CaribbeanTales Youth Film Festival & TIFF join forces to celebrate Black History Month.

 Toronto, Jan 4, 2012.

The CaribbeanTales Youth Film Festival (CTYFF) is partnering with TIFF to celebrate Black History Month with a fundraising Gala that recognizes the 50th Independence anniversaries of Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago and includes screenings of Storm Saulter's stunning award-winning feature film Better Mus’ Come.

The celebrations will take place on February 4th and 5th, 2012 at TIFF Bell Lightbox, as part of a special TIFF screening series entitled  "Music, Magic, Clash: New Voices in the African Diaspora"

“TIFF’s Black History Month programme seeks to showcase some of the African Diaspora's most engaging new filmmaking voices," said Cameron Bailey, Co-Director of the Toronto International Film Festival. "Through our partnership with CaribbeanTales Youth Film Festival, we can bring one of the region's most celebrated new films to an even wider Toronto audience.”

“We are excited to work with TIFF to grow and diversify Canadian audiences and help bring great Caribbean and Diaspora films to the world stage” says Frances-Anne Solomon, founder and CEO of CaribbeanTales.

Set within the politically turbulent turf wars of 1970’s Kingston, Jamaica, Saulter’s film tells the story of the Green Bay Massacre, a landmark in Jamaica's political history, and a young gang leader who must choose between fighting for his tribe and making a better life for his five-year old son.  Hailed as "heralding a new era in Jamaican filmmaking",  Better Mus’ Come is currently on a successful festival tour and most recently won the Audience Award at the highly regarded Bahamas International Film Festival.

Solomon says Better Mus’ Come is important because it represents a contemporary take on the region's historical reality. ”Young people need to know where they come from in order to step forward with confidence and pride.  Better Mus’ Come is a fresh dynamic approach to the past that enhances our critical perspective on Canada’s children of the African Diaspora.”

On February 4, 2012 at noon, there will be a Gala Caribbean Brunch at TIFF Bell Lightbox culminating in the Canadian premiere of Better Mus’ Come, hosted by Cameron Bailey.

On February 5, 2012 at 3.45 pm, Bailey will host a Youth and Community screening of Better Mus’ Come.

Both screenings will feature a Talk Back with filmmaker Storm Saulter. Tickets are available at tiff.net and CaribbeanTales-events.com.

The CaribbeanTales Youth Film Festival 2012 is co-produced with TIFF and partners include  404 Media Group, Art of Catering,  Carib101, Flyin Monkey Films, MotionLive, Telefilm Canada, and Up From The Roots.

For more information: Roger Dundas, 404 Media Group, 416.918.9045.

Photo: Director-writer-producer Storm Saulter shoots Better Mus Come. 

About CaribbeanTales

CaribbeanTales is a group of companies in Canada and the Caribbean, that produces, markets and distributes Caribbean-themed films. These include:  CaribbeanTales Worldwide Distribution, that links producers and buyers of quality filmed entertainment; the CaribbeanTales Film Festival Group that produces annual events in Toronto, Barbados and New York;  the Caribbean Incubator Program for Audio Visual Entrepreneurs that delivers training for filmmakers, and CaribbeanTales.ca, a non profit that promotes citizen participation through the medium of film, contributing to an inclusive Canadian society.

Founded in 2009, The CaribbeanTales Youth Film Festival screens Africentric films for audiences of high school and university students, to deepen audiences' understanding of Canada's multicultural communities through screenings, workshops and Q&A’s.