We just returned from an incredible time in NYC, where RiseUp premiered for hundreds of people at Lincoln Center in honor of Black History Month. Image Nation Foundation was in charge of the event, which included a reception and a live performance by local NY band Judah Tribe. This time around, there was also a live video feed with Jamaica and a conversation was held with music producers Carlo Less and Mickey Bennet as part of the Q&A after the film. 

It was Thursday February 25th and NYC was expecting an epic snowstorm that started happening early on that morning. We opened up our hotel windows (thankfully, we were staying right across the street!) and the snow was starting to cover the city streets, as can be seen in this picture. 

If this storm was to be as big as they said it would, then the event was facing a big challenge. However and despite that, the turnout was incredible and the night was indeed memorable. 

The Box Office at Lincoln Center shows RiseUp at 7:30!

The Box Office at Walter Reade, ready to go.

A line of seats reserved for RiseUp guests at Walter Reade. 

Sound Check by Judah Tribe. RiseUp website projected on screen. 

Judah Tribe performing before the movie.

The Q&A with panel members including Moikgantsi Kgama, Darrin Holender, Luciano Blotta and Judah Tribe members. On the screen, music producers Mickey Bennet and Carlo Less answer questions from Jamaica via a live video feed. 

The video feed experience, as seen from Jamaica. 

Image Nation founders Gregory Gates and Moikgantsi Kgama get interviewed at the event. 

The after party happened at PJ Clarke's across the street, we don't have pics at the moment but maybe somebody who was present will send us some soon. BlessUp and One Love to everyone who attended and participated in this event!!! 

RiseUp Fam. 

Following the NY premiere at Lincoln Center, RiseUp makes its way up the east coast for a very special engagement at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, in Hartford Connecticut. The event will take place on Friday, February 26th at 7:30. There will also be an opening reception with Jamaican food, yummy! 

Check out RiseUp at the Wadsworth here.

And finally, moving up the coast, RiseUp hits Salem, Massachusetts for a screening at the Salem Film Fest. We've been waiting a long time to come to Masachhussets as we know there's a big reegae fan base over there, as well as plenty of our personal friends! Hope to see you all there, come out and join us, sure to be a vibz!

One Love,

RiseUp & family. 

We are proud to announce: a Black History Month Celebration featuring the NY Premiere of RiseUp, in association with Image Nation Foundation and the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

The New York Premiere of RiseUp will be held at the Walter Reade Theatre at the Lincoln Center on Thursday, February 25th 2010. This special premiere screening will open with a live performance by Judah Tribe and close with by a Q & A and discussion on reggae music and its global influence. There will also be donations collected for a Haiti relief fund. 

About the Film Society:

America’s pre-eminent film presentation organization and an independent constituent of the world’s foremost performing arts center, the Film Society of Lincoln Center is one of those rare institutions whose stature is matched by its popularity, each year welcoming an aggregate audience of more than 200,000 film aficionados, filmmakers and industry leaders of every nationality, age, economic and ethnic group. The organization has been a pioneer among film institutions and one of the film world’s most respected and influential arbiters of cinematic trends and discoveries. François Truffaut, R.W. Fassbinder, Jean-Luc Godard, Pedro Almodóvar, Martin Scorsese, Wes Anderson– over the last four decades there is scarcely a major director who has not been introduced to American audiences by the Film Society. It runs a state-of-the-art year-round cinema, the Walter Reade Theater (capacity: 268), and publishes the country’s most respected cinematic journal, Film Comment. 

It will be an honor to screen RiseUp at the Lincoln Center and to bring the film to NY audiences, as well as other neighboring areas this month. For more info and tickets, please visit: The Film Society of Lincoln Center. 

New England Screenings to follow:

Following this event, RiseUp will premiere in Hartford, Connecticut, at the legendary Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, on Friday, February 26th, for a special cultural engagement and reception. For more info and tickets in Hartford, please visit the Wadsworth's Calendar.

Moving up the east coast, RiseUp screens next at Salem Film Fest on Sunday Sunday, February 28 at 8:00 PM. Entering just its third year, the Salem Film Fest is emerging as a leading American all-documentary film festival, showcasing a rich and diverse collection of the year's best work from all over the world. The festival finds its spirit in Salem's history as the first great international city in America. Come to Salem. See the World. Screenings and most events located at CinemaSalem.

This past Monday, February 1st, RiseUp had the privilege of screening for students at USC's Cinema Studies Department, for their graduate documentary production class. The screening took place at a stunning state-of-the-art theater inside the brand-new cinema studies building that was constructed thanks to a generous donation of 170 million dollars from USC alumni George Lucas. 

RiseUp screens in Linz Austria this coming February as part of KAPU FILM FESTIVAL. Wish we were there for that one but this time around we will be on the east coast preparing for our upcoming NYC event (more info coming soon). 

RiseUp comes back to Toronto for a special screening at Toronto's Urban Music Festival, to take place on January 22 at 9:30 p.m.

By 5 am the place was quieting down and soon, we were the only ones there, so it was time to leave. However, the night had just begun. What happened outside of the venue, almost at sunrise, was the seed of this project, seed that once planted on my mind that night, would start growing into a healthy tree in the days following the event...

As we walked to our car, I noticed a number of unknown artists, hanging out outside the show. These were aspiring artists who, not being able to afford the 5 dollar cover charge, were just looking for opportunities or to be seen at a musical event. asked. I quickly instructed my friend to position the car so that the headlights would illuminate an area where I asked the artists to stand. The first man was dressed in traditional Rastafarian garments and went by the name "King Samoel." So I filmed him singing and after he was done and before I could lower the camera, somebody else jumped in front of me and went for it. This really started something, because they kept coming out of nowhere and standing in front of the camera to sing, rap or just be filmed. Regardless, that was the moment where I knew in my mind that here was a story to be told, the story of Jamaica's Music Underground. The lives of those trying to RiseUp out of anonymity into a life of fame and musical stature. The following video, preceded by an explanatory Q&A session in Miami, captures that moment where everything got started. RiseUp was born that night. 

RiseUp will screen this January at the Australian Centre For The Moving Image in Melbourne, as part as their exclusive series: Yard! Dub and Reggae on Film.

From Kingston to Brixton, rocksteady to reggae, roots to revolution - the heat is on! Deeply embracing social justice, politics and sonic experimentation, it aims to explore the streets, identities, roots and impact of this dynamic and influential musical form.

Curated by Lisa Palermo, Kate Welsman & Richard Sowada - Screens with the music video Black Culture from Secret Masters, featuring Tippa Irie.

The Info:

Fri 22 Jan 2010, 7.30pm

Sat 30 Jan 2010, 5.30pm

ACMI Cinemas

The link

After the fantastic time at RIDM documentary festival, RiseUp returns to Montreal for a special screening at Concordia University, thanks to the efforts of Cinema Politica, a Montreal-based media arts, non-profit network of community and campus locals that screen independent political film and video by Canadian and international artists throughout Canada and abroad. The organization programs works that challenge conventional fiction and documentary narratives, as well as films that explore under-represented stories and characters. 

We just returned from a really ire time in Nassau at the Bahamas International Film Festival. RiseUp screened three times over a four day period, to a very supportive caribbean people who truly loved the film. That made us very happy and can´t wait to our Jamaican release which has a tentative date of March 2010.
Also at the festival, the one and only Johnny Depp was honored with a lifetime achievement award which was given my none other than sir Sean Connery, another permanent resident of the Bahamas. It was a lovely night at the awards ceremony (RiseUp participated in a non-competitive section called Caribbean Sidebar) and it all ended up at a fantastic seafood restaurant called "The Poop Deck" where a special guest and juror of the fest, Mr. Delroy Lindo treated us all to some amazing local food. What a grat finale, BigUps to Delroy and Bahamas International Film Festival!!!

Attention Northern California: RiseUp screening at UC Merced this Saturday, December 5th! Screening to take place at the Lakireddy Auditorium at 7pm. Director Luciano Blotta will be present to do Q&A. 

UC Merced's Website

The show started late and I was there with my friend Mark, executive producer of RiseUp. This was a standard Jamaican dance, with selectors (disc jockeys) spinning the latest tracks but also aiding in the "clashes" between battling DJ's, who are the Jamaican artists who do Dancheall, the hard-sounding musical genre that has taken over Jamaica. It was in this dance that I first saw Ganja like I never had before. It is carried around in big bunches and sold at the dance. I was filming and as I panned the camera, I came into a close-up of a healthy bundle of the herb! Here is a short clip that shows what it was like being at that dance. 

We've been officially selected at The Bahamas International Film Festival, so RiseUp will have its Caribbean premiere in Nassau this December, as we work our way to Jamaica for our long-awaited theatrical release! Three screenings are scheduled and Director Luciano Blotta will attend for Q&A's ( and maybe some scuba diving...)

Screenings:

Friday, December 11:
Galleria JFK Cinema Theatre 2 / 6:00pm

Sunday, December 13:
Galleria JFK Cinema Theatre 2 / 3:30pm

Monday, December 14:
National Art Gallery of The Bahamas / 8:00pm

Bahamas International Film Festival

RiseUp will screen this November at the wonderful RIDM Documentary Film Festival in Montreal, Canada. Two screenings are scheduled for November 18th and 21st and we will be attending. After such a wonderful reception at HotDocs in Toronto, we can expect this to be a great event. Time to pack those warm clothes, here we come Canada! 

Dear friends, we have just created our Twitter account. Hope you join us and follow us there as there are many exciting times ahead, more film festival screenings, museum events and planning of the most important, the release of RiseUp in Jamaica!

Besides the tasty goat soup, I also got to witness another curious thing about the dancehall world and that is the guerrilla-advertising campaigns they use to promote these events. They record an announcement at a local studio and then they parade around town on a car that carries a sound system, complete with vintage speakers on the roof, blasting away the promo for the show. I followed the car around Montego Bay to see how this actually works, as you can see in this short video compilation. 

RiseUpMovie.com is proud to announce that the short film "The King Of One String" about Jamaican living legend Brushy One String, premieres tonight in Bogotá, Colombia as part of the music series of the dutch film festival, Beeld voor Beeld. So, bigups for Brushy and mash up di place! One love from the RiseUp family. For a complete list of films and more info on the festival, check: Festival info

We just got back from Maine where RiseUp was screened at The Camden International Film Festival.  We had a great time meeting  other immensely talented filmmakers and talking to enthusiastic audience members about how we got the film completed.  Big thanks to the fantastic Ben Fowlie and Leah Hurley who ran the festival.  What a great adventure - check out the pics!

Festival director Ben Fowlie checks that everything's in place at the Bayview Theater in Camden.

Luciano during his Q&A.  It was great to present the film to a new audience, who seemed to love the story and the music!

Last few moments of RiseUp play for the Camden audience, moments before rapturous round of applause!

Fellow director Patrick Shen after his screening for The Philosopher Kings, which won one of the awards. BigUp Patrick!  His film was awesome!

Getting silly with fellow filmmaker George Kachadorian and producer Courtney Bent.  Who says Filmmakers don't have time for fun and frolics?!

A sign for the screenings at Frontier Cafe in Brunswick.  The venue was great and all the staff couldn't have been more accomodating!

Sunset in Camden; a great finale for a great event.

Some of our first ever, original batch of T-shirts found their way to Jamaica and here's associate producer Carlo "Amlak" Less styling one in Kingston. Big up, big up!

We are pleased to announce that RiseUp has been selected to screen at the Camden International Film Festival. The 5th annual CIFF will take place from October 1st-4th 2009, screening the best international documentary films to audiences throughout Midcoast Maine. RiseUp is set to premiere at the Bayview Theatre in Camden on Friday, October 2nd at 4pm and will be followed by a director Q & A. For tickets and other information, please visit the CIFF website.

Here's a behind the scenes look at our three-day run at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami. Thanks to everyone who made this possible, as well as all those in attendance for making it an unforgettable weekend!

We have just returned from screening in Lemesos Docs, Cyprus, what a wonderful event! RiseUp was the closing film, last night of the festival. People were lining up and the venue was over capacity, so we had rows of people standing in the back! After a short introduction by Luciano Blotta, the film played to the excited crowds. During the screening, Luciano walked around and photographed the streets and venue and prepared himself for the Q&A that followed. Glad to see we had a Californian in the crowd, who also asked a question!

After my visit to the People's Arcade, I was dropped off at the venue for Charlie Chemist's show and spent most of the day hanging out there, watching and documenting the preparations take place. This was quite interesting and included bringing in the sound system equipment, stocking up on chicken, fish, drinks and of course, making traditional Jamaican "Goat Soup". A pretty dirty and graphic procedure, as you can see on the following video... 

 

On our way home from Cyprus, we're going to be making a quick stop in Miami for RiseUp's official Florida premiere. The screenings will take place August 14th, 15th & 16th at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts and will be followed by a 30 minute Q & A with director Luciano Blotta. For tickets and more information visit: http://www.arshtcenter.org/

Just over two weeks now until we cross two continents to the beautiful island of Cyprus for RiseUp's official closing night at the LEMESOS DOCS Documentary film festival. The screening takes place 9pm on Sunday August 9th at the B'Municipal Market in Limassol and it will be followed by a closing reggae-theme party on the beach with music by local sound system Roots Crew. For tickets and more information visit The Official Lemesos Docs Website

Day 1: My first Dancehall experience.

"Dancehall... What is that?", I asked. As I've mentioned, I had very little knowledge of these things before I started making RiseUp. But it didn't take long before I was schooled on this new current in Jamaican music. "Dancehall" is a form of street reggae that is far more raw and upbeat than the reggae music of the Marley era, with (catchy) sexually explicit lyrics and predominant themes of wealth and violence. It started in the ghettos of the island and comes from unknown deejay hopefuls who perform in crude conditions (and with inferior equipment) at local sound system events. It is a powerful and dominant force in the music industry today on an international level and has become the mainstay of Jamaican popular music. 

The person that I met who is part of this struggle was Charlie Chemist . Charlie is a popular local deejay in Montego Bay who by association with a “gunman”, ended up spending 7 years in Gun Court (the most infamous prison in Jamaica). He had recently been released and was about to stake everything on a one-night show featuring several up and coming local artists. 

My wheels were already turning. It sounded like a good place to start, even though I didn't know what it was that I was starting. So, before I went off to film the event, I visited Charlie and his closest friends at a place called "The People's Arcade" at a little studio were they were hanging out and celebrating Charlie's release from Jail. It was here, within hours of being on the island, that I shot the very first performances. 

Here's a video of my experience at The People's Arcade. 

Dear friends and fans. RiseUp will have its next screenings at the prestigious Silverdocs documentary festival in Washington DC this June 16th and 20th, 2009. See you all there!

My name is Luciano Blotta. I am an Argentine independent filmmaker who for the last 8 years, has been living in Los Angeles, California. When I look back at the inception of this project, I can't help but smile. What an adventure it has been! I had no idea back then that this experience would change my life completely and forever.

 

It all began when I was back in Florida working on a film. I ran into an old friend from my days at the University of Miami, a Jamaican who was a big fan of my work. He had been living back in Jamaica and we hadn’t seen each other in quite a long time. He insisted that I make my way to the island so that I could see all that it had to offer, film-wise. My first question, of course, was, “What are we going to film?” and his immediate answer was, "I don't know. That's for you to figure out." Tempted by the invitation, I armed myself with a camera and got on a plane. Off to meet an old friend and off to a land that would, in the years to come, become my second home.

 

Back in those days, I loved listening to the music of Bob Marley, but if you had asked me to name another reggae artist, I probably couldn't do it at the time. I didn’t realize it, but this was the same for so many people around the world. We all know Bob Marley. We all know about reggae music and have an idea of Jamaica. But what else is there? When I got to see what was really going on in the music scene there and just how many truly gifted artists were on the island that would probably never be discovered, I thought I'd do something to help expose them.

 

That was the basic seed from which this film sprouted. Kind of crazy when you think about it. Flying over the Caribbean that day, I couldn't help but take out the camera and film some of the views. A few random shots that would turn to be officially the first moments of the massive 150 hours of footage that I shot for this project! 

Flying to Jamaica, first RiseUp trip.

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