Keeling's Caribbean Showcase

Heartland Reggae: Bob Marley Peace Concert (1981), 60 min.

In Jamaica, 1978, Bob Marley organized a concert in the midst of intense political violence, of which he himself was a victim. Following performances including Jacob Miller Dennis Brown, Bob Marley takes the stage and makes history by bringing political foes Norman Manley and Edward Seaga together on the stage.  With exclusive interviews.

Babylon

Dir. Franco Rosso, 1980, 91 min.

Babylon is set in South London at the start of the ’80s, a time when reggae music was at its peak, along with a distinctively British brand of xenophobia and racism that saw American boxer Marvin Hagler pelted with bottles at Wembley after beating Alan ‘I’ll never lose to a black man’ Minter. The plot concerns Blue, lead chanter for Ital Lion Sound (played by Aswad singer and former Double Decker Brinsley Forde), in the run-up to a competition with a rival crew led by Jah Shaka (who appears as himself). Over the course of the film Blue socialises with his friends and clashes with his family, employer, and a local clan of racists, before going on a spiritual and physical journey through small hours London where he encounters a series of trials and temptations that set up the film’s violent climax.