In an Our Today follow-up… It was a capacity crowd for last week’s Kingston premiere of From Yard The Series, an immigrant urban drama depicting the journey of a Jamaican man, as he seeks his personal and professional purpose amid the gritty backdrop of New York City streets.

The film debuted to an enthusiastic and sizable audience at Sovereign Center’s Palace Cineplex theatre in Kingston last Monday. A star-studded capacity crowd, which included renowned names from the worlds of entertainment and sports such as former 100-meter world record holder Asafa Powell, reggae dancehall artiste and producer Agent Sasco, and Jamaican actress Deon Silvera, made their presence felt at the one-hour pilot.

Joining in the festivities were other members of the mostly Jamaican cast including series lead Shevrado Oliver, who plays David G Heron, Glen “Titus” Campbell, Darron Donaldson, Miranda Melhado, Claire Dennison, Zole Onoura, Romar Banton and Adam Christian, making his professional acting debut in the role of young Dave G Heron, while many others showed up and enjoyed laughter, cheers and thunderous applause at the film’s conclusion.

Overseas interest in the film

Also in attendance were series producers, including Executive Producer Dave G Heron, Producer Phaedra Benford, and Producer-Director Leland Benford, who disclosed that several networks and streaming platforms have shown a strong interest in the project. The production team is hoping to secure a distribution deal for the series in the near future.

The event was hosted by broadcaster, journalist, and educator, Paula-Anne Porter-Jones and award-winning playwright and actor, David Heron, who also appears in the series in a major supporting role. The event was held as a charity fundraiser for The BAM MOMS Club, a Jamaica-based charitable organisation geared towards providing prenatal education for pregnant women in their fourth to seventh month of pregnancy.

About the series

The immigrant urban drama series traces the true life story of Jamaica-born Dave G Heron (not to be confused with the aforementioned David Heron) from his humble childhood beginnings in Maverley, Kingston, through his subsequent emigration to the USA and his turbulent adolescence and young adulthood on the streets of New York City in the 1970s and ’80s.

The series is based on Heron’s autobiographical novel, Yardie, and is believed to be the first-ever television production to examine the pursuit of the American dream through the eyes of a Jamaican family.

In the talkback segment held after the screening between the cast, producers, and the hosts, Benford stressed the importance that his team placed on authenticity during the production process, which he believes resulted in a tremendously positive audience response as the show unfolded.

“From the very beginning we knew we needed to shoot this in Jamaica, in authentic Jamaican locations and with authentic Jamaican actors,” he noted, adding, “it was just too important a project for the Jamaican people and culture to not be accurately represented. And it was clearly the right decision based on what we’ve witnessed here tonight.”