The recent Kingston Creative art walk festival trained its focus on film and digital.

The event showcased film-makers, animators, gamers, digital photographers, digital artists, and YouTubers, a platform for up-and-coming creatives to exhibit their work.

“We have a wealth of talent in Jamaica that we must nurture and continue to harness,” shared Kevin Jackson, president, Jamaica Animation Nation Network, expressing his appreciation for the Kingston Creative film showcase.

The winner of the New Kid on the Block award Jahmeel Thwaites expressed gratitude for the opportunity to showcase his award-winning short film, Marooned.

“Marooned is about a young man preparing for a tae kwon do fight. While physically trained, he grapples with mental unreadiness… [H]e embarks on healing his mind… Every action depicted in the film represents the protagonist’s internal struggles, portraying themes of overcoming fear and grief,” added Thwaites.

The Kingston Creative Film and Digital Festival showcased the talents of over 30 film-makers and digital content creators during a film screening session. After tallying the scores, Kibbieshe Kennedy claimed the runner-up spot in the New Kid on the Block competition for her short film Before You Break, while Delroy Millwood secured third place with his YouTube video showcasing the process of painting the iconic Spanish Bridge.

To add a digital experience, Kingston Creative recently launched the Kulcha Connect app — an e-commerce platform that allows visitors to view the augmented reality features on 15 murals.

A high point of the festival was Kingston Creative’s first-ever augmented reality art tour. By utilising augmented reality the tour provided visitors with an extraordinary experience by seamlessly integrating computer-generated images or videos into their real-world surroundings, enhancing existing works of art with added dimensions of shape, motion, and sound.

“Creativity and technology are closely connected sectors and both are needed to drive innovation. The augmented reality tour owes much to the collaboration of muralists and musicians such as Kabaka Pyramid and digital graphic artist Kianne Patrice Hutchinson. This partnership allows everyone to experience the Water Lane murals in a captivating new way through their mobile phones,” stated Kingston Creative Executive Director, Andrea Dempster Chung.

The event was mounted in collaboration with Red Stripe Flavours, Main Event, iCool, and Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation.

Visual artist and film-maker Delroy Millwood is awarded third place in the New Kid on the Block competition for his illustration of the Spanish Bridge by Kingston Creative Executive Director Andrea Dempster Chung.

New Kid on the Block winner Jahmeel Thwaites (left) along with other creatives (from second left) actor Daniel Samuels, actor Dreanna Williams, videographer Gary Zhang, and film-maker Akaila Simms.

Patrons attentively watch short films, animated shorts, and video game trailers during the Kingston Creative film screening, held downtown Kingston.

Jahmeel Thwaites receives the firstplace New Kid on the Block award for cinematic artistry in his short film Marooned from Kingston Creative art walk Manager Christine Solomon.

Dancing to the high-energy dancehall tunes of DJ Fenix, Kingston Creative art walk Assistant Ifa-Shani and Production Assistant Kharim Graham have an exciting dance-off.