FOR her contribution to the film industry, Jamaican actress Leonie Forbes is to be honoured at an all-day festival at the Medgar Evers College in New York on Saturday, May 5.

The event is part of the Jamaica 50 celebrations.

FORBES… to be lauded at the Medgar Evers College in New York on Saturday, May 5

“She is the best actress Jamaica has ever produced,” said Lennie Little-White, producer/director.

Little-White, executive producer of hit TV series Royal Palm Estate, had cast Forbes in his 1980 film Children of Babylon. Forbes has also worked with Little-White in Glory Gloriana as well as a sitcom Traxx.

The festival will feature four films highlighting her career.

And, for the event, Little-White has teamed with other Caribbean filmmakers who have worked with the actress including Barbados’ Andrew Millington, and Trinidad and Tobago’s Frances-Anne Solomon.

Solomon’s contributions are What My Mother Told Me and A Winter Tale. Millington’s film is Guttaperc.

Pat McKay, a New York journalist/broadcaster, interview with Forbes entitled Tellin’ We Own Story will also be shown.

The Caribbean Cultural Theatre, the Caribbean Research Center, and Caribbean Tales Worldwide Distribution, have all teamed up to promote the event.

They note she has “garnered an impressive list of international theatre, television and film credits” after her training at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

She has also earned a lifetime achievement medal from El Centro Mexicano de Teatro, a Musgrave gold medal from the Institute of Jamaica, and an Order of Distinction (OD) from the Jamaican Government.

Little-White said he has never worked with a Jamaican actress or actor as humble as Leonie Forbes.

“She demands nothing, and when you find an actress who is even willing to bring a piece of her costume to work with her, you will understand. She is always on time, she goes beyond the call of duty to perfect a scene, and she will do her lines over and over until she gets it right,” he said.