CaribbeanTales Film Festival starts tomorrow!!!!

Friends,

The 4th CaribbeanTales Film Fstival starts tomorrow. Don't miss it!

Where: William Doo Auditorium, 45 Willcocks Avenue, Toronto

When: July 9th - 12th 2009

Our FULL FESTIVAL PROGRAM is online here.

Tickets are available now through the University of Toronto Box Office at UofTtix Box Office, (416) 978-8849 http://uofttix.ca, or Uof T's Central Box Office, Open Mon-Fri 11am-5pm in Hart House, Uof T.

Program Highlights

Thursday July 9th:

12 noon. Welcome Lunch. Join us to welcome our valued filmmakers! This year we welcome participants from Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados, Antigua, Jamaica, Curacao, the U.K., the U.S. and Canada. Our special guest is internationally renowned Martinican filmmaker Euzhan Palcy.

12:00 pm - 5:00 pm. Industry Series. Featuring presentations and contributions from filmmakers, academics and industry leaders, in a Round Table format.


5:00 pm - late. Opening VIP Reception and Gala Presentation. Hosted by the Consulate General for Barbados, Toronto. Our Opening Night Feature is the beautiful documentary Carmen and Geoffrey about two exceptional artists, Trinidadian director, choreographer, designer, dancer and painter Geoffrey Holder and his wife American dancer Carmen de Lavallade, and their fifty-three year long love affair and creative partnership.

Friday July 10th:

12 noon - 5:00 pm. YOUTH DAY. A Program of edutainment, featuring screenings and workshops, aimed at young people 12-18 years old.

5:00 pm - late. Trinidad Night. An explosion of new work by film and TV creators from the twin islands of Trinidad and Tobago.

Saturday July 11th:

12 noon. An Afternoon with Euzhan Palcy. Come and meet one of the most versatile, passionate and accomplished filmmakers working in the world today. Euzhan Palcy was the first woman of African heritgae to direct a hollywood movie with A Dry White Season starring Marlon Brando and Susan Sarandon.

5:00 pm - late. Night of Tribute. The 2nd CaribbeanTales Awards Ceremony honors the distinguished careers and contributions of a number of industry leaders and film Artists.


Sunday July 12th:

11:00 pm - 8:00 pm. Sunday at the Movies. Unparrallelled popcorn movie entertainment for your Sunday viewing pleasure!


8:00 pm . Closing Night. The Canadian Premiere of Ricardo Scipio's 2nd Feature Finder of Lost Children.

See you there!
Frances-Anne

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From exciting premieres to industry youth workshops, CaribbeanTales brings only the best Caribbean films from around the world.

Toronto – July 8th, 2009

For its fourth fabulous year, the CaribbeanTales Film Festival returns with four days of exciting programs, celebrating local and international Caribbean cinema. As Canada’s premier standalone Caribbean film festival, CaribbeanTales presents the best Caribbean films from around the world at the William Doo Auditorium (45 Willcocks St.) this July 9th to 12th 2009.

With the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts and in partnership with New College, University of Toronto and U of T’s Caribbean Studies Program, this year’s theme, Caribbean Film – A Tool for Education and Social Change, brings together filmmakers and producers from Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Barbados, Antigua, the Eastern Caribbean, the UK, Africa, the U.S. and Canada.
Kicking off its opening night celebrations on Thursday July 9th, 2009, CaribbeanTales Film Festival premieres the groundbreaking film Carmen & Geoffrey. Directed by the husband/wife team, Trinidadian director Nick Doob and American director Linda Atkinson, the film is about two extraordinary artists who step forward to play a vital role in the 1950s newly energized world of modern dance in the midst of their own love affair. Hosted by the Consulate General of Barbados, the evening starts at 5pm with a VIP Reception, followed by the feature presentation, and ends with an after party at the
GSU Pub.

In addition to the opening attraction, the festival launches the CaribbeanTales Industry Development Program (CTIDP), an initiative that provides educational industry activities such as training workshops, roundtable sessions, and panel discussions on film practice, animation, business development and marketing to help youth and emerging talent break into the industry and succeed.

CaribbeanTales Film Festival holds its annual Youth Day (July 10th), an edu-tainment program designed for young people aged 12 to 18. It is followed by a special thematic evening entitled Trinidad Night, sponsored by The Consulate General of the Republic of Trinidad & Tobago, featuring an evening of films exclusively from Trinidad.

This year, the festival is honouring the outstanding career of the award-winning international director Euzhan Palcy from Martinique, the first woman of African descent to ever direct a Hollywood Studio movie. Join us at 12pm on Saturday for an intimate Lunch with Euzhan Palcy followed by a screening of her breakthrough film MGM’s A Dry White Season (1989), starring Donald Sutherland, Marlon Brando and Susan Sarandon.

On the evening of July 11th, 2009, CaribbeanTales presents A Night of Tribute, honouring the world’s leading innovators of Caribbean cinema. The evening also hosts the official DVD launch of the award-winning feature film, A Winter Tale, after the screening at 7pm.

At the festival finale (July 12th), guests can start the day with brunch at the GSU Pub, followed by Sunday Afternoon at the Movies, starting at 12:30pm with Hit For Six (Barbados), by Alison Saunders-Franklyn. The festival’s closing night film is Finder of Lost Children, by Trinidad-born, Toronto-raised filmmaker Ricardo Scipio. The film, about two half sisters embarking on a journey after meeting at the funeral of their estranged father, is loosely based on Scipio’s own family experience.

For the full schedule please visit www.caribbeantales.ca. Tickets available at UofTtix Box Office (416)978-8849 or uofttix.ca and University of Toronto's Central Box Office, open Mon-Fri, 11am-5pm in Hart House, University
of Toronto.

The CaribbeanTales Film Festival is founded by award-winning director, filmmaker and festival curator Frances-Anne Solomon who has had great success with her most recent highly acclaimed feature film A Winter Tale (for Telefilm Canada/CHUM Television).

Frances-Anne Solomon is also the president and artistic director of the two companies she created: Leda Serene Films and CaribbeanTales. Selected recent projects include HeartBeat – a documentary series profiling Caribbean musical creators; Literature Alive, a many facetted multimedia project profiling Caribbean authors; and the Gemini-nominated Lord Have Mercy!, Canada’s landmark multicultural sitcom, for Vision TV, Toronto1, APTN and Showcase.

CaribbeanTales is Canada’s premier multimedia company that creates, markets and distributes educational films, videos, radio programs, audio books, theatre plays, websites and events, to showcase the rich heritage of Caribbean Diaspora worldwide.

CaribbeanTales’ mandate is to foster and encourage intercultural understanding and citizen participation through the medium of film, contributing to an inclusive Canadian society.