Hosted in partnership with the recently established Hackney Picturehouse, the Urban Enterprise Network featured London’s first official screening of Hélène Lee’s acclaimed documentary ‘Le Premier Rasta’. Based on Helene Lee’s book ‘The First Rasta – the history of rastafarianism’ (Laurence Hill Books, 2001), the documentary has been produced by KIDAM productions, an independent film company based in Paris, which visited Jamaica and captured the story of the establishment of a unique, self-sustaining community (Pinnacle’) in 1930s Jamaica – a community hailed by many as the beginning of the Rastafarian movement (in Jamaica).
The screening was followed by a Q&A with the films Director, (Helene Lee), and acclaimed social commentator Benjamin Zephaniah, and forms part of the UEN’s ‘Think Music Project’, an initiative focussed around the cross-cultural engagement facilitated by African-Caribbean music and culture.
The screening highlighted a number of current areas of social policy, notably the links between politics, environmental sustainability, localism, as well as the role of faith within the education system. All of these subjects could have warranted significant and further discourse in what proved to be a terrific and informative afternoon of film, debate and entertainment which explored the history, context, influences’ and present day perceptions of the rastafari faith, and its associated movements.
Often misunderstood, the rastafarian faith has emerged from a range of influences, including Bolshevism, New Thought, Anarchism, Hinduism, Judaism, and of course Garveyism, to supplement the East African tribal traditions which underpin the faith.
From these complex origins, the true rasta faith has nonetheless become an influential medium for many people within contemporary urban societies across the world, encapsulating everything from spirituality, music, and fashion to protest, equality, activism and other elements of expressive culture.
This event provided a platform for those with a genuine interest, and curiosity of rastafari, to find out more about the beginnings and contemporary expressions of the Rastafarian faith.
