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Happy Friday everyone!

Bee at '83 To Infinity is hosting a contest for 2 tickets to the Caribbean Tales Opening Gala & screening of Menelik Shabazz' The Story Of Lovers Rock on September 5th!

Spread the details and get your entries in before August 30th!

TIME TO WIN: Enter The Caribbean Tales Gala Giveaway!

Photo source: The Examiner

Happy Thursday, y’all! I’m sooooooo excited for this post, because I’m doing my very first giveaway on the blog! Sorry to all who were inquiring after my FB post last night – I am NOT preggo, but I’m clearly overly excited about doing a blog giveaway…lol!

Remember yesterday’s post about the Caribbean Tales Film Festival, opening on September 5th? Well, get ready – the lovely people at Caribbean Tales have graciously given me a pair of tickets to the opening gala, and I want to give them to one lucky ’83 To Infinity reader!

The Prize:

Tickets for you and a friend to the Caribbean Tales Opening Gala and screening, hosted by the Toronto Consulate General for the Republic of Trinidad & Tobago. The gala and screening will be held in Toronto on September 5th starting at 6:30pm, and the film screening begins at 8:30pm. Live music will be provided by Kobo Town – a Toronto-based, Trinidad-influenced calypso band, and DJs giving us the best in Caribbean music. Among the scheduled attendees are Motion (spoken word poet, emcee, and playwright – did y’all catch Aneemah’s Spot?), Cameron Bailey (Artistic Director of the Toronto Int’l Film Festival), Frances-Anne Solomon (founder of Caribbean Tales), and obviously, the Toronto Consulate General for T&T. The main feature of the night will be the screening of The Story of Lovers Rock by Menelik Shabazz, and all this is goin’ down at the beautiful Harbourfront Centre Lakeside Terrace!

How To Win:

Step 1: Follow Caribbean Tales on Twitter and/or Facebook (provided you have Twitter/Facebook and aren’t following them already )

Step 2: Email me at bee@83toinfinity.com or comment below and let me know YOUR favourite Caribbean movie – Shottas? How Stella Got Her Groove Back? Pirates of the Caribbean? If the Caribbean is involved, I wanna know!

WANT BONUS POINTS? Visit the Caribbean Tales Schedule at a Glance, and let me know which feature film you would be most interested in watching!

Get it? Got it? Good! The lucky winner will be announced on August 30th, so get involved, tell a friend to tell a friend, and get those entries in!

Good luck y’all!

13 Days To Go ...

There is now less than 2 weeks before the opening Gala of the 2012 Caribbean Tales Film Festival, and another member of the annual Incubator Program people might want to watch out for is 20-year-old Trinidadian Claire Hamel-Smith.

At the 2011 annual Anime Caribe Animation Festival in Port-of-Spain her animated series the The Upstarts won her a scholarship to attend this year's Incubator. The Upstarts is yet another sitcom out of Trinidad & Tobago, and it follows the misadventures of Phil Broker. Phil is called in after his last boss had a mental breakdown and told he must oversee a team of lunatic animators to keep the company afloat.

"I think the CaribbeanTales Incubator will be a great opportunity for Lab206," the lead writer of The Upstarts says. Lab206 is a Multimedia Design and Animation studio co-founded by Hamel-Smith in 2012. "The series is loosely based on our own experiences building the company," she explains. "I'm so proud of my team. We really worked hard on our pitch and I'm glad it paid off. We want the world to know Trinidad has talent and stories to tell."

Here's more information on Lab206 and The Upstarts. Don't forget to follow CaribbeanTales on Twitter and Facebook. And don't forget that you need to buy tickets for some of our screenings, which you can do by clicking on the film of your choice at the Harbourfront website.

jph

Caribbean Tales Around The Web

The Caribbean Tales Film Festival is coming soon, and we're finding some great coverage around the web! Check out this recent post courtesy of Toronto blogger Bee Quammie, of the blog '83 To Infinity!

 

ARTSY FARTSY: The Caribbean Tales Film Festival Is On Its Way

Last week, I shared the news (via Twitter and Facebook) that I was teaming up with the Caribbean Tales Film Festival here in Toronto. While the city is abuzz in September for the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), I thought I should let y’all know that another festival will be making the city hot!

Photo source: Caribbean Tales

Let’s backtrack. Caribbean Tales is a multimedia company which was founded by wonderwoman Frances-Anne Solomon in 2001. Offshoots of the company include an educational media company, the annual film festival, and Caribbean Tales Worldwide Distribution – the first film distribution company in the English-speaking Caribbean. With bases in Barbados and Toronto, Caribbean Tales’ vision is to “contribute to an inclusive Canadian society by celebrating the rich traditions of Caribbean heritage storytelling”. Upon meeting with Frances-Anne and the Caribbean Tales team, I learned so much about the heart of the movement – which centres around the tenets of celebrating diversity, telling our own stories, and educating Caribbean filmmakers on navigating the international market.

Photo source: Stud Life Tumblr

So – let’s get to the film festival details! The festival kicks off on September 5th with a gala and film screening at Harbourfront’s Lakeside Terrace, sponsored by the Toronto Consulate General for Trinidad & Tobago. The opening film will be The Story of Lovers Rock by Menelik Shabazz, an incredible veteran Black British filmmaker. I love me some Alton Ellis and John Holt, so you know I’ll be up in that piece on the 5th! Films continue from the 10th-15th at Harbourfront’s Studio Theatre, and schedule highlights include The Batty Boy’s Revenge by Alison Duke and Stud Life by Campbell X (with a panel discussion on queer Caribbean cinema), A Day In A Bajan Life by Penny Hynam, and – wait for it – I’m Santana The Movie by Roger Alexis! If you don’t know about the hilarious Trinidadian puppet shorts featuring the one and only Santana, get thee to YouTube and get familiar!

Photo source: LEXO TV

The Caribbean Tales Film Festival isn’t just about screening the hottest and latest theatrical gems from the Caribbean – it’s also about educating Caribbean filmmakers so that they are able to tackle the international market, get their stories heard/seen, and put the region on the map as a market to contend with. We have Hollywood, Bollywood, and Nollywood, so it’s time to get, er…Collywood (?) out there on the global film scene! In order to assist with this, the Film Festival has created two amazing initiatives. The 48-hour Film Challenge (headed by Michael Miller) puts Toronto up-and-comers to task – can you write, film, and edit a 5-minute short in 48 hours? Completed films will be screened during the film festival, so I can’t wait to see what our homegrown talent comes up with! TheCaribbean Tales Incubator is another initiative – a 3-day workshop designed to educate Caribbean filmmakers on honing business plans, creating film and television pitches, and networking with mentors to learn how to get their films sold. In the 10 days of the film festival, I really look forward to meeting all of the Caribbean talent who make their way up to Toronto – it’ll be an exciting time in the city!

Follow Caribbean Tales on Twitter and Facebook to stay up-to-date on festival details, and hit up Harbourfront Centre for ticket purchase – but do note, there ARE free shows too!

 

The Power of the Film Festival

I came away from Caribbean Tales 2011 and TIFF 2011 with my eyes completely opened.  Every filmmaker or every wannabe filmmaker needs to go and be a part of a major film festival at least once in their lives.  

Caribbean Tales offered that opportunity and it is part of the beauty of how the festival is set up to be so close to the Toronto International Film Festival.  In terms of location (Harbourfront Centre in downtown Toronto) and in terms of timing.  I hope that proximity is something that the participants of the incubators will take full advantage of since that is exactly why Frances-Anne Solomon has organized the festival in this manner.  She genuinely wants Caribbean filmmakers to come and yes, of course have their films showcased and screened at Caribbean Tales, but also to step out onto the wider stage and into the great wide world of the entertainment industry.  Once any filmmaker does that, there is no going back.  

I'm almost embarrassed to say it, but I've been working in the entertainment industry for over 10 years now and TIFF 2011 was my first major international film festival.  I had entered a couple of festivals previously, but actually physically attending a festival, especially one on the scope of TIFF, was quite an eye opener.  

Caribbean Tales is the festival that gives us Caribbean natives (I'm from Barbados) a voice in an international arena.  It is entirely up to participants exactly how much they take advantage of that.

Look at it from this perspective: for one solid week, participants are invited to share their marketing strategies and to work on perfecting their pitches and presentation of their projects on an individual basis.   The group structure helps to expose the flaws and the strengths since there are different point of view and no presentation is ever 100% perfect.  The filmmakers are almost literally groomed to prepare for interaction at TIFF and to fully utilize every opportunity that will be made available over the course of the festivals.  And for those with films screening at the Harbourfront Centre, they have options to invite any potential partners for a screening (and of course having a screener DVD never hurts).  

Everything that is offered and is made available is to showcase the filmmakers, but more than anything it is to prepare them for the world stage so they can approach it with confidence and preparation... and with the knowledge that their fellow filmmakers are cheering them on.

Nobody else does this and it's why I'm particularly glad for Caribbean Tales.  It exposes all of us fimmakers to the true power and potential of what the film festival can be.

 

CT 2012 : Rodney Smith Launches 2nd Web Series

Rodney Smith aims to make his second visit to the CaribbeanTales Film Festival in 2012 a more memorable experience than the first. The Barbados-born writer and director will be bringing along The Accidental Time Traveller, a 30-minute sci-fi film which will be making its world premiere on September 15 at the Studio Theatre in Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre. The multi-cultural flick was filmed entirely in Toronto and will serve two purposes. It will be entered into film festivals worldwide as a stand-alone film, and it will also serve as the pilot episode for the upcoming web-based series Out of Time.

“It’s an exciting new project and I’m glad to be able to have the first public screening in Toronto,” Smith said. “We’ve been looking forward to this next step since it is really about controlling our distribution, and I’m glad to be able to get it started in Canada.” Smith previously co-created, co-wrote, was the cinematographer, editor, director and producer of the Dominion web-series.

At Smith’s role at CaribbeanTales 2012 won’t be limited to screening his latest work. This year he takes on the additional role of mentor/producer in the highly touted Incubator Program for up-and-coming Caribbean filmmakers. “Rodney Smith is one of the most innovative and skilled filmmakers from our region and we are delighted to be able to support his most recent project,” said CaribbeanTales founder and director Frances-Anne Solomon.

The Incubator Program will wrap up just as the Toronto International Film Festival kicks off in order to allow the participants some valuable exposure to TIFF. 

Incubator 2012 - Facilitator

Nicole Brooks (Canada/Trinidad & Tobago) has made a significant mark on the Canadian landscape for  more than 10 years as an artistic maverick blending her abilities in film, television and the performing arts  as filmmaker, director, actress, singer, playwright, producer, teacher and ‘art-ivist’.  Accomplishments include the critically acclaimed documentary ‘A LINC IN TIME (producer/director), the 52-part docu-series ECHO (Creator, Series Producer), the music documentary THE SISTAHS CONCERT and dance film ORISHA SUITE to name but a few. Her opera OBEAH OPERA, staged in February 2012, was nominated for a Dora Award. Coming up — a documentary portrait of internationally acclaimed chanteuse and legend Salome Bey.

Nicole Brooks, multi-facetted artist, producer, and entrepreneur, will faciliate the 2012 Incubator Program.

 

Incubator 2012 - Mentors

Penelope Hynam and Rodney Smith (listed above) will serve as Mentors, while also  representing their own projects. The other distinguished mentors are:

Annette Nias (Barbados) is currently the Cultural Officer (Film and Photography) with the National Cultural Foundation, Barbados. She has functioned as a writer, performer, director, producer, production coordinator and stage manager at concerts, plays, musicals, festivals, fashion shows, film and television productions, and carnival, in Barbados and abroad. She has managed and designed presentations for artistic individuals and agencies, and is on the Steering Group for CaribbeanTales Barbados Film Festival.

Ellis Perez (Dominican Republic) was appointed Director General of Cinematography in 2011 by Dominican Republic President Dr. Leonel Fernández Reyna. Effectively, he functions as the Dominican Republic’s Film Commissioner. As such, his office encourages the development of an industry with the potential to realize US $375 million dollars and to employ over 24,000 people. The new Film Commission aims to help investors, studios, production companies and independent producers find services that meet all their needs in the Dominican Republic. The office also provides support with location scouting, permits and clearances and all related needs in the Dominican Republic. Previous to this he was the Minister for Tourism in Santo Domingo.

Malinda Francis (Barbados/Canada) tells visual stories that derive from her experience, as well she tries to communicate and connect with others within her community. An independent filmmaker, she continues working on her own projects alongside various community media initiatives. The themes that she explores in her work are around urban living and cities, as well as migration stories. She is currently completing her first feature documentary The Diaspora Travels: Haiti that follows the Diaspora back to Haiti, and documents the long rebuilding process after the earthquake on January 12 2010.

Mary Wells (Jamaica/US) is an independent director, writer and producer based in Jamaica, and a Director of CaribbeanTales Worldwide Distribution. With some 20 years experience in television and film production, she has worked in all areas of production with organisations including Jamaica Government Broadcasting and US Cable TV stations. She has developed produced and directed programs for mainly the Caribbean region, specializing in documentaries. Her first feature film, Kingston Paradise, is in post-production and is destined for screens next year.

Menelik Shabazz (Barbados/UK) was raised in London and began his filmmaking career during the tumultuous seventies. His break-through first feature, "Burning an Illusion" -- now a classic of Black British cinema -- traces the political awakening of a young Jamaican woman in Britain’s racially charged environment at the time. During the nineties and the 2000's, he founded and led Black Filmmaker Magazine, an innovative glossy magazine and E-newzletter project that profiled Black World cinema. For eight years, he also founded and ran the BFM Film Festival. After a long hiatus, The Story of Lover’s Rock marks his return to filmmaking.

Moikgantsi Nkgama (South Africa/US) is the founder of ImageNation. As an audience development specialist for independent films targeting communities of color, she built a reputation for excellence in her field. She has been credited with the successful launch of Raoul Peck’s independent epic “Lumumba” (HBO) that received an Academy Award nomination. She was publicist for the groundbreaking documentary “Life and Debt,” in 2001, and was the New York City Promotions Coordinator for the independent film “Follow me Home” starring Alfre Woodard and Benjamin Bratt. Moikgantsi also served as a filmmaker coordinator for 1998 The Sundance Film Festival.

Dr. Rita Shelton Deverell, Order of Canada (US/Canada) was the first woman to lead a university journalism program in Canada. She is a founder of Vision TV, was previously APTN’s Director of News and has edited or contributed to four books. Since 2005, RJ Deverell Productions has produced 15 theatre pieces and TV dramas. Rita has recently completed her term as Nancy’s Chair in Women’s Studies at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax and as a Trudeau Foundation Mentor. Rita is a two-time Gemini Award winner, and she recently acted in CBC Radio's Backbencher.