Bob Marley’s Documentary At Berlin Film Festival

Tomorrow will be Bob Marley’s Earth Strong.

He was born on Feb 6 1945 in Jamaica. 2011 was the 50th anniversary of the formation of his legendary band the Wailers. It’s 30 years since Marley succumbed to cancer. 2012 is the year that marks half a century of Jamaican Independence.

Which better occasion than Black Month History to announce that the documentary on Jamaican Reggae legend Bob Marley will be presented at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival , which is opening in February 9, and showcase for the first time the life and legacy of the iconic & legendary musician.

The documentary “Marley” by director Kevin MacDonald includes photographs, recordings and music considered “rare”, whose publication was authorized for the first time by Marley`s family, MacDonald got special access to private family archives during the filming of the documentary.

He also visited countries such as Uganda, Kenya, India and Japan to provide an overview of the global impact of Marley`s work.

MacDonald said he was interested in showing why the philosophy of the leading exponent of Reggae music, who died at the age of 36 in 1981 and would have been 67 tomorrow, still has an impact virtually all over the world.

Son of a British white man and a Jamaican black woman, Robert Nesta Marley was born Feb 6, 1945 in Nine Mile, north of Jamaica. He later moved to Kingston where he started making music with Bunny Wailer, and along with Peter Tosh, they formed The Wailing Wailers, later known as Bob Marley and the Wailers.THE REST IS HISTORY.

Martin Scorsese was originally working on this documentary for the Weinstein Company back in 2008, but he swiftly left citing “scheduling conflicts,” and was replaced by Jonathan Demme that also left and it’s when Macdonald came in.

Kevin Macdonald: ‘Bob Marley is iconic’

Get ready to hear more and more about Reggae music and Jamaica in the next months also because of this documentary.

MacDonald, also made the great documentaries One Day in September and Touching the Void – as well as such feature films as The Last King of Scotland, State of Play and recently, the Eagle . Last year he went at the Cannes Film Festival showing potential international buyers about half an hour of his Marley film.

“It’s only about half cut (edited) as yet, so it seems a bit weird to be talking about it and trying to sell it,” he reflected. But that’s what you have to do.”

The time may be perfect now, but his Marley project has a history going back six years: “Chris Blackwell (the Island Records boss) originally approached me to do a film about the 60th birthday celebrations for Bob in Ethiopia.”

What intrigues Kevin  MacDonald , and millions of other people around the globe, is  Marley’s appeal  and global reach:

“He’s the only musician from the developing world who has it. I realized this when I was in Uganda (shooting The Last King of Scotland). In the slums of Kampala there were Bob Marley flags and T-shirts everywhere. He’s a developing world hero.”

His thesis was confirmed when he visited Tunisia recently, in the wake of its political upheavals, to shoot a brief section of the film: “The dissenters there sang Bob Marley songs, and there were graffiti on the walls of a Marley lyric: “Get up, stand up/Stand up for your rights.” Macdonald notes that Marley “came out of nowhere,” and in his career disproved the stereotype that all Reggae musicians are laid-back and easy-going:

“He was ambitious, hard-working – and incredibly prolific. He wrote so many terrific songs – and only about 10 per cent of them have even been heard.”

Happy Earth Strong King Marley. Your Legacy is Alive and Going Strong!

MARLEY DOCUMENTARY – OFFICIAL TRAILER

BOB MARLEY MUSIC: JAMMING OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO