed to be zero-emissions and eco-friendly, all the equipment portable, and every step directly hands-on and physical. We will shoot black-and-white film by day, and process and print what we shoot outside under the stars. We will project films on the ocean's shore, both what we make ourselves and some classics that we bring along. Meanwhile, we will make numerous expeditions to locations of environmental, cultural and historical significance, investigate the history of film and visual culture in Jamaica and Black Atlantic World, and investigate experimental aesthetic consciousness in Jamaican art. The week will be filled with screenings, discussions, lectures, and immersion in a tropical place and tropical culture, with a particular focus on the complex legacies of the Jamaican Maroons. Plan to arrive on Sunday, March 7, and stay through Sunday night, March 14, leaving early Monday morning, March 15. Sunday night will be our final party and screening of what we've done, with live Jamaican music! Detailed itinerary available upon request.

BYOC -- Bring Your Own Camera, if you have one! (A few 16mm cameras will be available.) All chemistry, film, and printing and editing equipment, etc., provided. Moonless nights make the outdoors a surreal darkroom and screening venue. All you really need to bring is yourself and a desire to explore and create!

Enjoy accommodation for seven nights in a natural and eco-friendly environment on Boston Beach: Great Huts. Huts and tree houses designed with an Afrocentric aesthetic. Jamaican breakfasts, lunches, and vegetarian, I-Tal (Rastafarian) dinners. The meals start with the welcome dinner at Great Huts Sunday evening. Take part in an intervention against unsustainable tourism in Boston Bay, while making a difference in the community: Great Huts will donate twenty percent of all proceeds to local charities. Most spaces can accommodate 2 - 4 people, so either bring a friend or make one! We and Great Huts will help coordinate finding you a roommate if you need one.

The workshop cost (not including meals, transportation, lodging, and excursions) is $650 US, which includes film, film equipment (see the equipment section), classes, and class materials. Lodging and transportation to and from the airport needs to be arranged with Great Huts directly. Food is readily available with great variety in and around Boston Bay. We will make several excursions as described elsewhere which will cost around US$20 - $50 each. Plane fare currently starts at around $380 round trip from the East Coast of the US, and more from elsewhere. Taxi pickup from the airport is a separate expense, to be coordinated by Great Huts. See the Transportation section. Lodging at Great Huts averages about $80 per night, which comes to about $640 for the week (Sunday night - Sunday night).

Estimated cab fare for the approximately three-hour drive from Norman Manley to Great Huts in Boston Bay is $110 - $150 US per person, depending on the vehicle, each way. However, the cost is substantially reduced if we can travel as a group. We encourage people to arrive by 1pm on Sunday, March 7 so that group transportation can be arranged to reduce costs and make friends. Contact GH directly with your plane's arrival time so that this can be arranged.

Biographies:

Email: jamaica@handmadefilm.org

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