Fareye is director Hayden McLean’s recent short film, set in Jamaica, which follows a young boy, Khalil, as he escapes his traumatic childhood, and seeks answers to the problems of his local reality.

McLean pits spirituality and modernity (through a western lens) against each other. Trauma is associated as much with concrete and vehicles, as it is with violence and mistreatment. Khalil slips into the green and falls upon a Rastafarian ceremony.

McLean posits the Rastafarians and what they represent (a connection to the biblical tradition independent of modernity), as an alternative heritage to adopt for those burdened with the trauma of being a soldier outside the proverbial castle. The Amharic chants feel like a baptismal sermon as Khalil finds a family to represent.

The metaphorical baptism becomes a literal one.