CaribPR Wire, Toronto, Canada, Mon. July 17, 2017: On July 6, 2017, the CaribbeanTales International Film Festival (CTFF) held its Media Launch and Program Reveal, co-presented by the Consul General of Barbados at Toronto, with an evening of community and celebration. The packed event featured the Canadian Premiere screening of Barbadian film legend-in-the-making Shakirah Bourne’s latest fantasy feature film: A Caribbean Dream. And the international release of the trailer for Toronto-based filmmaker Sharon Lewis’ fifteen-year labour of love: upcoming Afro-futurist feature film Brown Girl Begins.
“At twelve years old, CaribbeanTales has worked to create a brand for Caribbean Cinema, not divided by country, and inclusive of the Diaspora, that brings together our separate and collective legacies, our unique, distinctive and authentic stories,” said Frances-Anne Solomon, Executive Director, CTFF.
With fourteen (14) feature films and thirty (30) short films, from eighteen (18) countries, the twelfth annual CTFF promises to challenge viewers on the beauty and complexities of Caribbean legacy. This juried screening series will take place from September 6 to September 21, 2017 at The Royal Cinema, and at Cineplex Scotiabank Cinema.
The festival runs alongside the CaribbeanTales Incubator, which is a development and marketing hub for top filmmakers around the Caribbean and Diaspora.
“Through the Incubator, we’re pleased to support the growth of our Region’s film industry and simultaneously develop compelling creative content relevant for our Region, as well as a global audience – giving viewers at home and abroad top-notch Caribbean content,” said John Reid, CEO of Cable and Wireless / Flow, the lead sponsor of the CTFF and CTI.
The impact of this remarkable partnership is the exciting news that the three pilots emerged from CTI 2016, where funded by Flow and will be premiered at CTFF2017. With an amazing line-up of filmmakers for this year’s CTI, Flow has made the same commitment again.
Shakirah Bourne will also be representing Barbados at CTI 2017 with another fantasy project: Visit with the Obeah Woman. She will be joined by Karen Mafundikwa, with travel documentary series TRANScribe (Jamaica), Rick Elgood and Paul O Beale with comedic drama: The Agency (Jamaica), Roger Alexis with Santana spin-off Lexo Street (Trinidad and Tobago), Janine Fung’s comedy MIX UP (Trinidad and Tobago), Leticia Tonos with zombie thriller Inframundo (Dominican Republic), Louis Taylor and Altair Pflug Taylor with cynical reality show Spawn & Geezer (Canada), Kareem Mortimer’s “crama-dy” Sully’s Manor (Bahamas), Cristobal Krusen with political drama Life or Death (Belize), and Nicolas Cuellular and Nadege Robertson with environmental love story Fontizon – A Forest Grows in Haiti (Haiti).
These CTI filmmakers will be working over the next months to prepare for CaribbeanTales’ crowning Industry Event: The Big Pitch at the TIFF Bell Lightbox on September 10, 2017 where they will pitch their projects to industry professionals. A limited number of tickets will be available for non-industry members wishing to attend.
Stay up to date with all CaribbeanTales activities by following the CTFF, and on Facebook, as well as the full organisation on Twitter or Instagram.
