The Jamaican film industry has been thriving over the years. Many of us are familiar with locally produced films such as The Harder They Come, Third World Cop and Dancehall Queen. Recent films include Better Mus’ Come, Coast and Sprinter. 

Our local films highlight our stories by putting the spotlight on our traditions, language, culture and people. They also show off our landscape – rivers, beaches, mountains, cities and more. 

The filming of parts of the 25^th James Bond movie brought international attention to filming in Jamaica. However, the island’s landscape has been featured in several international films, TV shows and music videos over the years. 

What value do international productions bring to our economy? 

According to an article published by the Jamaica Information Service (JIS), the local film industry contributed $1.2 billion to the local economy for 2017/2018 fiscal period.  

The article cites Commissioner of Film at JAMPRO, Miss Renée Robinson, outlining the main genres of productions that have been shot here. These are documentaries, TV productions and feature films.  

The filming of international productions in Jamaica has been taking place since the early 1950s. Jamaica’s film industry has been thriving since then. 

Films: 

1. 20, 000 Leagues Under the Sea: Kirk Douglas (1954) 

2. Dr No: Sean Connery – First James Bond film (1962) 

3. Live and Let Die: Roger Morre – James Bond Film (1973) 

4. Papillon: Steve McQueen (1973) 

5. The Blue Lagoon: Brooke Shields (1980) 

6. Cocktails: Tom Cruise (1988) 

7. The Mighty Quinn: Denzel Washington (1989) 

8. Wide Sargasso Sea: Karina Lombard (1993) 

9. Legends of the Fall: Brad Pitt (1994) 

10. How Stella Got Her Groove Back: Angela Bassett (1998) 

11. Instinct: Anthony Hopkins (1999) 

12. License to Wed: Robin Williams (2007) 

13. A Perfect Getaway: Milla Jovovich (2009)  

14. Knight and Day: Tom Cruise (2010) 

15. Like Father: Kristen Bell (2018) 

16. The Intent 2 – the Come Up: Adam Deacon (2018) 

17. Yardie: Aml Ameen (2018) 

18. Bond 25: Daniel Craig (2019) 

Other productions: These include music videos; TV series and reality-type shows. 

1. The Caribbean’s Next Top Model (an entire season) 

2. The Amazing Race Israel (one episode) 

3. Perfect Places (music video – Lorde) 

4. Pretty Bird (music video – Jay Z and Beyoncé) 

5. Marvel’s Luke Cage (Netflix series – one episode) 

We anticipate that the work that is currently being done will encourage other international film productions to do business here. The boost to our local economy is of great benefit across industries.  

In addition to this, our local film industry is also flourishing. We salute all film-makers and the related industries for the diligence with which they help to promote Brand Jamaica to the world.  

Sources: JAMPRO, Culture Trip, Jamaicans, JIS and IMDb.