Martin Rennalls
Jamaicans You Now Know
designed by Zenzelé Clarke
-
Martin Rennalls (1915-2013)
Jamaican filmmaker and educator.
Rennalls’ described his early schooling as being limited in “education of the senses.” He graduated from teachers’ training college in 1936 and served as an elementary school headmaster. He began using film strips and projections to engage his students and showed instruction films to parents.
Rennalls’ received a scholarship to London University and graduated with an Audio/Visual Bachelors in 1950. He attended a small training for the Colonial Film Unit’s (CFU) West Indies Training School.
“My dream of the introduction of audiovisual aids in education as viable in the struggle against illiteracy and ignorance among children and adults was gradually becoming realized”.17
In 1955 Rennalls was the first director of the Jamaica Film Unit and Assistant Education Officer in the Department of Education. He was responsible for all government film services in Jamaica from production to distribution and projection. They screened films in the city, country, and other islands. The JFU was one of several film units in the British west indies during the independence years.
The Unit’s early films focused on community participation, volunteerism, and self-help by using Jamaican language, proverbs, and music. Rennalls’ turn from the CFU to founding the JFU allowed him to experiment with aesthetics and center local Jamaicans. The Unit’s motto was to make movies “in Jamaica, for Jamaicans, by Jamaicans, about Jamaicans”.
Articles and Info
Watch
