Following multiple community screenings in Jamaica and festival screenings in North America and the UK, this events marks the Dutch preview screening of Beach Inna Bondage, the new documentary by Dutch filmmaking duo Emiel Martens and Elsie Vermeer in collaboration with the Jamaica Beach Birthright Environmental Movement (JaBBEM) and recent Grammy-winning reggae artiste Keznamdi. In addition, there will be a screening of Aqui Vive Gente (2022, 23', People Live Here), a short documentary by Bianca Graulau, made in collaboration with Bad Bunny, exploring gentrification, rising housing prices, and decreasing beach access in Puerto Rico.

Following the screening of both films, there will be a discussion on increasingly limited beach access as a result of privatization and touristification in Jamaica and across the wider Caribbean, including in Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao. The discussion, which will be moderated by radio host and cultural producer Angel Misier, will bring together the filmmakers, who have just returned from a year of filmmaking in Jamaica, decolonial thinker and climate activist Kjelld Kroon, and several other panelists to explore how these unequal, unjust, and unsustainable developments are reshaping access to coastlines (and other lands) throughout the Caribbean – and what to do about it.

Beach Inna Bondage: The Fight for Jamaica's Coastline (Special Preview Screening)

Date: Saturday, September 12, 2026
Time: 18.45 (start film), 18.15 (doors open)
Venue: Melkweg Cinema
Address: Lijnbaansgracht 234A, Amsterdam
Title: Beach Inna Bondage: The Fight for Jamaica's Coastline
Director: Emiel Martens and Elsie Vermeer, in collaboration with JaBBEM and Keznamdi
Country: Jamaica and The Netherlands
Year: 2026
Length: 34' (including Keznamdi's music video Colonial Bondage)
Language: English with English subtitles
Extra: The short film Aqui Vive Gente (2022, 23’, People Live Here, Puerto Rico, including Bad Bunny's music video El Apagon, Spanish with English subtitles)
Extra: With an introduction and discussion with the filmmakers and other panelists afterwards, moderated by radio host and cultural producer Angel Misier
Extra: Presented by Caribbean Creativity and Africadelic
More info & tickets: https://www.melkweg.nl/nl/agenda/cinecarib-3-beach-inna-bondage-2026-12-09-2026

About Beach Inna Bondage: The Fight for Jamaica's Coastline

Beach Inna Bondage: The Fight for Jamaica's Coastline (2026) is a new documentary by Dutch filmmaking duo Emiel Martens and Elsie Vermeer in collaboration with JaBBEM and Keznamdi exploring the growing struggle for beach access in Jamaica. Since the 1950s, public access to the island’s beaches has steadily declined, leaving less than one percent of the coastline publicly accessible for Jamaicans. Over the decades, most of Jamaica’s beaches have been captured by private and tourist interests, and particularly since the 2000s large-scale hotel developments have limited beach access for Jamaicans. This film follows the grassroots movement resisting the privatization of Jamaican beaches by zooming in on three frontline struggles: Bob Marley Beach near Kingston, the Blue Lagoon in the parish of Portland, and Mammee Bay Beach on the island’s North Coast. The interviewees, all Jamaicans, reveal how the 1956 Beach Control Act, which is still in effect today, vests ownership of the foreshore in the Jamaican state (and actually the British Crown) and traces how this colonial-era law, combined with the island’s all-inclusive tourism model, has displaced communities, disrupted livelihoods, and degraded environments. Interwoven with archival footage, news clips, and recordings of protest rallies and court cases, the interviewees situate today’s beach access struggles within Jamaica’s troubled history of land ownership following emancipation and independence. They argue that the island’s tourism industry replicates plantation logic by monopolizing land, concentrating wealth, exporting profits, and, ultimately, marginalizing the people. Beach Inna Bondage shows that beach access, which is not only an issue in Jamaica but across the Caribbean and beyond, is an urgent matter of historical, economic, social, cultural and environmental justice, raising the question of who the so-called 'tropical paradise' of sun, sand, and sea truly serves, and at what cost...

About Aqui Vive Gente

In the short documentary Aqui Vive Gente (2022, 23', People Live Here), Puerto Rican journalist Bianca Graulau examines the forces transforming Puerto Rico and threatening to displace the people who call the island home. Through the experiences of residents of a marginalized urban neighborhood facing growing pressures of displacement, the film explores the impacts of gentrification, touristification, real-estate development, and tax incentives to attract wealthy outsiders, while many Puerto Ricans struggle to afford housing in their own communities. Released in connection with Bad Bunny’s song El Apagon, Aqui Vive Gente uses the global reach of one of Puerto Rico’s biggest artists to amplify Caribbean voices of resistance. Urgent yet deeply rooted in love for the island, the film offers a powerful portrait of Caribbean communities confronting insecurity, resisting displacement, and asserting their right to remain. At its core lies a fundamental question of belonging: who gets to live in, shape, and benefit from Puerto Rico, and, by extension, the Caribbean?

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About JaBBEM

JaBBEM (Jamaica Beach Birthright Environmental Movement) is a grassroots movement dedicated to protecting Jamaica’s coastal ecosystems while affirming the inherent right of all people to access, enjoy, and steward the island’s beaches. Rooted in the belief that Jamaica’s shores are part of a shared cultural and ecological inheritance, JaBBEM advocates against land privatization, tourism development, environmental degradation, and exclusionary practices that limit public access to coastal spaces. The movement brings together community members, environmental activists, cultural practitioners, and youth to promote sustainable coastal management, climate resilience, and environmental justice. Through beach cleanups, public education campaigns, policy advocacy, and cultural events, JaBBEM highlights the interconnectedness of ecological preservation and social equity. JaBBEM considers beaches not just as natural resources, but as vital spaces of history, identity, and community life - places where heritage, livelihood, and environmental responsibility meet. By mobilizing local voices and fostering collective action, the movement seeks to ensure that Jamaica’s beaches remain protected, accessible, and thriving for present and future generations. For more information, visit www.jabbem.org.

About Keznamdi

Keznamdi is a Kingston-born Jamaican reggae artist, singer-songwriter, and producer known for blending roots reggae with contemporary sounds influenced by soul, hip-hop, and African musical traditions. Raised in a deeply musical family and shaped by experiences across Jamaica, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and the United States, he has become a leading voice within Jamaica’s reggae revival movement. Known for songs such as 'Pressure,' 'Time,' and 'Grade,' Keznamdi’s music explores themes of identity, spirituality, social justice, and liberation. He is also a collaborator and supporter of the documentary Beach Inna Bondage, contributing both his music and voice, and especially his song 'Colonial Bondage,' to the film’s message around public beach access, land rights, and environmental justice in Jamaica. For more information, visit www.keznamdi.com.

About Caribbean Creativity

Caribbean Creativity is a Kingston- and Amsterdam-based cultural non-profit organization committed to the production, programming and promotion of Caribbean and Caribbean-themed cinema. Over the years, Caribbean Creativity has hosted more than 350 screenings in film theatres and at film festivals, including numerous premieres. In 2020, they launched YardVibes, a streaming platform featuring content from independent Caribbean and African filmmakers. YardVibes currently offers more than 100 titles, including feature films, web series, documentaries, and short films, with new content added monthly. This year, they devoted most of their time and energy to the making of Beach Inna Bondage. For more information, visit www.caribbeancreativity.nl.

About Africadelic

Africadelic is an Amsterdam-based non-profit organization and platform committed to the programming and promotion of African and African diasporic cultural creativity, diversity and activism in the Netherlands and beyond. The annual Africadelic Festival is an ode to the African continent and its worldwide diaspora, celebrating the cultural richness and profound influence of Afrodescendants, people of African descent, on global culture and society. Taking place from May 20–27, 2026, this year’s edition once again featured a vibrant week of events. Beyond the annual festival, Africadelic presents many events throughout the year, including CineCarib in collaboration with Africadelic. For more information, visit www.africadelic.com.