Filmmaker Jordan Morris is Toronto-bound with ‘Smile’

Jordan Morris, also known as ‘Jordan Mars’, is not yet 30. At the time of this interview, that particular milestone is a week away, and to close out his 20s, he’s about to embark on a new chapter he hadn’t quite anticipated until just a few years ago.

A new filmmaker, Morris is the first-time writer-director of the short film Smile. A 2026 Greater August Town Film Festival (GATFFEST) Viewers’ Choice Award recipient, the film has been selected for the Screen Share programme at the 2026 CaribbeanTales Film Festival in Toronto, Canada. The story of how it got there and how it got made is a touching tribute.

When it came to making his debut film, Morris struggled with questions. “I had been thinking about making my first short film for years, but the problem I faced was: What do I want to talk about? What’s an important story I want to tell?” The answer came in 2023, when he became the owner of a house he inherited from his late grandparents. “Inheriting the house came with its own set of problems... . When I got it, the house was in the state you see now,” he shared. The home has only one floor, with a slab roof and notable damage to its exterior walls, particularly an indentation on the grill on the outside of a window. That damaged section of the home became the subject of Morris’ award-winning film. “I started to get fixated on that mashed-up grill. I always knew the story that my grandfather came home, drunk one night, and he reversed the truck and mashed up the burglar bar.” The story is one Morris remembers from his youth, but as he recalls his grandfather’s blunder, he can’t help but note the humour in the indelible mark left in the aftermath. “I thought it was kind of funny that he’s gone now, and that still don’t fix. He’s made a permanent indentation in the house.”

Morris has every intention to renovate the space bequeathed to him, but before making the renovations, he thought to chronicle its imperfections through the medium of film. “It was important for me to kind of document this journey and do the film here to kind of immortalise this space before it becomes a new space, my space,” he said.

Morris traces his motivation to make a movie to a screening at the Bob Marley Museum, where he sat in the audience to see the short film BLV by JP Williams. “I saw it, and I was like, if JP and I are peers in the same age group, and he can make such a wonderful film that can touch me, then I can make a film too.”

With that, Morris’ hurdle was distilling a story about alcoholism and the damage it causes into a relatable film, an obstacle he overcame by trusting in his fellow Jamaicans. “I’ve decided that as Jamaicans, we have this superpower of taking serious tings mek joke, and I kinda wanted to highlight the absurdity of it.” The film is set in a bar and features an actor playing his grandfather, telling the story of the crash to his drinking companion. Morris cites influences like Wes Anderson films, the television series Atlanta, Napoleon Dynamite, among others, as helpful in establishing a surreal and absurdist tone, in which a gentleman at a bar becomes an unreliable narrator, with switching perspectives that keep the viewer guessing.

Many filmmakers choose a personal story for their debut, but few receive the kind of acknowledgement being received by Morris at this juncture. It’s a hard-won moment for the filmmaker, with the help of friends Jaime Grandison and Malik White. “Once I finished the film, I submitted it to my first festival and didn’t get selected.” In the face of rejection, he rallied with fellow filmmakers Jaime Grandison and Malik White to coordinate their own film night. “We had the film night, and the reception was crazy; and just doing that, it was like a snowball effect. We had our screening in December and then, boom — in March, we heard from GATFFEST, and the ball just kept rolling.” With momentum built, Morris turned to the diaspora to take his film further, eventually earning a selection in the CaribbeanTales Film Festival Screen Share programme. “When I saw it, I was like, ‘Oh my God, yes.’ I was just very stoked...then after a while I said, ‘Well, I’ve never been to Canada, I need to go.’”

Unfortunately, he didn’t have the means to make the trip, yet determination guided Morris’ steps, and he knew he wouldn’t walk alone. His friends Grandison and White were also selected for Screen Share for their short film Trouble. With their heads together, they sought sponsorship, believing that their cause was a worthy one. They turned out to be right and secured funding from the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education Fund and the Jamaica Promotions Corporation.

While Morris seeks to celebrate his achievement and take Smile even further, he’s already thinking about his next project. “I would want it to be a series, and that’s a big jump in itself, but right now the sky feels like the limit, and I know the work it’s going to take.” Naturally, I pressed Morris for any details he could share about his new work. “Let’s just say it’s set in a call centre. That’s all I’m gonna say,”” shared Morris.

Damian Levy is a film critic and podcaster for Damian Michael Movies.