The First Rasta (2011)

ALL 04/27/2011 (fr) Documentary 86 Min
  • Release
    04/27/2011
  • Production
  • Rotten tomato
    40%
  • Original title
    Le Premier rasta
  • Original language
    fr
  • Production Cost
  • 0.00
    -

Overview

Going far beyond the standard imagery of Rasta—ganja, reggae, and dreadlocks—this cultural history offers an uncensored vision of a movement with complex roots and the exceptional journey of a man who taught an enslaved people how to be proud and impose their culture on the world. In the 1920s Leonard Percival Howell and the First Rastas had a revelation concerning the divinity of Haile Selassie, king of Ethiopia, that established the vision for the most popular mystical movement of the 20th century, Rastafarianism. Although jailed, ridiculed, and treated as insane, Howell, also known as the Gong, established a Rasta community of 4,500 members, the first agro-industrial enterprise devoted to producing marijuana. In the late 1950s the community was dispersed, disseminating Rasta teachings throughout the ghettos of the island. A young singer named Bob Marley adopted Howell's message, and through Marley's visions, reggae made its explosion in the music world.

  1. Story

  2. Producer



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Casts

  1. The Abyssinians

    Themselves

  2. Leonard Percival Lowell

    Self (archive footage)

  3. Marcus Garvey

    Self (archive footage)

  4. Max Romeo

    Self

Full Cast & Crew

Casts : 4 , Crews : 10

Keyword

The First Rasta (2011) 86 Min

ALL 04/27/2011 (fr)
Documentary
  • Release 04/27/2011
  • Production
  • Original title Le Premier rasta
  • fr
  • Revenue0.00

Overview

Going far beyond the standard imagery of Rasta—ganja, reggae, and dreadlocks—this cultural history offers an uncensored vision of a movement with complex roots and the exceptional journey of a man who taught an enslaved people how to be proud and impose their culture on the world. In the 1920s Leonard Percival Howell and the First Rastas had a revelation concerning the divinity of Haile Selassie, king of Ethiopia, that established the vision for the most popular mystical movement of the 20th century, Rastafarianism. Although jailed, ridiculed, and treated as insane, Howell, also known as the Gong, established a Rasta community of 4,500 members, the first agro-industrial enterprise devoted to producing marijuana. In the late 1950s the community was dispersed, disseminating Rasta teachings throughout the ghettos of the island. A young singer named Bob Marley adopted Howell's message, and through Marley's visions, reggae made its explosion in the music world.

  1. Hélène Lee, Christophe Farnarier

    Director

  2. Story

  3. Nini Ranaivoarivony

    Editor

  4. Producer