Cockpit Portal is a short film serving as a visual teaser/opening to an extended magical-realist, action tale about a strong-spirited, obstinate young maroon shaken by his time as a slave travelling throughout the Jamaica Cockpit Country, across nearby plantations, and along the very continuum of space-time itself in his quest to rescue his kid-sister from colonial terror, overcome his past trauma, and avoid recapture.  

Completed first as an entry for the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission FiWi Short Film Competition, this 5-6 minute short exists in some ways as a token of our heritage, especially given the intended locational provenance of the story -- the Cockpit Country. According to the World Wildlife Fund Jamaica ranks fifth among the world’s islands in terms of endemic plant life, and most of this endemicity is located in the island’s Blue Mountains and Cockpit Country. The Cockpit Country has also been a refuge and home to Jamaica's indigenous peoples, the Maroons (comprising Taíno ancestry), since the late seventeenth century, and in 2017 the proposed Cockpit Country Protected Area was finally declared so by the country's Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness.

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The Caribbean is defined by a history of both beauty and tribulation, and this contrast is reflected in the cultural identities of its people and the ways in which many of these people rely upon, attain inspiration from, and are sustained by their natural environments. Cockpit Portal presents an opportunity for me to communicate these connections so that more people might be moved to a have a deeper appreciation for and desire to protect nature and to value their roles in doing so. 

In terms of project progression, continuing the story Cockpit Portal initially as a web series and/or web comic will be a chance to use a real place (Cockpit Country, Jamaica) as a representation of similar natural sites that would benefit from this sort of art activism – helping to communicate important messages about fragile ecologies and biodiversity through edutainment.

 
In the Cockpit Portal  world, our main character KOMI, in his quest to rescue his sibling, must use his keenly acquired knowledge of the terrain and indigenous forestry to evasively traverse the mountainous landscape, with the confidence that his tactics will shroud him from being discovered and detained. The story is propelled by themes of 'time and change', 'family and heritage', 'courage and perseverance' and 'redemption'.