CT 2012 : End Of The Incubator

The 2012 CaribbeanTales Incubator Program is now officially concluded. Big-ups to all the participants, mentors, facilitator and CaribbeanTales colleagues ... jp had an absolute blast!

Repeat Screening of "THE STORY OF LOVER'S ROCK"

Did you miss the sold out Gala Launch on Sept 5?   Have no fear - there is a second screening!

WHAT: The Story of LOVER'S ROCK

WHERE: Innis Town Hall, 2 Sussez Avenue, Toronto. (On U of T Campus)

WHEN: Tues. Sept 11, @ 6.30pm

CT 2012 : A Moment Of Tranquility

Francisco Montás and Penelope Hynam

(PHOTO: jp hodgkinson)

CT 2012 : Flashback

In 2009 CaribbeanTales had the honour of welcoming cinéaste martiniquaise Euzhan Palcy, who graciously provided an interview to current blogger, photogropher and all-around media rat jp hodgkinson ... C'est vrai que ça commence en français mais [it's subtitled so don't panic when you hear only French for the first few seconds].

jph

Bahamian film selected for 2012 Caribbean Tales incubator

Bahamas Local.com reports on Kareem Mortimer's new film:

August 25, 2012

A Bahamian produced film "Cargo" has been selected to participate at the 2012 CaribbeanTales Incubator program during the Toronto International Film Festival. Cargo is the third feature from award-winning director, Kareem Mortimer.
Cargo tells the story of an immigration officer, Kevin, who becomes a human smuggler to pay off a debt, and his choices affect the lives of three immigrants. These immigrants include a stateless Haitian-Bahamian man, a Cuban hustler and a seventeen-year-old Haitian girl.
Mortimer, who also directed the award winning, "Children Of God" and the family film "Wind Jammers" said, "'Cargo' speaks to how far we are all willing to go to ensure a better life for ourselves and the people we love. This film is specific to the Caribbean but applicable to audiences all over the world."
The Incubator program is a competitive five-day intensive program that includes networking opportunities, a Market Lab, and a Pitching Breakfast with industry representatives. The CaribbeanTales Showcase and Incubator takes place at the Harbourfront Center during the world-renowned Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), offering cross-promotional opportunities. Six projects have been selected including 'Cargo'.
Mortimer said, "CaribbeanTales is a pioneer in how it supports Caribbean films and its storytellers. I am grateful to be a part of such a wonderful program that will help launch one of my most personal projects to date."
For more information on the upcoming production of "Cargo", visit www.mercuryrisingmedia.com.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian

CT 2012 : Exile And The Search For Home

Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and raised in the U.S., award-winning filmmaker Guetty Felin says she came of age cinematically while completing graduate studies in Paris, where she was an associate producer for the series "Écrire Contre L'oubli" (Write Against Forgetting) which aired in commemoration of Amnesty International's 30th anniversary. She has since added other roles to her filmmaking credentials, including distributor, marketing/outreach director, screenplay reader, voiceover narrator, curator and teacher. In 2008 she, filmmaker husband Hervé Cohen, and their two sons travelled America to make Closer to the Dream, "an engaging and particularly well-crafted documentary" according to Le Monde. In Closer to the Dream they followed the grassroots movement and primary campaign which resulted in the election of Barack Obama as the first black president of the United States.

"As a child of immigrants," says Guetty Felin, "I'm a post-modern gypsy, a hybrid, and my trajectory and cultural identity pretty much pervades my sensibility as a filmmaker. Cinema is how I engage the world around me, how I explore haunting themes such as memory, exile, foreignness, and the unending search for home." The film she is showcasing at CaribbeanTales 2012 is yet another demonstration of this mindset. Filmed in the aftermath of the earthquake which devastated Haiti on January 12, 2010, Broken Stones earned an award at the Belize International Film Festival and, given the haunting subject matter, it looks poised to repeat this feat elsewhere.

With its erected columns and open air, the ruins of the cathedral resemble an ampitheatre where the daily realities of Haitian life unfold. Amidst the vestiges of what was once the most beautiful cathedral in the entire Caribbean, children play, women pray, some carry pails and jugs of water from the nearby tap, a white man dressed in black-hooded priest garb appears out of nowhere, followed by a cameraman, foreign missionaries snap pictures as they pray for lost souls in a house of worship that does not belong to them, men and women roam almost aimlessly in this post-apocalyptic setting ... Beautifully photographed, mixing cinema vérité and observational documentary style, this well-crafted poetic film is personal and yet endearingly political. Haiti, as it has rarely been shown.

Guetty Felin is participating in the 2012 CaribbeanTales Incubator Program and Broken Stones will be screened at 6PM on September 12, 2012, in Harbourfront Centre's Studio Theatre. Tickets can be purchased here and don't forget to follow CaribbeanTales on Twitter and Facebook.

jph

CT 2012 : Transcending Cultures And Genres

Sue-Ellen Chitunya  is an emerging filmmaker who splits her time between the U.S. and her native Zimbabwe. The Georgia State University graduate is now in the process of completing a graduate degree at the University of California, her ambition and determination having already earned screenings of her work at the Short Film Corner in Cannes, Atlanta Film Festival and the Action on Film Festival. "It was like a dream come true because I really didn't think that I would go to Cannes that early in my life," Chitunya said in 2010.

As a student ambassador for Women in Film and Television Atlanta (WIFTA)  she made a point of pushing more of her fellow female film students to see beyond the obstacles they regularly face. "Most of them just go to class and hope to learn everything there, but in reality you have to be a driven go-getter because it's a tough industry to break into. Experience is really important."

Chitunya is bringing A House of Stone to the 2012 CaribbeanTales Incubator Program. The film's backdrop is seething racial and political unrest as Paul's flashback narrative, at the request of his grandchildren, recalls the war for liberation fought in Zimbabwe. Loosely based on the life of her own grandfather, this journey to personal redemption fits neatly into Chitunya's goal of creating "groundbreaking projects that transcend cultures and genres."

Up-to-the minute details of the CaribbeanTales Film Festival and the Incubator Program are available on Twitter and Facebook. Tickets are available at the Harbourfront website by clicking on the film of your choice.

jph