“In no other Shakespeare will you get this line: “I heard you cook a wicked leg of jerk chicken.”

“It started life as a reality tv show following kids in schools putting on Shakespeare”

"The tussles between the rival Montagues and Capulets are terrific, out on streets full of colour, reggae playing... they’re like real fights between teenagers, foolish bravado getting out of control."

Cath Clarke, The Guardian

Steve Toussaint

stev Toussaint
Button
RSC screening Oct 30 2024 @University of Birmingham
Button
Boyd Grant and Tamique Baxter
Button
Charl Baker and Sheldon Shepherd
Button
Kadeem Wilson
Button
Sheldon Shepherd
Button
Shanice Gowans and Deshawn Miller
Button
Everaldo Creary and Teriran Dias
Button
Lajeisha Ellison and Deshawn Miller
Button
Deshawn Miller and Shanice Gowans
Button

Cath Clarke, The Guardian

Romeo n Juliet 4EVA

Struggling 16-year-old Dean runs a backyard cook shop to support his sick mother. Amidst adolescence's trials at Haile Selassie High School, located in Kingston’s rough Payneland, he battles bullies, including the gnarly school bully, and harbours an unrequited love for his neighbour, Erica.

When their English class dives into Shakespeare's "Romeo & Juliet" over a weekend assignment, Dean envisions himself as Romeo, with Erica as his rebel Juliet, sparking newfound courage.
Button
Paul Bucknor DIRECTOR

The Full Monty, Fox Searchlight
Writer Co-Producer 1998
Better Mus Come, Firefly Films
Writer Producer 2011
Conquering Shakespeare, Firefly Films
Producer Director 2020
Romeo n Juliet 4EVA
PRODUCER DIRECTOR 2024

Paul's film career started in Italy with international pre-sales for Checchi Gori Group and then as a marketing consultant with 20th Century Fox, Columbia Pictures and Warner Bros.
In 1994 he wrote the oiginal story for The Full Monty and would co-produce the film in 1996. Release in 1997 The same year he led a consortium to acquire the Electric Cinema, Britain's first Africa & Diaspora focused movie house.
He returned to Jamaica in the mid noughties, founding Firefly Films and co-founded the Flashpoint Film Festival Jamaica. He produced "Better Mus' Come" in 2010 and in 2019, he ventured into television with "Conquering Shakespeare," a reality tv series about a Shakespeare competition in Jamaican high schools., laying the groundwork for his directorial debut, "Romeo & Juliet 4EVA." The film is released by new UK distributor eXe Films from June 13 2024.
Button
Sheldon Shepherd

Playing Lord Capulet in Romeo n Juliet 4EVA, award-winning actor, writer and music artiste, Sheldon Shepherd is best known for his role in Better Mus' Come, for which he won Best Actor at the American Black Film Festival in 2012. More recently, he also starred in Idris Elba's directorial debut, Yardie, and the upcoming Bob Marley biopic directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green.

With upwards of 20 years of experience in the creative and cultural arts field, he has been a celebrated performer from a young age.

He also writes and directs for stage, is a published dub poet and a founding member and lead singer of The No-Maddz, a Jamaican art collective and roots reggae dub poetry band.
Button
Better Mus' Come

BETTER MUS' COME, produced and co-written by Paul Bucknor, is a stunning love story unfolding at a time when rival Jamaican gangs were enlisted by warring political factions to disrupt the democratic process - and bloodshed was unleashed on the streets. Winner of Best Feature Awards at Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival and Bahamas Intl Film Festival, Best Director Award at Pan-African Film Festival and Best Actor Award at American Black Film Festival, the film has screened at Toronto International Film Festival, Film Society of Lincoln Center and British Film Institute.
Button