Culture‘Opening the lid of a horrible secret’: Jamaican filmmakers confront enslavement on screen

Sky’s supernatural series Possession uses a 300-year-old box that releases a violent spirit as a metaphor for colonialism and oppression returning. Jamaican creatives are increasingly telling local stories about enslavement, trauma and historical memory. A film studies lecturer describes this reclamation of narratives suppressed under colonialism as a form of “cultural reparation.”

Jamaican filmenslavementcolonialismcultural reparation

TThe Guardian★★☆☆☆2026-10-16 10:00Original