Jonkonnu Nuh Dead – FESCH.TV

Jonkonnu Nuh Dead & FESCH.TV:

Details
Title: Jonkonnu Nuh Dead
Director: Ryan Eccleston
Year: 2022
Country: Jamaica
Runtime: 6′
Language: (Jamaican) English
Subtitles: English

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Jonkonnu Nuh Dead is a short documentary by Ryan Eccleston on a lesser-known aspect of Jamaica’s cultural heritage: Jonkonnu.

John Canoe, also known as January Conny, was the European name given to an Akan warrior from Axim, Ghana. He was a chief of the Ahanta people in the early eighteenth century, who established a stronghold in the defunct Fort Fredericksburg, Ghana, and fought multiple wars with European traders for twenty years. It fell finally in 1725, though Canoe’s fate is unknown. Jonkonnu (John Canoe) Festival was created in the Caribbean by those Akans who supported John Canoe in Fredericksburg and had subsequently been enslaved when it fell. The festival itself included motifs from battles typical of Akan fashion.

Set during Christmas time, the Jamaican celebrations of Jonkonnu took the form of masked dancing, acting, processions. The masquerade-like tradition dates was widely indulged by the slaves as part of their holiday celebration. The bands became very large and elaborate, setting the mark as a Christmas carnival. Jonkonnu Nuh Dead is a dream-like exploration into the world of Carlton Walters. What drew him into the world of traditional masquerade, one of the oldest dance forms in Jamaica, and one that over the decades has been marginalised?

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Ryan Eccleston is an award winning photographer and filmmaker. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, he is an Alumnus of the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, where he studied filmmaking, broadcasting and photography. Due to his father’s job working with the United Nations, he spent most of his life traveling and living in several countries including the United States, Egypt and Israel. This nomadic childhood allowed him to see and experience different cultures, which bred a curiosity in him. This curiosity informs the way he approaches the subjects he wants to cover. In 2008, Eccleston moved to Ethiopia where he worked for several years as a photographer and cinematography consultant. During his time living in Ethiopia, Eccleston traveled extensively throughout Eastern Africa. Much of Eccleston’s work deals with the issues of identity, culture, faith, economics and legacy.

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This film is part of YardVibes, a streaming platform for content from independent African and Caribbean makers. The platform offers many titles for rent, from feature films and web series to documentaries and short films, with new content added each month. All titles can be rented individually for a modest fee, which will largely benefit the makers. You can find the complete YardVibes film catalogue at www.yardvibes.nl.

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YardVibes is part of Caribbean Creativity, an Amsterdam-based non-profit organization that since 2008 has been committed to the production, programming and promotion of Caribbean and other diversity films in the Netherlands and beyond. Over the years, Caribbean Creativity has organized 300+ screenings in film theaters and at film festivals in the Netherlands, including many Dutch premieres. In 2020, when live screenings were often not possible anymore due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, they launched YardVibes. For more information, visit the Caribbean Creativity website at www.caribbeancreativity.nl.