'The Abominable Crime' Returns to Jamaica for Screening, Conversation

Montego Bay Cultural Centre in Jamaica screens The Abominable Crime, on Sunday, October 25, to provide context to a conversation surrounding the question whether Jamaica is one of the most homophobic place on earth.

The Abominable Crime tells the emotional and physical journeys of Jamaicans who are forced to choose whether to live somewhere where they are persecuted because of their sexual orientation or to leave their homes and everything they have ever known.

In a report on the film's reach, Pulitzer Center grantee and filmmaker Micah Fink noted the success of the first screening in Montego Bay in August 2015. He discusses the reaction by Maurice Tomlinson, a human rights lawyer and one of the film’s two main characters:

"The screening in Montego Bay was particularly impactful, says Tomlinson, because it attracted both the LBGTI community and local Christian fundamentalist congregations who engaged in a productive conversation afterwards around the question of whether Jamaica is still homophobic. The screening was so successful, says Tomlinson, that Valerie O'Bryan, the manager of the Montego Bay Cultural Centre, where the screening was held, volunteered to hold an additional screening on October 25, 2015."

This event is sponsored by the Pulitzer Center, Montego Bay Cultural Centre, Movies that Matter, the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and Round Hill Hotel and Villas.

For a preview of the event, you can read the attached article from the October 14 edition of the Western Mirror.

The Abominable Crime
Screening and Conversation
Sunday, October 25
6:00 - 8:00 pm
Montego Bay Cultural Centre
Sam Sharpe Square
Montego Bay, Jamaica