New York Salutes Legendary Caribbean Actress

LEONIE FORBES FILM RETROSPECTIVE FOUR FILMS!

THREE DIRECTORS! ONE STAR! NEW YORK:

The vision of some of the Caribbean's most prolific filmmakers join in a New York City celebration of the illustrious career of legendary Jamaican actress, Leonie Forbes. Caribbean Classics - Leonie Forbes Film Fest features work from Lennie Little-White (Jamaica), Andrew Millington (Barbados), and Frances-Anne Solomon (Trinidad & Tobago), and takes place at Medgar Evers College on Saturday, May 5.

An officially endorsed Jamaica 50th Independence Anniversary program, the day-long festival is presented by a tripartite collation of Caribbean diaspora cultural organizations, the Caribbean Cultural Theatre, Caribbean Research Center, and CaribbeanTales Worldwide Distribution.

The series of four films and discussions culminates with the iconic actress of Caribbean stage and screen in conversation with Jamaican born journalist, reggae impresario, and program director of Sirius XM Radio, Pat McKay.

Hosted in the heart of the teeming Caribbean-American community of Central Brooklyn, NY at the campus of Medgar Evers College, 1650 Bedford Avenue, the diverse program will not only afford an occasion to celebrate the talent of one of the region's most acclaimed thespians, but will also examine the challenges and opportunities of an emerging Caribbean cinema.

The schedule for the Saturday, May 5, 2012 program is:

2:00 'What My Mother Told Me'. A journey towards self-discovery forces a young woman to meet her mother, whom she thought had abandoned her as a child. Frances-Anne Solomon, director (Trinidad & Tobago) View Film Clip Here.

3:00 'Children of Babylon' Love, lust, race, and class collide on a hedonistic pleasure dome as life on an old plantation is confronted by a changing society. Lennie Little-White, director. (Jamaica). Featuring Bob Andy

5:15 'Guttaperc' A storied past and the yearning for development creates conflicts for the feature of a village and family. Andrew Millington, director (Barbados).

7:00 Tellin We Own Story - In Conversation with Leonie Forbes Journalist Pat McKay interviews the iconic actress on life, art, and life imitating art.

8:45 'A Winter Tale'  Families struggle to reconcile their immigrant dreams after a bullet meant for a drug dealer kills a ten-year-old boy. Frances-Anne Solomon, director (Canada).Featuring Dennis "Spragalang" Hall. View Film Clip here.

Tickets for the Caribbean Classics - Leonie Forbes Film Fest range from $10 for general admission per screening to $5 for students and seniors at the early afternoon screenings. A special $25 'Festival Passport' provides access to all screenings and the tribute session to Ms. Forbes.

Leonie Forbes has garnered an impressive list of international theatre, television and film credits in Australia, Britain, Canada, Germany, India and the United States, and has consistently enthralled audiences in her native Jamaica and the wider Caribbean. Her film and television credits include 'A Winter Tale', 'Shattered Image', 'Milk and Honey', 'The Orchid House', 'Passion and Paradise', 'Club Paradise', 'Children of Babylon' 'Going to Extremes' which aired on ABC, 'Lord Have Mercy' on Toronto One, and 'Small Island' on PBS. Trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, her accolades include a Gemini Award® nomination in Canada, a life time achievement medal from El Centro Mexicano de Teatro, the Institute of Jamaica Gold Musgrave Medal and the Order of Distinction (Officer) from the Government of Jamaica.

The program presenters are the Caribbean Cultural Theatre, Caribbean Research Center, and CaribbeanTales Worldwide Distribution.

For additional information: 718-783-8345 / 718-270-6218 / 917-202-0696 or via info@caribbeantheatre.org

About Caribbean Cultural Theatre

Caribbean Cultural Theatre is a theatrical immersion experience presenting the work of Caribbean based and/or influenced writers, performers and other practitioners that both entertains and enlightens and honours a balanced rendering of Caribbean culture and the Caribbean-American experience. A project of the Brooklyn, NY based Caribbean Cultural Theatre, the Caribbean Classics Stage & Screen Series highlights the work some of the region's most illustrious pioneering practitioners of stage and screen and celebrates their role as social commentators, their struggles with cultural identity and in fashioning a Caribbean voice. The series has previously featured the work of Jamaican dramatist and filmmaker, Trevor Rhone, 'The Harder They Come', 'Smile Orange'. 'One Love'; Guyanese novelist E. R. Braithwaite, To Sir With Love, and Jamaican novelist and screenwriter, Anthony Winkler, The Annihilation of Fish and The Lunatic.

About the Caribbean Research Center

Caribbean Research Center, an academic component of Medgar Evers College, provides a multidisciplinary understanding of the New York social environment, the diverse social, cultural and economic characteristics of the Caribbean-American community.

About CaribbeanTales Worldwide Distribution.

CaribbeanTales Worldwide Distribution (CTWD) is the first full-service film distribution company in the English-speaking Caribbean, and a reference for buyers of Caribbean-themed content.

CaribbeanTales is a group of companies that produces, markets and exhibits Caribbean-themed films for regional and international distribution, including: CTWD; 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.