Usain Bolt is busier than ever. Since joining fellow Olympic champion sprinter Shelly Fraser Pryce in Monaco at the International Athletics Association Foundation awards where they both claimed top honors as the male and female athletes of the year, the fastest man on the planet bolted to Los Angeles, California to launch his book “Faster Than Lightning: My Autobiography.” Inside a downtown Santa Monica Puma store the Jamaican track and field legend greeted fans and signed copies of his newly published book. He took pictures with many purchasers after signing their book. While on the west coast he also stopped into The Voice studios to show support for fellow Jamaican achiever Tessanne Chin who is now among the finalists slated to win the TV singing competition. On her recent television appearance, patrons crowded Bolt’s Tracks & Records Kingston club to cheer on the Jamaican finalist who is now among the Top 5 slated to win the competition.
Look for the dates Bolt is expected to pass through the Big Apple.
“NANNY” DOC IN THE WORKS
Not enough has been said about Nanny, Jamaica’s only national heroine.
So says New Jersey-based film maker Roy T. Anderson. He recently visited Jamaica on a mission to scout locations and begin preliminary interviews for a documentary he has already titled “Nanny, Queen of the Maroons.”
“The story of Nanny is a fascinating story of resistance which must be told,” Anderson reportedly said, “I am also looking to develop projects looking at similar peoples in Central and South America.”
“I first want to show that Nanny was a living, breathing human being, first and foremost… a lot of the books which have been written in the past have shrouded her in mystery, and for such a significant figure in the resistance movement. I want to give her, her due, and I feel this documentary is the best way to lift the legend from the text.”
“A number of Maroons still believe that the spirit of Nanny still dwells among them. They draw power and strength from her spirit and it is interesting how this is seen in present-day society.”
In order to complete his quest for more knowledge about the conquering female, soldier Anderson plans to venture through the terrain Nanny was familiar. According to the stuntman, he has already scheduled a three-day trek to the hills of Old Nanny Town in the Blue Mountains. He explained that legend contends “only the bravest Maroons or those free of bad deeds” are able to challenge the sacred land mass that “Nanny’s powerful spirit still inhabits.”
“Nanny is seen as such an iconic figure representing strong, Black, Jamaican women and this will also be brought out in the work.”
Last month in Brooklyn, Anderson’s previous film project “Akwantu: The Journey” was screened in the presence of Dr. Julius Garvey, the son of Jamaica’s first national hero. Released earlier this year, in the film Anderson re-traced his own Maroon heritage from the hills of St Elizabeth to the African continent.
To complete the documentary he will travel to Ghana, Africa to examine the link between the Maroons in Jamaica and those on the continent. While there he intends to conduct interviews. To complete the project, he also hopes to integrate interviews with intellectuals and scholars in the United States, Jamaica and the United Kingdom.
Maroons were enslaved Africans who fought for 80 years to win their freedom from the British Army.
“I will be using the next few months to attract funding for the documentary. I am set to speak to the relevant persons in Jamaica. I have already had discussions with UNESCO (The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and they seem interested.”
“During the past few days, I have been looking at locations in the Rio Grande Valley in Portland as well as interviewing Colonel Harris of the Maroons,” he continued.
According to reports, Anderson principal objective is to clarify some of the mystery surrounding the legendary heroine who “led a band of enslaved Africans in the rugged and remote interiors of Jamaica in their victory over the British army during the early to mid-18th century.”
He expects to begin filming by the middle of next year.
Anderson has been credited for his role in the production of “Spiderman 2,” “Bourne Ultimatum,” “American Gangster” and “The Dark Knight Rises.”
Catch You On The Inside!
