RiseUp Movie website

SYNOPSIS
RiseUp is a journey into the heart of Jamaica - the island that gave birth to the worldwide cultural
phenomenon of Reggae. In a society where talent abounds and opportunity is scarce, three distinct and
courageous artists fight to rise up from obscurity and write themselves into the pages of history.
With music and appearances by legends Lee “Scratch” Perry, Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, and a
slew of soon-to-be superstars, RiseUp follows artists in the dangerous streets, back alleys and crowded
dancehalls of Kingston and the countryside. These artists demonstrate the raw power of hope and courage
in a land which is largely unseen, but certainly not unsung.
Welcome to the Jamaican underground music scene.
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LONG SYNOPSIS
On an island where reggae is considered the voice of the people and
an outlet for survival, RiseUp follows three aspiring artists who seek to
“rise up” from obscurity for their chance at success. This
documentary is unlike any documentary about Jamaica as it takes the
viewer off the beaten path far from any tourist attractions and sandy
beaches yet still able to capture the beauty and magic that the Irie
has to offer. From the deep countryside to the whirlwind ghettos of
Kingston, no matter where you are, the fi lm makes it evident that
reggae music is the heartbeat of the culture.
In a society where talent abounds and opportunity is scarce, RiseUp
follows the very different lives of three artists struggling in their
own unique way for their big break at stardom. Turbulence, the
conscious ghetto youth with enough determination to move mountains;
Ice, the young faux-gangster dancehall artist from the upper class;
and Kemoy, the beautifully innocent country girl who barely realizes
her amazing vocal gifts ... all come together as the fi lm seamlessly
interweaves their lives behind the backdrop of the bustling
underground reggae scene of Jamaica. Five years in the making, RiseUp
is able to capture the pure artistry and creativity of these three
musician in raw form while at the same time, able to bring the viewer
into their personal lives, inside their most private moments, as they
struggle to fi nd their voice and discover their ability to overcome
life’s obstacles.
Beyond these three emerging talents, RiseUp is the ultimate tour guide
to Jamaica’s underground music community. The documentary goes far
beyond the widely known Bob Marley and pop-reggae scene and instead
leads the viewers to the island’s dangerous streets, back alleys and
pulsing dancehalls, capturing raw talent at its best and revealing
into the roots of a world phenomena with all the passion and honesty a
camera can capture. With music and appearances by legends Lee
“Scratch” Perry, Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, and a slew of
soon-to-be superstars, RiseUp is a testimonial of what hope and
courage can achieve in a land which is largely unseen, but certainly
not unsung.
Among a number of prominent recognitions, RiseUp has already won the
Music Documentary Award at AFI/Discovery Channel’s prestigious
SILVERDOCS festival in Washington, D.C. and has traveled extensively
to various fi lm festivals and arts institutions throughout North
America and Europe.
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THe DIReCTOR
RISEUP is luciano Blotta’s fi rst feature documentary, shot
over several years in the island of Jamaica. Before RISEUP
he directed the controversial documentary short NUTRITION
FACTS (2002), which premiered at Slamdance Film Festival and
Argentina’s BAFICI International fi lm festival, to rave reviews.
While not directing documentary projects, Luciano pours his
passion into cinematography, photographing commercials, music
videos and feature fi lms.
A native of Argentina, Luciano received a scholarship to study
fi lm production at the University of Miami, where his short
documentary fi lm MY GRANDFATHER THE PAINTER earned
the respect of his mentors, who encouraged him to move to Los
Angeles. Having spent the last 8 years there, Luciano quickly
moved up the ranks of the biggest Hollywood fi lm sets, operating
video systems for celebrated directors such as Steven Spielberg,
Ron Howard, Steven Soderbergh and John Woo.
It is his work on RISEUP that refl ects Luciano’s passion for
beauty and the celebration of life, as seen thru the lives of other
passionate artists as himself.
FilMogRapHY
-RISEUP (2010)
-THE EVIL WOODS (2007) - Cinematographer
-NUTRITION FACTS (2002)
-DYING FOR A DONUT (2003) - Cinematographer
-MY GRANDFATHER THE PAINTER (1995)
THe PRODUCeR
darrin Holender began his entertainment career early on in
his youth under the tutelage of his father, a fi lm and television
licensing veteran. After ten years of university, graduate school
and work experience in both the U.S. and overseas, he settled
with his family in hometown Los Angeles where he is a practicing
entertainment attorney and a principal of two diverse multimedia
companies. Two fi lms produced by Holender are set to be
released this year, including the festival-honored documentary
RiseUp and the upcoming Summit Entertainment feature fi lm
release, Sorority Row.
FilMogRapHY
-RISEUP (2010)
-SORORITY ROW (2009)
CAST memBeR BIOS
KeMoY Reid
“I have music within me
so there will always be music for me.”
We met Kemoy by accident at an obscure street dance called “Ghetto Sting.”
Weeks earlier, we were fi lming artists at Reggae Sumfest in Montego Bay when an
ambitious promoter going by the name of “Brandish”, approached us. He had been
watching us fi lm artists and was interested in what we were doing and in showing
us what his community had to offer, so he persuaded us to come fi lm his upcoming
show in the country parish of Clarendon. So, we set out in the middle of the night
to “link-up” with this promoter, somewhere in the countryside. Once we found him,
he escorted us into his community and more importantly, into the dance where the
fate of this project would change forever, Ghetto Sting, the dance were we found
our jewel, Kemoy. As the show went on, we noticed a gorgeous young girl serving
drinks at the bar, under a big tree. Her name was Kemoy and she said she could sing.
However, she never went on stage so we decided to come back a few days later and
the rest is history. We are proud to introduce Kemoy to the world.
tuRBulence
“I could’ve been one of the most Notorious...
I got saved by the King.”
Born in Kingston, St. Andrew on 11th January 1980, Turbulence is the youngest of
three children. Turbulence started his career while still at school, honing his skills
both on the desktop and behind the auditorium. Growing up he was inspired by the
voices of Bob Marley, Garnet Silk, Peter Tosh, Eddie Fitzroy and Jacob Miller. He got
his name from an elder Rasta man who saw him “mash up” a show under the name
“Double Trouble”. The elder told him to change his name to Turbulence and he has
never looked back.
A member of the Higher Trod Family, Turbulence has seen wide exposure as the
opening act for Sizzla in North America, Europe and the Caribbean. The overarching
message of Turbulence’s music is that there should be no racial discrimination. The
strong must help the weak, trust in Rastafari, and burn out weakness. Turbulence
and his message are being well received as his songs Think of Peace, Give Her What
She Want, I Love You So, Yea Yea Yea, and Free and Hype are receiving a heavy
rotation on the radio. Along with his many stage show performances, Turbulence has
become one of the hottest Jamaican performers in recent memory.
We met Turbulence at his home town in Hungry Town, Kingston. It was a sunny day
and as usual, and Turbulence was killing time by singing songs outside his mother’s
yard with his crew, The Higher Trod Family. Though he was known in the dancehalls,
Turbulence was still trying to get his name out to the popular audience in Jamaica.
He was still underground, but his talent was undeniable and it would only get
better for him in the upcoming years. His rise to fame culminated with his hit single
Notorious, which sizzled on the airwaves when its music video was fi rst released in
December of 2004 in Jamaica. The song subsequently rose to #1 on charts around
the world.
CAST memBeR BIOS
MicHael andRew (ice anastacia)
“We have that Chemistry that can be stopped.
We are going to the top, top, top.”
Michael Andrew can remember singing into a hairbrush with his mother at age 3.
As destiny would have it, at age 11 he crossed paths with current super-producer
Jeremy Harding. After hearing Michael deejay, Harding (who would later become
a key driving force behind Sean Paul’s rise to stardom) carried young Michael to
his studio on Jack’s Hill to voice his very fi rst demo. Now, in his early 20’s, having
returned to his native Jamaica after living in South Florida, Michael Andrew has
quickly gained popularity with young producers on the island. He is known well
for his truly unique musical sound which he has coined the New Soul Reggae: a
style that fuses Jamaican lover’s rock, roots reggae and sing-jay with international
grooves of rhythm and blues and pop music. Through his music Michael Andrew
speaks to the reality of the Jamaican context, refl ecting the constant battle between
the good and bad realities of our culture, communicated through hypnotic vocal
melodies. “In solitude I found that music lives in me and I’m here to give music to the
people”.
We met Michael Andrew Lewis, also known as Ice Anastacia, at a private home, in
Kingston. Like many others, he was interested in what we were doing and was quick
to offer us a taste of his music. So he pulled out a boombox and started singing
tunes for us to some of his “riddims”. Charismatic, confi dent and talented, he was a
rare fi nd. In years of exploration we never met another artist like ICE. He leads the
uptown movement of the music, as opposed to the roots Reggae music that came
out of the downtown areas of Kingston. During most of the period fi lming RiseUp,
Ice was doing music with two collegues: Franz Capone and YGO, with whom he
performed on the biggest reggae show on earth.
RISEUP ENTERTAINMENT LLC | 449 S. BEVERLY DRIVE, SUITE 214, BEVERLY HILLS CA 90212 | 310-553-5866 | WWW.RISEUPMOVIE.COM
DIReCTOR’S STATemeNT
When I set out to make this fi lm, I didn’t know much about reggae or
Jamaican culture, yet my passion for fi lmmaking guided me into this
world which started growing on me, infectiously, until I was completely
in love and fascinated by it. Through the 5 years and life-changing epic
personal journey that was making this fi lm, Jamaica became my home
and its people my own. There were rites of passage and I had some
of the most fulfi lling moments of my life, as well as some of the most
challenging. And of course, I am now a big reggae fan. Reggae is, in a
way, like medicine.
I hope the fi lm will bring smiles to the people of Jamaica, I hope the
culture opens peoples’ eyes around the world and touches them as it
did me. But above all, I hope it brings inspiration and hope to anybody
who sees it, because to me, inspiration is what dreams are made of.
-Luciano Blotta.
THe CAST
THe CReW
KeMoY Reid
tuRBulence
MicHael andRew (ice anastacia)
SPECIAL APPEARANCES BY:
slY dunBaR
RoBBie sHaKespeaRe
AND
lee “scRatcH” peRRY.
Director
proDucerS
eXecutiVe proDucer
aSSociate proDucer
eDitorS
cineMatographer
aSSiStant proDucer
poSt proDuction SuperViSorS
SounD DeSigner/MiXer
LUCIANO BLOTTA
LUCIANO BLOTTA
DARRIN HOLENDER
MARK HART
CARLO LESS
LUCIANO BLOTTA
CATALINA RINCON
LUCIANO BLOTTA
SHANNON HART
JAMIE TOSI
TCHAVDAR GEORGIEV
JAVIER CORTES
RISEUP ENTERTAINMENT LLC | 449 S. BEVERLY DRIVE, SUITE 214, BEVERLY HILLS CA 90212 | 310-553-5866 | WWW.RISEUPMOVIE.COM
PRODUCTION STILLS
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PRODUCTION STILLS (continu ed)
RISEUP ENTERTAINMENT LLC | 449 S. BEVERLY DRIVE, SUITE 214, BEVERLY HILLS CA 90212 | 310-553-5866 | WWW.RISEUPMOVIE.COM
PRODUCTION NOTES
Riseup
Stories from Jamaica’s Music Underground
Directed by Luciano Blotta
88 min.
[16:9]
[HD Widescreen]
Language: English/Patois
Subtitled: English
You’ve heard of Bob Marley and Jamaica,
but you’ve never experienced anything like this.
Directed and photographed by Luciano Blotta
2008-2010 Festivals and Awards
-Winner, AFI / DISCOVERY SILVERDOCS – Best Music Documentary Award
-Official Selection, IDFA AMSTERDAM – Top Ten Audience Award
-Official Selection, HotDocs Toronto & Docs For Schools Program
-True False Film Fest: Sneak Preview
-Official Selection, DocAviv
-Closing Night Film, Lemesos Doc fest, Cyprus
-Official Selection, Camden International Film Festival
-Official Selection, Bahamas International Film Festival
-Official Selection, RIDM Film festival, Montreal
-Official Selection, Cinema St. Louis
-Official Selection, KAPU Film Festival, Austria
-Official Selection, Toronto Urban Film Festival
-Official Selection, Salem Film Fest
Non Festival Screenings
-Film Society of Lincoln Center – New York City.
-MOCA, Museum Of Contemporary Art - Jacksonville Fl
-Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, - Hartford, Connecticut
-Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts – Miami, Florida
-Australian Center For The Moving Image – Melbourne, Australia
-Cinema Politica - Montreal, Canada.
TELEVISION BROADCASTS
-BBC Storyville - London UK.
www.riseupmovie.com
RISEUP ENTERTAINMENT LLC | 449 S. BEVERLY DRIVE, SUITE 214, BEVERLY HILLS CA 90212 | 310-553-5866 | WWW.RISEUPMOVIE.COM
1. How did this film come about and how did you know it was the project for you?
A jamaican friend from college told me to come down to Jamaica with my camera and do a film about a
small fishing village that he knew about. I hadn’t seen my friend in years and I had never been to Jamaica,
so I went. It wasn’t long until I was invited to an underground sound system clash, and the rest is history,
as the fish were history. The amount of undiscovered talent bubbling up from every street corner of Jamaica
inspired me to do something about it and help them be seen and recognized. So RiseUp was born.
3. What were some of the biggest challenges/surprises?
The biggest challenge was learning the hard way that the slogan “Jamaica No Problem” is a marketing
tool for tourists and that everything is hard to do in Jamaica. Getting robbed and almost killed wasn’t easy
either, but now I see that it was a right of passage after which this culture became like my own.
4. What did you learn in the process of making this film?
-I learned that the best stories and characters are already out there in the real world. Documentary is a
fascinating and rewarding medium beyond anything else. It’s a privilege and a thrill every time. I think it is
for the filmmaker what theater is for the actor. No safety nets and you only get one shot.
7. Why did you become a filmmaker?
I come from a family of visual artists, my grandfather was the first artist to make an animated feature film
for theatrical release in Argentina and he was also a renowned painter. So, as I remember it, I found an old
super-8 camera in my house and being a big fan of horror movies, decided to shoot my first vampire movie
with it. I was 8 years old and I had found my way to paint. I also remember becoming a fan of The Indiana
Jones films and deciding I wanted to be a filmmaker. Little did I know that my name would someday go
up in the credits of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I could’ve never dreamt that, but
dreams do come true.
8-From what or whom do you derive your greatest inspiration?
From life’s beauty and magic, when I have time to see it. Otherwise, from artists like Rembrandt,
Caravaggio and Andrew Wyeth who had more time and talent than me to see it .
12. What has been the most unexpected thing to happen since taking the film on the festival
circuit?
Being the top ten audience favorite movie at IDFA last november was the first big surprise, the film had just
come out of the oven weeks before that and I was presenting 5 years of my life and my work to the public.
We hadn’t really done any preview screenings or anything, so I was literally jumping of a cliff, into the
abyss. It was a moment I will never forget, almost like your first kiss, there will never be anything quite like
it.
Q&A WITH DIRECTOR LUCIANO BLOTTA
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Hi Luciano,
I saw RiseUp at hot docs festival 2 weeks ago and just wanted to tell you how much I
enjoyed it. Congratulations, man, great movie! We appreciated how you took a street/
bush culture which is normally viewed as crude and violence prone and treated it
with respect and sensitivity. Happy to see Turbulence enjoy such success but truly
heartbreaking about Kemoy. She’s a rare natural talent but it’s going to be rough for her.
Thanks for telling her story, cause you don’t often get to see that sort of thing. I hope
millions see this movie. We know how hard it is to get a movie made. Stay strong. Your
brother in the struggle.
-Terry Swinton
Author Lazarus and the Hurricane, the Freeing of Rubin Hurricane Carter, basis for the Denzel Washington movie, Hurricane
“RiseUp” has so many elements that will excite and inspire student and faculty
audiences. First and foremost, Director/Cinematographer Luciano Blotta brings us into
the everyday life of the Jamaican music underground and underclass, not to exploit but
to share in their experience. His camera is never intrusive. In fact, he is a constructive
force in the lives of the musicians he follows. If I were to chose a few key words
for the film they’d be: authentic, soulful, energetic, inventive. Students will come
away with an appreciation not only of the music, but of the various film crafts Blotta
mastered in delivering this fine film.”
-Amanda Pope
USC Film Professor
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT RISEUP:
FAN MAIL:
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While conducting research at the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), I had the
opportunity to attend a premier screening of Rise Up. As a visual anthropologist and professional
filmmaker, I was struck by the unique value of this film as a case study in contemporary documentary
modes. Stylistically distinct, Rise Up stands in stark contrast to a reductive filmic tradition of exoticism,
Orientalism, and tropicalization. Pioneering filmmaker John Grierson envisioned documentary film as the
“creative treatment of actuality”. In the true spirit of the poetic Griersonian mode, Rise Up strategically
weaves “actuality”, artistic metaphor, and subjective lived-body experience, effectively balancing
entertainment with a meaningful exploration of profound socio-cultural themes. In particular, the film
highlights important issues of post-Colonialism, commodification of culture, and the formulation of personal
and cultural identity. Refreshingly abstracted from political agenda and representational cliché, Rise Up
presents a fresh and innovative reimagining of Jamaica – a unique cinematic experience of harsh beauty,
raw talent, and (most of all) inspirational hope.
Particularly interesting as an example of creative ethnography, Rise Up deals effectively with the difficult
charge of expressing culture through visual (re)presentation. Through intimate character portraits and the
use of music as a driving narrative element, Rise Up engages the complex reality of contemporary life in
Jamaica. As an extension of voice and agency, the powerful lyrics, distinctive sounds, and iconic power
of Jamaican music culminate as a manifest expression of the hopes, dreams, fears, joys, and sorrows of
the Jamaican people. Reflective and reflexive, the music speaks simultaneously to and for the characters,
situating Jamaican cultural identity within a framework of personal expression, social distinctiveness, and
globalization. Accordingly, Rise Up returns the cinematic gaze, challenging the viewer to confront personal
biases and preconceptions, and to transcend a silent history of cultivated cultural myth, through which
fantastical notions of the Jamaican as exoticized “Other” are formulated and maintained.
Perhaps most notably, Rise Up speaks to the potential of documentary filmmakers to achieve large budget
production values using small-scale, minimally invasive production techniques. Stunning cinematography,
immersive sound design, and an engaging narrative structure evoke a profoundly moving cinematic
encounter. This sense of powerful affective movement is achieved not through visual fetishism – that
is, not through the trivial exploitation of the inherent aesthetic qualities of the content, characters,
and environment – but through the carefully articulated artistic interpretation of the director, Luciano
Blotta. At once beautiful and dangerous… celebratory and somber… inspirational and desperate…
the cinematography, soundscape, and editing of Rise Up seamlessly evoke the paradox of daily life in
Jamaica. In this sense, Rise Up aspires to Werner Herzog’s cinematic ideal of “ecstatic truth”. According
to Herzog, “there’s something like a deeper truth. It exists in cinema, and I would call it the ecstatic truth. It
is somehow the same thing like in poetry. When you read a great poem, you instantly would know in your
heart, in your guts, that there is a deep inherent truth, an ecstatic truth... It has to do with our collective
desires, our collective dreams…”. Unique and powerfully moving, Rise Up speaks to precisely these
collective dreams and desires – to a deep “ecstatic truth”.
Sincerely,
Cesare Wright
President
Kino-Eye Center for Visual Innovation
acad emic review
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January 27, 2010
“RiseUp” Award-Winning Jamaican Feature Film - NEW YORK PREMIERE
Although RiseUp is essentially a Jamaican documentary film that spotlights Reggae, it transcends genre
and niche, seemlessly weaving three distinct stories into one inspiring feature film that is both dramatic
and vibrantly explosive. Some are saying that RiseUp is like a Jamaican ‘Hoop Dreams’ and the best movie
to come out of the Carribbean in many years- a potential Best Documentary nominee for the 2011 Academy
Awards. The film features appearances and performances by both arising and legendary artists.
Directed by Luciano Blotta, a native of Argentina, and produced by Darrin Holender (‘Sorority Row’), the
film is the winner of the 2009 AFI/DISCOVERY SILVERDOCS Best Music Documentary Award, and was
an audience favorite as an officially selected film at fifteen international film festivals, including IDFA
Amsterdam and the Bahamas International Film Festival. Recently, RiseUp was chosen by the Lincoln
Center’s Film Society to celebrate Black History Month this coming February on its way to a theatrical
release in Jamaica and the U.S. in March. A one-hour version of the film will be broadcasted by BBC
Storyville and many other television networks worldwide have ordered the film for their upcoming
programming schedules.
Not since the Harder They Come and Rockers has a reggae film been able to reach worldwide audiences
like RiseUp. In a recent interview with Australian press, Blotta stated, “I saw how much talent there is [in
Jamaica],how flamboyant, different and creative all these people were, and it really inspired me.” He is
excited to finally share his six-year project with audiences in New York, that can, in his words, “appreciate
this priceless portrayal of a uniquely proud country”. Having screened to full houses in nine countries since
November, 2008, RiseUp has indeed connected to men and women, young and old, from all backgrounds.
Audiences have been dancing, laughing and crying in their seats. Core reggae audiences and music doc
fans have lauded the film for its authenticity and entertainment value, while general audiences have
praised the film for its original storytelling, inspirational tone and beautiful images and sounds.
Entertainment industry veterans who have viewed the film have commended Blotta’s efforts as an
invaluable contribution to both the Jamaican culture as well as the medium of documentary cinema.
Excited about the upcoming Lincoln Center screening, Holender stated, “New York will definitely connect
with RiseUp the way other cities have- we just need to put it on the screen in the city and a RiseUp
movement will organically develop from there.” The New York Premiere of “Rise Up” will be held at
the Walter Reade Theatre at the Lincoln Center on Thursday, February 25th 2010. The event will include
a reception, live performances and the screening of the film and will start at 6 pm followed by a session
of Q & A with the director and producer. On Friday, February 26th, RiseUp will premiere in Hartford,
Connecticut at the legendary Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art.
lat est pr ess releas e
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