Films like Lab Studios’, “ Love Offside”, are Jamaican exports – Senator Hill

Lab Studios, headed by Kimala Bennett, will be launching a number of Jamaican films and will hold a screening of its feature-length production “Love Offside” at Carib 5 in Cross Roads, Kingston. The occasion also saw the Prime Minister, the Head of Jampro, Shulette Cox, the Minister for Culture, Sport and Entertainment “Baby” Grange and the Minister for Industry, Investment & Commerce, Senator Aubyn Hill made presentations encouraging Jamaican creatives.

Below is Senator Aubyn Hill’s full speech: 

There is something significant happening in Jamaica.

Something that goes beyond entertainment. 

What you are witnessing tonight is the organised, deliberate, and commercially driven export of Jamaican talent, creativity, and excellence to the world. I am so pleased to be here as the Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Jamaica’s Business Ministry, for this wonderful occasion.

“Love Offside” is a Jamaican Export.

Every frame was shot here. Members of the production crew are Jamaican. The writers, the directors, the cast, drawn from the deep well of talent that this country has always possessed but has not always had the infrastructure to release.  That infrastructure is now generating real economic value.

When a Jamaican film premieres at the American Black Film Festival in Miami, screens at the London Breeze Film Festival as its closing gala, shows at the African Diaspora International Film Festival in Harlem, and wins Best Feature Film at the Black Oak Film Festival, that is foreign exchange being earned.

That is Brand Jamaica with a fabulous attitude, travelling at altitude. Our stories, landscapes, and culture are being consumed and celebrated globally.  That is export productivity!

The Government of Jamaica, under the leadership of Prime Minister Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, has definitively stated that the creative economy is a growth sector.

In January 2024, we launched the Jamaica Screen Development Initiative (JSDI), a landmark $1 billion commitment to develop Jamaica’s screen-based industries.

To date, the JSDI has received 406 applications across development, production, completion, and film festival categories, a number that tells its own story about the depth of creative ambition in Jamaica. 58 contracts have been signed, and we have already paid out over J$400 million to Jamaican creatives, producers, and filmmakers.

The JSDI was designed precisely for companies like LAB Studios. WIPO’s DG Daren Tang was here until Wednesday of this week.

And Jamaica is very solidly ensconced in the World Intellectual Property Organisation through JIPO, as all our Intellectual Properties must be properly registered through JIPO and WIPO to be protected under the MARAKESH PROTOCOL, which Jamaica helped to spearhead.

The LAB is the first advertising agency and film production company to list on the Jamaica Stock Exchange. Heartiest Congratulations to the LAB!

Under the wonderful leadership of Kimala Bennett and her remarkable team, the LAB has invested over J$100 million of its own capital into Jamaican film production.

That is the kind of private-sector partnership that makes government investment multiply.

We are building a pipeline where Jamaican talent is seen, recognised, elevated, registered and protected, and employed internationally. Every role earned on a global platform is a brand-enhancing remittance!

It is reputation being built abroad to expand a more robust Jamaican economy.

Now we are exporting film, and unlike commodities, stories last and appreciate. A great Jamaican film opens doors for the next Jamaican film, and the one after that.

Tonight, we are presenting Jamaica as a full creative ecosystem of writers, directors, cinematographers, editors, actors, and producers. The entire production supply chain, rooted here, delivers world-class quality.

We are grateful to JAMPRO (one of the 20 agencies in my Ministry) and the Film Commission for their stewardship of the JSDI. 

We are proud of every Jamaican who puts their craft, energy, and ambition into Love Offside and into everything else LAB Studios has produced. We are very expectant and excited about what comes next.

Enjoy the film – LOVE OFFSIDE.