CaribbeanTales Youth Film Festival, Celebrating Black History Month, presents its Gala Launch, featuring the Rosa Parks Story, by Julie Dash.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TORONTO – January 27, 2009

Celebrating Black History Month, renowned international director Julie Dash presents her stunning groundbreaking film, The Rosa Parks Story, at the Caribbean Tales Youth Film Festival Gala Launch. The film commemorates the late African American Civil Rights Activist Rosa Parks, whose bravery in refusing to relinquish her seat to a white person on an Alabama bus in 1955, triggered the first civil rights demonstration in the US and heralded the Modern Civil Rights Movement.

The screening takes place at the Silver City Yonge-Eglinton Centre (2300 Yonge Street) on January 29, 2009 at 6pm. CaribbeanTales is delighted that Ms. Dash will also be available after the screening for a question and answer period.

With her stunning 1991 debut feature film Daughters of the Dust, Julie Dash became the first African American woman to have a movie on general theatrical release in the United States. The Library of Congress has placed Daughters of the Dust in the National Film Registry, where it joins a select group of American films preserved as National Treasures.

The Rosa Parks Story won Ms. Dash an NAACP Image Award, The Family Television Award, The New York Christopher Award and she was nominated for Outstanding Directorial Achievement at the 55th Director's Guild of America Awards. In addition, the film received an Emmy Nomination for lead actor Angela Bassett who plays Rosa Parks in the film.

From February 13th to 27th, 2009 the Caribbean Tales Youth Film Festival will showcase a unique series of films and documentaries that tell stories about and from the African Diaspora. The festival is aimed at high school students and features a selection of classic Africentric films that expand and deepen audience's understanding of and empathy for - Canada's multicultural identities.

Other celebrated films to be screened at the festival include award-winning filmmaker, Frances Anne Solomon's critically acclaimed A Winter Tale, Julie Dash’s first feature film Daughters of the Dust; Jamaican-Canadian Director Clement Virgo's Poor Boy’s Game; Africa Unite, by Stephanie Black; Art for Social Change, by Mary Wells; Speakers for the Dead, by Sudz Sutherland; Journey to Justice, by Roger McTair and Milton Bryan; The Argronomist, by Jonathan Demme; and many more!

CaribbeanTales, a non-profit organization, is Canada's premier multimedia company that creates, markets and distributes educational films, videos, radio programs, audio books, theatre plays, web sites and events showcasing the rich heritage of the Caribbean Diaspora worldwide.

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

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Available for interviews:

Frances-Anne Solomon, Festival Founder/Curator

Julie Dash, Special Guest Director.

Festival screenings will take place from February 13 to 27, 2009 at 10am on weekdays at the following locations:

Silver City Yorkdale, (3401 Dufferin Street)

Coliseum Scarborough, (300 Borough Drive)

Silver City Yonge-Eglinton, (2300 Yonge Street)

Tickets for the Caribbean Tales Youth Film Festival are now available: $7 for students and free for educators who bring in ten students or more.

For ticket and festival inquiries, please contact Miki Nembhard at 416. 598. 1410 or ctyfilmfestival@gmail.com.

To view the full Festival program please go to www.CaribbeanTales.ca