Music Documentary * USA * 54 mins * Director: Guy A. Ragosta * Producer: Surfing Medicine International * Executive Producers: Surfing Medicine International & Shelly & Donald Rubin Foundation

US director Guy Ragosta points his camera on JOE ‘DRUMMIE’ ISAACS, the original Rocksteady drummer, who shares his story of playing drums at Studio One in Kingston, Jamaica during the 1960s, a revolutionary era in Jamaican music. Under the Studio One label, Joe played drums with all of reggae’s legendary musicians including Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, Jackie Mittoo, the Heptones, Marcia Griffiths, Burning Spear, Ken Boothe, Earl ‘Chinna’ Smith and many more.  Taking us further into the roots of reggae music, the film follows Joe as he explores Jamaican cultures of Rastafari Nyabinghi and the Jamaican Maroons.

Joe Isaacs, who presently lives in the USA, will be coming to Jamaica to join some of the reggae greats he has worked with at the film’s premiere on the RFF Friday night programme.  Speaking about the film, Isaacs says: “I am so glad that there is a record of some of the history I have lived with some of the great musicians I have met.  This film is a real blessing.”

JAMAICA REGGAE FILM FESTIVAL – CELEBRATING JAMAICA 50 IN FILM – BUILDING THE JAMAICAN FILM INDUSTRY