Michael Ammar Jr - file

Bacchanal Jamaica IS set to goHollywood for carnival 2009 with bigger and better plans for the soca season.

The Mas Camp Village opens its doors to soca junkies on February 6 with 'lights, camera, action', the first soca fete in the Bacchanal schedule. This year, the carnival incorporates more touches of fantasy to the Mas Camp venue and to the costumes for the road march, which is scheduled for Sunday, April 19. Each Friday night there will be a different movie-oriented theme which will be reflected in the decor of the venue.

When the STAR spoke to Bacchanal Jamaica Director, Michael Ammar Jr, he explained that the Hollywood concept was created as an act of escapism for patrons in the current difficult economic climate.

Nice escape

"When we started to conceptualise the theme last July, things were starting to get rough in the world. So, we thought 'what would be a nice escape from reality?' and what's better than Hollywood?"

"Our prediction happened and things got worse, so we expanded the theme to beyond just the road march to the whole carnival," Ammar Jr. said.

The Mas Camp venue, according to Ammar Jr, is already in the transformation process and, by the time the weekly soca fêtes begin, the venue will be arranged to look like a movie set. This is just one of many changes, as this year there will be two VIP areas, which includes an ultra all inclusive VIP area set up in front of the stage during live band nights.

There will also be a 'Genesis Sky Dome' set up above the costume tent every Friday night.

As for the costumes for the road march, Ammar Jr commented: "This year there will be eight sections. All of them will reflect a movie or a movie theme." Last year, there were approximately 1500 costumed revellers, not including the live bands, marching band, crew and T-shirt revellers, who are also a part of the march.

Despite the difficult economic crunch, Bacchanal Jamaica is expecting the best, with efforts being made to ensure that patrons have an affordable night of partying. According to Ammar Jr, the gate price, as well as the bar prices, will be as close as possible to those from last year.