Announcing the CaribbeanTales Film Festival Industry Series

Committed to the development of Caribbean-themed cinema here in Canada and around the world, the 2009 CaribbeanTales Film Festival announces its new industry workshop series.

Toronto – May 28, 2009

Celebrating its fourth anniversary, the CaribbeanTales Film Festival this year presents the CaribbeanTales Industry Development Program (CTIDP), an initiative that offers industry activities such as training workshops, roundtable sessions, and panel discussions on film practice, business development and marketing, and storytelling.

Workshops include: Guerilla Filmmaking, a practical day-long session led by renowned Jamaican cinematographer Franklyn ‘Chappie’ St. Juste (The Harder They Come), exploring ways in which Caribbean heritage directors and producers can use film to tell stories close to their heart.

Other sessions include: "Working with the NFB" by National Film Board of Canada Producers Lea Marin and Anita Lee, "Navigating The Festival Circuit", by international festival programmer June Givanni, "Caribbean-themed Animation" by Camille Selvon Abrahams of Trinidad-based Animation studio Anime Caribe, and "Art for Social Change" led by veteran filmmaker and owner/general manager of Gayelle The Channel Christopher Laird.

Friday 10th July is YOUTH DAY, and there will be a special edu-tainment program tailored for the interests of young people 12-18.

The CaribbeanTales Annual Film Festival is North America's only standalone event offering the best of Caribbean cinema from around the world. It will take place over four exciting days from July 9th to 12th 2009, at the William Doo Auditorium (45 Willcocks Street), New College, University of Toronto.

With the 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.

The Festival this year honors the career of award-winning international director Euzhan Palcy from Martinique, who became the first woman of African descent to direct a Hollywood movie, with MGM’s A Dry White Season (1989), starring Donald Sutherland, Marlon Brando and Susan Sarandon.

The Caribbean Tales Film Festival is founded by award-winning director, filmmaker, and producer Frances-Anne Solomon whose last feature film A Winter Tale (for Telefilm Canada/CHUM Television) won many prestigious international awards, including most recently Special Mention in the Diaspora Category at the 2009 Fespaco Festival (Africa's Oscars, held biannually in Burkina Faso, West Africa).

She is the president and artistic director of the two companies she created: Leda Serene Films and CaribbeanTales, whose selected 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, that 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.

Photo: Director Euzhan Palcy from Martinique, our Special Guest this year.