“The Abominable Crime”

I received the following email today and thought I would share it with you. It is from Common Good Productions, via Kickstarter, a crowd-funding initiative. 

I hope this email finds you very well. This autumn has been shaping up to be a very busy time for “The Abominable Crime” – and LGBT issues in Jamaica – and we wanted to give you an update.

First, the film will be screening in NYC, Chicago and St. Louis in the next few weeks – see details below for locations and tickets.

The film has also been getting some press (or not getting press, in one notable instance) back in Jamaica…

A few months back, I was interviewed by a Caribbean program called “18° North,” which is a new Caribbean-based investigative TV show.

They did a segment on the film interweaving footage from the documentary with an interview with the director (me), which was slated to be aired in primetime on TVJ, one of the main Jamaican TV broadcasters, on September 16.

Zahra Burton, the program’s executive producer, emailed me the next day. While the program aired on TVJ, she wrote, the network had cut out the segment on “The Abominable Crime!” 

Burton was so outraged that the network had removed eight minutes (and a key segment) from her show – without asking her or informing the Jamaican public about the missing piece – that she asked us to let the world know… and she shared the missing segment with us. You can watch it here.

Clearly, some stories are too sensitive to be told on TVJ. And censorship on LBGT issues is still alive and well in Jamaica!!!

Despite TVJ’s refusal to even mention “The Abominable Crime”, Jamaicans are becoming more aware of the film. The Gleaner, one of Jamaica’s most important papers, ran a short piece about the film on their website in conjunction with our Washington DC screenings.

If you have a strong stomach, you might explore some of the comments that appear in response to the story – many of which are quite revealing – and show that homophobia and hatred are still deeply rooted in the Jamaican psyche…

On other fronts, we are proud to announce that “The Abominable Crime” has three upcoming screenings in November 2013:

Chicago: “The Abominable Crime” will be screened as part of the Reeling LGBT International Film Festival on Saturday, November 9th at 12:15 pm at the Logan Theatre. Tickets and more information here.

New York City: On Friday, November 15th at 4:15 pm, TAC will be screened as part of DOC NYC at the IFC Center. Stick around after the screening for a Q&A! More details here.

St Louis: On Sunday, November 17th at 4:30 pm, there will be a screening as part of the St. Louis International Film Festival. After the film there will be a Q&A with me and Maurice Tomlinson.

After this screening you are invited to join us for another Pulitzer Center supported documentary, “Seeds of Hope,” and a reception that will include Maurice Tomlinson and me! More details about the screenings and reception here. The reception is free to attend, but please RSVP here.

We are also beginning to reach out to educational and community groups for non-festival screenings. If you know of a university or community group that would be interested in hosting a screening and discussion, please get in touch with us. You can order an educational or community screening package at ourwebsite.

I hope to see some of you at the screenings in New York and St. Louis! More soon!

Very best regards,
Micah and the whole TAC team!

Related articles

• Film: “The Abominable Crime,” Documentary about Being Gay in Jamaica debuts in US (repeatingislands.com)
• Jamaican Government Must Urgently Address Homelessness (petchary.wordpress.com)
• Filmmaker seeks backing for documentary, ‘An Abominable Crime: Anti Gay Violence in Jamaica’ (miamiherald.typepad.com)