New James Bond feature film to première at GoldenEye

A new feature documentary exploring the life, imagination and enduring legacy of James Bond creator Ian Fleming – titled Ian Fleming and the Curse of James Bond – will première at GoldenEye, Fleming’s former Jamaican home, during the 80th anniversary year of the villa’s construction.

Directed by Adam Low, the film examines Ian Fleming’s life, imagination and legacy beyond the legend of 007, considering the contradictions, pressures and fascinations that shaped both the man and the charged literary world he created.

The Film première Weekend, set for November 19 to 22, forms part of GoldenEye’s wider 80th anniversary celebration, honouring the villa’s origins, its connection to Fleming’s work, and its continuing role as a destination for writers, artists, musicians, travellers and Bond admirers.

The Première Weekend will bring guests from around the world to the place where Fleming’s daily writing ritual helped launch the Bond phenomenon. The programme includes a screening at PlayScape, a cocktail party with members of the film’s crew at the GoldenEye villa, with a Jamaican jazz band, a classic Jamaican BBQ and Ian Fleming-themed morning breakfasts. Together, the events offer guests a rare opportunity to experience the film in the setting most closely associated with Fleming’s creative life.

GoldenEye is the former home of author Ian Fleming in Oracabessa, Jamaica. Fleming purchased the site in 1946 (it was formerly a donkey racetrack) and built the villa as his island retreat, where he went on to write the James Bond novels and stories. Today, GoldenEye is operated by Island Outpost as a distinctive Jamaican property that preserves the spirit, history and natural beauty of its place.

“Fleming built GoldenEye as a place where he could write, and every James Bond novel was written here. Eighty years later, it remains the spiritual birthplace of Bond. To screen a film that looks so closely at Fleming himself, during GoldenEye’s 80th year, is very special,” said Chris Blackwell, Founder, and Marika Kessler, CEO, Island Outpost.

Presented at GoldenEye by Gross Media, the première weekend brings together biography, place and mythology in a setting deeply connected to the Bond story.

“GoldenEye’s enduring legacy as a centre of Jamaican art and creativity is rare and compelling,” said David M. Gross, the film’s executive producer. “So much new has originated here and radiated outward — through music, painting, literature and the performing arts. Our film invites a new generation to come to Oracabessa, St. Mary, to understand that legacy and be inspired by it.”

“In making the film, I was determined to put Jamaica at the centre of the story,” said Adam Low, the film’s director. “Even the Bond books not set there are infused with the island’s atmosphere, landscape and history. By including Jamaican voices — from Fleming’s longtime gardener Ramsay Dacosta to novelist Marlon James, as well as Minister of Culture Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange whose relative Aunt Violet was Fleming’s house manager — the film shows how deeply Jamaica shaped Fleming’s imagination and the world of Bond.”

“As Minister Grange says in the film, ‘Jamaica is the star of the Bond films,’ and the documentary makes a compelling case that without Jamaica, there would be no James Bond,” said Adam Low, underlining the Jamaican connection. The perspective of the film deepens the première’s connection to GoldenEye by positioning Jamaica not simply as Fleming’s retreat, but as a defining creative force behind Bond’s settings, sensibility and mythology.”

The film’s opening sequence features a moving benediction in the Rastafari tradition by author, journalist and cultural liaison Barbara Blake-Hannah, while driving along the vibrant streets through Oracabessa, St. Mary, en route to GoldenEye, with Desmond Dekker & The Aces’ legendary rocksteady and reggae track 007 (Shanty Town) on play.

“By weaving together Jamaican voices, landscapes and history, the documentary underscores the island’s central place in both Fleming’s imagination and the continuing cultural life of 007,” said film editor Joanna Crickley.

Commissioned by Sky Arts in the UK, the film is produced by Embankment Films and Lone Star Productions, in association with Night Train Media and Gross Media Inc. Gross Media is a media company founded by David M. Gross that works with distinctive heritage companies and cultural brands to create entertainment events, films, new products and sensory experiences.