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Imogene “Queenie” Kennedy was a priestess in post-colonial Jamaica who catapulted her African spiritual practice into renown. But after centuries of erasure, what remains of the dance between the living and the dead?
In the wake of the loss of her mother, the filmmaker travels into the heart of the Jamaican countryside to research kumina, an ancestral ritual. The ancient practice, she learns, is a driving force in Jamaica’s culture and identity, yet its leaders have historically been discarded as witches and even criminalized.
Jamaica’s post-colonial renaissance enabled Queenie to share her practice with the world. Today, artists and followers are reimagining kumina—even as the mysterious world of spirit possession reveals divergent pathways to freedom, healing, and transformation.
Nyasha Laing is a Belizean-American documentarian, producer, writer, and lawyer whose storytelling explores freedom, inspiration, and inheritance.
Her independent work, written and produced, has been featured in the Pan-African Film Festival, Indie Memphis, Johannesburg Film Festival, and WOMEX, and on NPR, PBS, and the BBC World Service.
Nyasha is a Founding Partner at Red Owl Partners, a New York City based impact production company and is a graduate of Yale University and NYU School of Law.
Nyasha Laing is a Belizean-American documentarian, producer, writer, and lawyer whose storytelling explores freedom, inspiration, and inheritance.
Her independent work, written and produced, has been featured in the Pan-African Film Festival, Indie Memphis, Johannesburg Film Festival, and WOMEX, and on NPR, PBS, and the BBC World Service.
Nyasha is a Founding Partner at Red Owl Partners, a New York City based impact production company and is a graduate of Yale University and NYU School of Law.