Screen legend, Roger Moore, accepts the Marcus Garvey Lifetime Achievement award from Sheryl Lee Ralph at the Jamerican Flim Festival Saturday night in Montego Bay. (Photo: Collin Reid)

It was with a sense of humility that the man known to millions as 'Bond... James Bond' accepted the Marcus Garvey Lifetime Acheivement award at the close of the Jamerican Film and Music Festival.

In a glittering ceremony on Saturday at the Wyndham Rose Hall hotel, actor Roger Moore was honoured, not for his considerable body of work as the dashing and debonair spy, 007, but for his more recent endeavours as a Goodwill Ambassador for children in need.

In his thanks, Moore said beyond the glamour, celebrities had a responsibility to use their influence to draw attention to serious problems like the rights of children in need and access to basic amenities like health services and clean running water.

"I've been to some of the most glamourous and some of the toughest locations in the world, where I was surrounded by poverty, and I really didn't see it because I was too busy being a movie star," Moore told the full house of actors, producers, writers and other industry players.

"The voices of children should be heard. But the voices are sometimes too weak. They do not carry. So it's people like us who have to get up and shout for them. It's up to us in the profession to let people know that these situations do exist."

The still dashing Moore - dapper in a cream suit - who is no stranger to Jamaica, having filmed the Bond movie Live And Let Die, here almost 29 years ago to the day, said it was "wonderful to come home".

While in Jamaica, Moore spent time with street children from Montego Bay and Kingston, helping raise over US$30,000 for projects aimed at this high risk group and children in need.

Festival organiser, Sheryl Lee Ralph, in paying tribute to Moore, said stars should use their gift of magic to change the lives of others and fight for the rights of children.

The ceremony, hosted by Fae Ellington and Mablean Ephraim of Divorce Court, featured performances by Marcia Griffiths, who had the ballroom doing the electric slide, and Richie Stephens who did a medley of Bond themes.

French singer Marie Zamora of Les Miserables also did a fine operatic rendition of Many Rivers To Cross, and Ralph moved to express her thanks in that tongue.

The festival's big winner was A Huey P Newton Story, with star Roger Smith collecting three awards including Best Actor for his portrayal of the rise and fall of the Black Panther's protest group co-founder. The Spike Lee-directed film also picked up a special judges award and was voted Audience Favourite, which was shared with documentary feature Welcome To Death Row, a look behind the hard-core rap record company of the same name.

Other winners included Dorothy Cunningham and Trevor Rhone for their roles in Rituals and Life And Debt, the cutting documentary by Stephanie Black on the impact the International Monetary Fund and the International Development Bank have had on the economies of Jamaica and other developing countries.

The Jamerican Film and Music festival was created by Ralph three years ago to encourage and empower film-makers and artistes who have been overlooked by the mainstream industry. Films which represent different cultures, subjects and styles are screened and judged, with new or hopeful film-makers, writers, actors, directors and others having a chance to learn from and network with established stars and industry players who could give them access to opportunities. Almost 30 features, documentaries and shorts from seven, countries were screened at this years staging.

Though affected by late cancellations as some celebrities opted to attend the Emmy Awards or were not willing to fly, the festival still saw a number of known names and familiar faces.

In attendance were actors Roger Smith, Ty Treadway of One Life To Live; Glynn Turman and Richard Lawson from How Stella Got Her Groove Back; The Famous Jett Jackson's Lee Thompson Young and TV dad Gordon Green; Paul Campbell; Bill Duke, director of Two Can Play That Game; Mark Brown, writer for Remember The Titans; Gregory Allen Howard; Evan Hainey of Edmonds Entertainment and singer/songwriter/producer Brenda Russell.

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