After many months of development (we wrote about it almost three years ago), Hélène Lee's documentary project is finally reaching cinemas.
Journalist and writer Hélène Lee has adapted her 1999 book "Le Premier Rasta" for the screen, co-directed by Christophe Farnarier. The documentary follows in the footsteps of that First Rasta, Leonard Percival Howell, who died in 1981: a unique personality whose life was an epic.
After roaming the seas of the globe as a sailor, Leonard Howell returned to Jamaica in 1939 and, defying the authorities, founded the first Rasta community, Pinnacle.
The film blends archive footage with testimonies from people of the period, with a soundtrack by Bunny Lee, Max Romeo, The Abyssinians, but also 100 Grammes de Têtes, Tu Shung Peng and Groundation.
National release on 27 April 2011.
www.lepremierrasta.com
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