The film is the highlight of the Opening Gala of CaribbeanTales Film Festival 2012 which is the third annual edition of the foremost gathering of regional film professionals, including directors and producers. The 7 p.m. screening follows an Opening reception and takes place on Wednesday April 11 at Frank Collymore Hall. The public is invited to attend. Tickets are available online (www.caribbeantales-events.com) and at select locations for Bds for $35 and Bds $40 at the door.
Gina Belafonte is an TV and film actress in her own right. She has worked with her father as coach on several movies, and produced more than six films. She helped found “The Gathering For Justice”, an inter-generational, intercultural non-profit organisation working to reintroduce non-violence to stop child incarceration.
Also attending the premiere will be Susanne Rostock who enjoyed her directorial debut on “Sing Your Song”.
“I was thrilled to be given the opportunity to help tell this remarkable story. I felt the role Harry Belafonte played in the many struggles for human rights throughout 20th/21st century history could have a profound, inspiring effect on the viewer – especially the young,” said Rostock, urging the public to come and see this feature on one of the Caribbean’s legendary sons.
“Sing Your Song,” opened the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, and according to www.hollywoodreporter.com, was launched with the emotional charge of a political rally combined with the enthusiasm of a revival meeting.” Subsequently HBO picked up the US television rights. Speaking about the film recently, Harry Belafonte, credited the team that worked on it for their sterling contributions.
“I’ve had the extreme fortune to have a man, ("Sing Your Song" producer) Michael Cohl…who gave us the money to make "Sing Your Song".
“Then there were 800 hours of footage. That’s a lot of story... If it hadn’t been for ("Sing Your Song" writer/director/editor) Susanne Rostock, who has a remarkable gift as a cinema artist, her vision, her sense of where one moment touched another, and you could make the linkage of this way … if we had not been walked through the labyrinth by a genius…Life hands you a lot of things. It’s how you make fruit salad with the ingredients at your disposal.”
Asked about his expression of guilt or anxiety in the film over the worsening of some of society’s problems which he fought as an activist, Belafonte – who is of Jamaican and Martinican descent – conceded that both his generation and their offspring are to blame.
“When I spoke with Nelson (Mandela) on this very subject, his response was that it would behoove us not to become complacent, not to begin to find justification that absolves us of a sense of responsibility for the consequences we are experiencing. Somewhere, we made a mistake. Somewhere, we were not endowed with enough vision and foresight to do things. Somewhere in the pass-off (to our children), we didn’t sacrifice enough to make sure that those who were receiving the baton received it properly,” he reasoned.
“That, however, does not dismiss the glory of turning around, picking it up, and going on with the race...There is more race to be run. There are more people to be engaged.”
WATCH THE TRAILER FOR THIS WONDERFUL FILM!
EVENT DETAILS
Name: CaribbeanTales 2012 @ Island Inn - FIlm Festival, Symposium, Incubator
Date: April 10 - 15, 2012
Venue: Venues around Barbados: Island Inn, Aquatic Gap; Frank Collymore Hall, Bridgetown; George Washington House; Olympus Cinemas, Sheraton Mall;
Tickets: CaribbeanTales-events.com
and at selected venues around Barbados:
Pro Photo (Sheraton Centre)
Mpowered (Mall Internationale)
Big B Supermarket
Super Centre Sunset Crest
Media and Information : Frances-Anne Solomon, Director 266-7779; Nancii Yearwood, CaribbeanTales@gmail.com.
ABOUT CARIBBEANTALES
The CaribbeanTales Film Festival @ Island Inn is an important annual film event in Barbados, and a highlight of the regional cultural callendar ever since it was created in 2010; a multi-facetted forum that is focused not only on screening the best Caribbean films, but also on developing industry practitioners, creating networking opportunities, and on seeking solutions to challenges facing the sector as well as facilitating the marketing and distribution of indigenous film products.
CaribbeanTales 2012 @ Island Inn, Barbados is sponsored by: Andre Woodvine, Bajan Reporter, Barbados Film and Video Association, Barbados Today, Barbados Tourism Association, Benjamin Drakes Photography, Blue Waters Productions, Bridgetown Film Academy, Caribbean Broadcasting Union, Caribbean Development Bank, Caribbean Media Corporation, Creative Junction, Curtis Padmore, France-Caraïbe Broadcast, Frank Collymore Hall, iRebel Films, Island Inn, Jo Spalberg, National Cultural Foundation, Olympus Cinemas, Rose Rapley, Sea Weaver Productions Inc., SFa Communications, St Nicholas Abbey Rum, Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Co-operation ACP-EU (CTA), Wenty Bowen, and wonland design.
CaribbeanTales is a group of companies that produces, markets and exhibits Caribbean-themed films for regional and international distribution, including: CaribbeanTales Worldwide Distribution, that links producers and buyers of quality 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 based on Toronto, Canada, that promotes citizen participation through the medium of film.
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