Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At 10,990 square kilometres (4,240 sq mi), it is the third largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about 145 km (90 mi) south of Cuba, 191 km (119 mi) west of Hispaniola, and 215 km (134 mi) south-east of the Cayman Islands.
James Chambers, OM, known professionally as Jimmy Cliff, is a Jamaican ska, rocksteady, reggae and soul musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer, and actor. He is the only living reggae musician to hold the Order of Merit, the highest honour that can be granted by the Jamaican government for achievements in the arts and sciences.
Jamaican culture consists of the religion, norms, values, and lifestyle that define the people of Jamaica. The culture is mixed, with an ethnically diverse society, stemming from a history of inhabitants beginning with the original inhabitants of Jamaica. The Spaniards originally brought slavery to Jamaica. Then they were overthrown by the English. Jamaica later gained emancipation on 1 August 1838, and independence from the British on 6 August 1962. Black slaves became the dominant cultural force as they suffered and resisted the harsh conditions of forced labour. After the abolition of slavery, Chinese and Indian migrants were transported to the island as indentured workers, bringing with them ideas from their country.
Jean "Binta" Breeze MBE was a Jamaican dub poet and storyteller, acknowledged as the first woman to write and perform dub poetry. She worked also as a theatre director, choreographer, actor, and teacher. She performed her work around the world, in the Caribbean, North America, Europe, South-East Asia, and Africa, and has been called "one of the most important, influential performance poets of recent years".
Allan Hope CD, better known as Mutabaruka, is a Jamaican Rastafari dub poet, musician, actor, educator, and talk-show host, who developed two of Jamaica's most popular radio programmes, The Cutting Edge and Steppin' Razor. His name comes from the Rwandan language and translates as "one who is always victorious". His themes include politics, culture, Black liberation, social oppression, discrimination, poverty, racism, sexism, and religion.
Frances-Anne Solomon is an English-Caribbean-Canadian filmmaker, writer, producer, and distributor. She has lived in Britain, Trinidad & Tobago, and Toronto, Canada.
Louise Simone Bennett-Coverley or Miss Lou, was a Jamaican poet, folklorist, writer, and educator. Writing and performing her poems in Jamaican Patois or Creole, Bennett worked to preserve the practice of presenting poetry, folk songs and stories in patois, establishing the validity of local languages for literary expression.
Trevor Dave Rhone CD was a Jamaican writer, playwright and filmmaker. He co-wrote, with director Perry Henzell, the internationally successful film The Harder They Come (1972).
Indo-Jamaicans are the descendants of people who came from the Indian subcontinent to Jamaica. Indians form the third largest ethnic group in Jamaica after Africans and Multiracials.
A Winter Tale is a 2007 Canadian drama film written, directed and produced by Frances-Anne Solomon, featuring Canadian actor Peter Williams and Caribbean stars Leonie Forbes and Dennis "Sprangalang" Hall. It premiered at the ReelWorld Film Festival where it won Solomon the Outstanding Canadian Feature Film Award, as well as Special Mention in the Outstanding Screenplay category. It subsequently screened at the Montreal World Film Festival, Atlantic Film Festival, Bite The Mango Film Festival, Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival & The New York African Diaspora Film Festival.
Esther Anderson is a Jamaican filmmaker, photographer and actress, sometimes listed in credits as Ester Anderson.
John Joseph Welsman is a Canadian composer known for his work in film and television. He has written film and television scores for production companies in both Canada and the United States. Some of the films he has worked on are The Peace Tree, A Winter Tale, and Nurse.Fighter.Boy and Lantern Hill. He has been nominated for the Gemini Award ten times, winning four times for his work on the television series Road to Avonlea, and once for the short film 'The Bellringer'.
The Trinidad and Tobago film festival is a film festival in the Anglophone Caribbean. It takes place annually in Trinidad and Tobago in the latter half of September, and runs for approximately two weeks. The festival screens feature-length narrative and documentary films, as well as short and experimental films.
Lubica Kucerova, also known as Lubica Slovak, is a Slovakian-born fashion designer, Ryerson University graduate and founder of Lubica, clothing company based in Jamaica. Lubica's early childhood influence was her grandmother who was a seamstress. She debuted her self-titled fashion line Lubica in Toronto at the LG Fashion Week in 2005 and has created several collections under her brand: Blue, Bliss, Bloom, Toucan, Trinity, Beyond and Dream. The Lubica line includes bikinis, resort contemporary women's wear and is inspired by the tropics. Lubica is also recognized for her partnership with international recording artist Tami Chynn in opening a female boutique named Belle in Kingston, Jamaica and also their collaboration in designing the award-winning Anuna collection.
Winston Hubert McIntosh, OM, professionally known as Peter Tosh, was a Jamaican reggae musician. Along with Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer, he was one of the core members of the band the Wailers (1963–1976), after which he established himself as a successful solo artist and a promoter of Rastafari. He was murdered in 1987 during a home invasion.
Yao Ramesar is a Trinidadian and Tobagonian film director and screenwriter.
Maymie de Mena was an American-born activist who became one of the highest-ranking officers in the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). She has been credited with keeping the organization alive after Marcus Garvey's conviction for mail fraud and deportation from the United States.
Storm Saulter is a Jamaican filmmaker and photographer. He wrote and directed the 2010 film Better Mus' Come and directed the 2018 film Sprinter. In 2020, Sprinter was released on Netflix.
Lenora Antoinette Stines, better known as L'Antoinette Ọṣun Awade Wemo Stines is a Jamaican director, choreographer, author, actor and dancer. She is the founder and artistic director of L'Acadco: A United Caribbean Dance Force, an industry-leading contemporary dance company based in Jamaica. Stines is also the creator of the first Anglo Caribbean Modern Contemporary training procedure called L'Antech. L'Antech is an eclectic Caribbean contemporary technique that synthesizes African influences, Caribbean folklore, and is dominated by Jamaican Afro-Caribbean forms.
Maureen Warner-Lewis is a Trinidadian and Tobagonian academic whose career focused on the linguistic heritage and unique cultural traditions of the African diaspora of the Caribbean. Her area of focus has been to recover the links between African cultures and Caribbean cultures. She has been awarded multiple prizes for her works, including two Gordon K. and Sybil Lewis Awards, the Gold Musgrave Medal of the Institute of Jamaica, and she was inducted into the Literary Hall of Fame of Tobago.
