Wag Entertainment presents newly released feature length music documentary "Studio 17: The Lost Reggae Tapes" (1 x 90’) at Berlinale and EFM 2020. This captivating film is a Widestream Films and Iambic Dream Films’ production, in association with BBC Music. It premiered on BBC 4 in the UK recently, to exceptional ratings, and features a treasure trove of original studio tapes, showcasing unique and stunning recordings from the golden age of reggae, many of which have never before been released or heard.
Janice Strangward, SVP Sales at Wag Entertainment, commented, “Such fascinating and authentic stories such as Studio 17: The Lost Reggae Tapes continue to entertain international audiences across all demographics.”
Produced and directed by award-winning documentary and feature film director, Mark James, of London-based Widestream Films, and co-produced by Reshma B, a prominent reggae journalist and film maker, "Studio 17: The Lost Reggae Tapes" was shot in Jamaica, New York, London and Germany. The film is narrated by DJ Levi Roots, and includes interviews with Jimmy Cliff, Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Carl Malcolm, Dave Stewart, Sly Dunbar, Ali Campbell, Ernest Ranglin, Lord Creator, Bunny Lee, King Jammy, Jimmy London, Lester Sterling, Rico Rodriguez, Clive Chin, Pat Chin and Maxi Priest.
"Studio 17: The Lost Reggae Tapes" tells the engaging story of the Chins, the Chinese Jamaican family behind the legendary recording studio, “Randy’s”, located in downtown Kingston at the heart of Jamaica’s reggae music revolution which began in 1962.
With booming record sales and the success of Vincent Chin’s first record, ‘Independent Jamaica’, behind them, the Chins created a fully integrated production and sales outlet, Studio 17, and were instrumental in making reggae the internationally distributed and recognised music genre that it is today.
In its prime, artists such as Bob Marley & The Wailers, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Lord Creator and many others recorded at Studio 17. But dramatic turmoil in the late 1970’s forced the Chin family to flee Jamaica for New York, where Vincent and Pat Chin established VP Records, now one of the world’s largest independent distributors of reggae music.
The film had a special screening at the Nashville Film Festival in October 2019, and is about to screen at the Pan African Film Festival in LA, and is screening in Amsterdam and Rotterdam as part of the Marley 75 festival this month.