New Jamaican urban drama series unveiled

New Kingston Films, in association with the LAB and the Jamaica Film Commission, JAMPRO, officially announced its production of Jamaican urban drama series For Little Girls Who Are Afraid To Speak: August’s Town at the Jamaican Consulate in New York last week.

In attendance were members of the cast and production team as well as officials from the consulate and Consulate General Alsion Roach Wilson. Show creator and director Ano Okera and executive producer Charles Hayes presented an overview of the project, introduced the cast and team, and shared ways supporters and investors could participate as change partners by helping to bring this Jamaican urban crime drama to fruition.

In her remarks, Roach Wilson expressed the intention of her office to fully support the production as a positive representation of Jamaican film-making and shared that this subject is dear to her heart as she counts herself among the “little girls” who were afraid to speak. Also lending support was the film division of JAMPRO, represented by Christopher Benjamin. Cast members in attendance were Luke Forbes ( Atlanta, Crown Heights, SWAT, House of Cards, Blacklist: Redemption); Naté Bova (Spike Lee’s Da Sweet Blood of Jesus); international and South Africa-based model and actor Puma St Omar; and award-winning dancehall artiste and new Cover girl brand ambassador, Tifa.

bringing Jamaican culture to the screen

An official selection for best screenplay at the HollyShorts Film Festival in Los Angeles and the Sacramento International Film Festival and a semi-finalist in Screencraft Short Screenplay competition, For Little Girls Who Are Afraid To Speak utilises the rich traditions and dramatic nuances of the vibrant Jamaican culture to bring a familiar story of so many women and daughters to life.

Inspired by true events, the film is described as a high-concept crime drama about a family fighting to survive the harsh realities of Jamaican life. As Lily struggles for life in 2016, the unconscious teenager is suddenly facing the murder of her great-grandmother in 1716. At the same time, her mother, Rose, meets Lily’s American teacher for the first time in the emergency room and uncovers that Lily’s journal is a smoking gun far more lethal than the violence and murders in August Town while her father, Garrett, unable to shake his past demons, arrives at the hospital when it is too late. Both Rose and Garrett must confront how their plan to protect Lily backfires.