New York Showcase of Caribbean Shorts highlights the best of the Diaspora

CaribbeanTales New York Shorts Showcase

CaribbeanTales is delighted to present some the best new films from around the region during Caribbean Week, on June 5, at 8pm, at the Marriott Marquis.

The Caribbean Diaspora's most dynamic film festival group -- with bases and events in Toronto, Barbados, and New York, and partnerships across the region and the globe -- celebrates the unique voice of the Caribbean in all its shapes, incarnations and diversity, including culture, comedy, animation, sci-fi, diaspora stories, stories of cultural identity and multicultural relationships.
 
Pothound
Christopher Guiness | 11 mins | T&T
Shortlisted for the international Vimeo Awards that will take place in New York June 7-11, this beautiful film follows the point of view of the protagonist Pothound (meaning street dog in T&T slang)  as she goes on an adventure, runs into adversity, and it all culminates with an unexpected twist of events.

Red Amber Green
Christopher Byfield | 18 mins  | 2011 | Jamaica
This charming first film - winner of the Best Short Film awards at the CaribbeanTales Film Festival, the Lignum Vitae Film Festival. and the Reggae Film Festival - depicts the lives of three Jamaican boys struggling to make ends meet  by working as vehicle window washers and street vendors when cars stop for street lights on the difficult streets of Kingston.

It's a Fact!
Liesje Cole Pragnell | 10 mins | 2011| Barbados
The first in a series of animation shorts that encourages young people to think critically. This informative show is packed full of creativity and down to earth practicality.

A Day in a Bajan Life  - Ep 5  Izebo
Pelle Hibinette | 13.5 mins  | 2011 | Barbados
Local hero, rastafarian, artist, philosopher, Izebo is a homeless artist whose commissioned murals are seen all over the walls of Barbados. A Day in a Bajan life is a series of vignettes of Bajans spanning all races, classes, professions and pastimes.

Doubles With Slight Pepper
Ian Harnarine | 2011 |  14 mins | T&T/Canada
This multi award-winning short film is the winner of the Toronto International Film Festival's Best Short Film award and the Genie Award (Canada's equivalent of the Oscars) for Best Live Action Short Film. It follows Dhani, whose father left him with little more than a Doubles cart and broken promises for a better life in Canada. When the older man returns one Christmas with a request, old wounds linger.

CTA Shorts
CaribbeanTales is proud to partner with the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU to host 3 short films by young people on Science and Agricultural themes. The films shown are winners of the CTA region-wide competition that included a year of training and mentorship for young filmmakers. Vincent Lewis of Trinidad & Tobago emerged the winner with his entry “Bee wise” while Jamaican Marlon Johnson’s “Trial and Error” took second place and Malaika Brooks-Smith-Lowe of Grenada copped third with “Food For Thought”.

About CaribbeanTales
CaribbeanTales is a group of companies that produces, markets and exhibits Caribbean-themed films for regional and international distribution, including:  CaribbeanTales Worldwide Distribution, that links producers and buyers of quality entertainment; the CaribbeanTales Film Festival Group that produces annual events in Toronto, Barbados and New York;  the Caribbean Incubator Program for Audio Visual Entrepreneurs that delivers training for filmmakers, and CaribbeanTales.ca, a non profit based on Toronto, Canada, that promotes citizen participation through the medium of film.
 
For the 2nd consecutive year, the CaribbeanTales New York Showcase  presents some of the year's best films from around the regions during Caribbean Week.

Telling Our Stories by Any Means Necessary

Event Details:

Date - May 3rd 3pm.

Venue - Nalis, 1st Floor, National Library Bldg,Hart & Abercromby St.,POS

RSVP - 773 5061

WHO IS ULRIC CROSS?
 
He is probably the most decorated West Indian Squadron Leader of World War Two. Ulric was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for meritorious service by an Officer of the Armed Forces during wartime in actual combat. He was also awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) for heroism and extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flights
.
From a humble and orphaned Belmont childhood in colonial Trinidad, Ulric faced down barriers of colour, race and class to realize his extraordinary destiny.
 
He first joined the Royal Air Force in 1941 as a navigator in Bomber Command. Ulric did eighty operational flights over Germany with twenty-one into Berlin; and was a member of the elite Pathfinders Force that perfected techniques for precision main force bombing.
 
Ulric returned to civilian life where he went on to star in key post-colonial jurisprudence roles – as a trusted advisor to Nkrumah in Ghana, as Attorney General in Cameroon and as a close colleague of Julius Nyerere in Tanzania.

He then came home to serve his country as judge, diplomat, and arbitrator. He returned to Britain as our High Commissioner in the 90’s. Now aged ninety-five, Ulric’s life is an inspiration to all, especially to our young people now and for generations to come.

 
About HERO FILM Ltd.
 
This project was conceived and commissioned by the late Desmond Allum, SC, whose passionate wish it was to see a documentary made in honour of Ulric Cross. It is being carried forward by a group of individuals committed to seeing Desmond’s dream become a reality.
 
Executive Producers: Anne Marie Stewart, Cathy Allum, Tara Allum.
 
Partnerships to date:
•The Trinidad & Tobago Film Company
•Animae Caribe Animation and New Media Festival,
•CaribbeanTales Worldwide Distribution (CTWD)
 
A Frances-Anne Solomon Film

Telling Our Stories by Any Means Necessary - An Open Call to Animators in T&T

This year sees another fantastic groundbreaking collaboration between CaribbeanTales and the Animae Caribe Animation and New Media Festival.

LETS TELL OUR STORIES BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.
BRING EVERYTHING……… LETS EXPERIMENT 

Animation Documentary is a relatively new genre that has a very challenging premise.  How can you document reality using animation, and mix media without compromising the authenticity and truth of the message?

‘Ulric Cross: A Hero for All Time’ is a production of Hero Film, directed by Frances Anne Solomon in collaboration with Caribbean Tales and Animae Caribe Animation Festival. The film tells the story of Trinidadian icon Ulric Cross through live action, archive, recreation and animation, a contemporary pulling together of different forms of expression old and new to tell a timeless story of one man's heroism.  

Frances-Anne describes the concept of the film: “Ulric Cross is ‘a hero for all time’ because he participated in key moments of history, like the second world war; the independence movements in Africa and the Caribbean; the rise of a new kind of black leadership post the Black Power Revolution in seventies' Trinidad; the coming of age of Caribbean societies in the eighties and nineties – incidents and shifts that have defined our present reality as Caribbean people." 

Co-producer Camille Selvon Abrahams explains: “To get the ball rolling we are inviting animators, artists illustrators and new media artists to an innovative interactive experimental FREE one day workshop to begin the process of experimentation.” 

Walk with everything: cameras, clay, models, foil, fabric, crayons, laptops...BRING EVERYTHING!  

This event will take place on Thursday 3rd of May at 4pm.  For more info email Frances-Anne or  Camille at CaribbeanTales@gmail.com or call  1 868 773 6051

RESTLESS CITY opens in the US | AFFRM

CaribbeanTales is a proud supporter of AFFRM, the African American Film Festival Releasing Movement, whose 3rd theatrical release, the extraordinary RESTLESS CITY by Nigerian filmmaker Andrew Dosunmu opens in cinemas in New York and Los Angeles on Apr 27. Join me at the box office. SUPPORT CINEMA OF THE AFRICAN DIASPORA. 

New York Salutes Legendary Caribbean Actress

LEONIE FORBES FILM RETROSPECTIVE FOUR FILMS!

THREE DIRECTORS! ONE STAR! NEW YORK:

The vision of some of the Caribbean's most prolific filmmakers join in a New York City celebration of the illustrious career of legendary Jamaican actress, Leonie Forbes. Caribbean Classics - Leonie Forbes Film Fest features work from Lennie Little-White (Jamaica), Andrew Millington (Barbados), and Frances-Anne Solomon (Trinidad & Tobago), and takes place at Medgar Evers College on Saturday, May 5.

An officially endorsed Jamaica 50th Independence Anniversary program, the day-long festival is presented by a tripartite collation of Caribbean diaspora cultural organizations, the Caribbean Cultural Theatre, Caribbean Research Center, and CaribbeanTales Worldwide Distribution.

The series of four films and discussions culminates with the iconic actress of Caribbean stage and screen in conversation with Jamaican born journalist, reggae impresario, and program director of Sirius XM Radio, Pat McKay.

Hosted in the heart of the teeming Caribbean-American community of Central Brooklyn, NY at the campus of Medgar Evers College, 1650 Bedford Avenue, the diverse program will not only afford an occasion to celebrate the talent of one of the region's most acclaimed thespians, but will also examine the challenges and opportunities of an emerging Caribbean cinema.

The schedule for the Saturday, May 5, 2012 program is:

2:00 'What My Mother Told Me'. A journey towards self-discovery forces a young woman to meet her mother, whom she thought had abandoned her as a child. Frances-Anne Solomon, director (Trinidad & Tobago) View Film Clip Here.

3:00 'Children of Babylon' Love, lust, race, and class collide on a hedonistic pleasure dome as life on an old plantation is confronted by a changing society. Lennie Little-White, director. (Jamaica). Featuring Bob Andy

5:15 'Guttaperc' A storied past and the yearning for development creates conflicts for the feature of a village and family. Andrew Millington, director (Barbados).

7:00 Tellin We Own Story - In Conversation with Leonie Forbes Journalist Pat McKay interviews the iconic actress on life, art, and life imitating art.

8:45 'A Winter Tale'  Families struggle to reconcile their immigrant dreams after a bullet meant for a drug dealer kills a ten-year-old boy. Frances-Anne Solomon, director (Canada).Featuring Dennis "Spragalang" Hall. View Film Clip here.

Tickets for the Caribbean Classics - Leonie Forbes Film Fest range from $10 for general admission per screening to $5 for students and seniors at the early afternoon screenings. A special $25 'Festival Passport' provides access to all screenings and the tribute session to Ms. Forbes.

Leonie Forbes has garnered an impressive list of international theatre, television and film credits in Australia, Britain, Canada, Germany, India and the United States, and has consistently enthralled audiences in her native Jamaica and the wider Caribbean. Her film and television credits include 'A Winter Tale', 'Shattered Image', 'Milk and Honey', 'The Orchid House', 'Passion and Paradise', 'Club Paradise', 'Children of Babylon' 'Going to Extremes' which aired on ABC, 'Lord Have Mercy' on Toronto One, and 'Small Island' on PBS. Trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, her accolades include a Gemini Award® nomination in Canada, a life time achievement medal from El Centro Mexicano de Teatro, the Institute of Jamaica Gold Musgrave Medal and the Order of Distinction (Officer) from the Government of Jamaica.

The program presenters are the Caribbean Cultural Theatre, Caribbean Research Center, and CaribbeanTales Worldwide Distribution.

For additional information: 718-783-8345 / 718-270-6218 / 917-202-0696 or via info@caribbeantheatre.org

About Caribbean Cultural Theatre

Caribbean Cultural Theatre is a theatrical immersion experience presenting the work of Caribbean based and/or influenced writers, performers and other practitioners that both entertains and enlightens and honours a balanced rendering of Caribbean culture and the Caribbean-American experience. A project of the Brooklyn, NY based Caribbean Cultural Theatre, the Caribbean Classics Stage & Screen Series highlights the work some of the region's most illustrious pioneering practitioners of stage and screen and celebrates their role as social commentators, their struggles with cultural identity and in fashioning a Caribbean voice. The series has previously featured the work of Jamaican dramatist and filmmaker, Trevor Rhone, 'The Harder They Come', 'Smile Orange'. 'One Love'; Guyanese novelist E. R. Braithwaite, To Sir With Love, and Jamaican novelist and screenwriter, Anthony Winkler, The Annihilation of Fish and The Lunatic.

About the Caribbean Research Center

Caribbean Research Center, an academic component of Medgar Evers College, provides a multidisciplinary understanding of the New York social environment, the diverse social, cultural and economic characteristics of the Caribbean-American community.

About CaribbeanTales Worldwide Distribution.

CaribbeanTales Worldwide Distribution (CTWD) is the first full-service film distribution company in the English-speaking Caribbean, and a reference for buyers of Caribbean-themed content.

CaribbeanTales is a group of companies that produces, markets and exhibits Caribbean-themed films for regional and international distribution, including: CTWD; the CaribbeanTales Film Festival Group that produces annual events in Toronto, Barbados and New York; the Caribbean Incubator Program for Audio Visual Entrepreneurs that delivers training for filmmakers, and CaribbeanTales.ca, a non profit that promotes citizen participation through the medium of film.

Harry Belafonte film is a call to action.

The third in a 3-part series in which documentarist and screenwriter Wenty Bowen, explains why SING YOUR SONG is a must see for Caribbean and especially for Barbadian, audiences. Read Parts 1 and 2 here.

SING YOUR SONG will have its  Barbados premiere as the Opening Night Film at the CaribbeanTales 2012 Film Festival at Frank Collymore Hall on April 11th at 6pm.

Advance Tickets are on sale at http://CaribbeanTales-events.com for $35 ($40 at the door)

VIEW TRAILER

SING_YOUR_SONG_web.mov Watch on Posterous

POLITICAL ACTIVISM AND CIVIL RIGHTS

Belafonte’s compassion and ardor also drew him to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was only 28 during the Civil Rights movement and Martin Luther King was only 26, and the story is that Martin Luther King Jr. called to him first. So did Eleanor Roosevelt. He did organize a major effort by black leaders to reach out to Bobby Kennedy.

Though recognized with Grammy, Tony and Emmy® awards, Belafonte was blacklisted, harassed by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), spied on by the CIA and FBI, and threatened by the Klan, state troopers and Las Vegas mafia bosses.

[[posterous-content:pid___0]]After the assassination of Dr. King, Mr. Belafonte’s activism expanded far beyond civil rights for blacks, taking up the cause of Native Americans in the ‘70s. In the ‘80s, his activism increasingly shifted to Africa, where he campaigned against hunger and inspired the making of the album and the video of “We Are the World”. In the ‘90s, he goes to Haiti, in the 2000s, Iraq. He slowed down, but he kept plugging away at his causes. He took action to counter gang violence, prisons, and the incarceration of youth.

An HBO interviewer asked director Rostock why she ends the film with Mr. Belafonte, asking, "What do you do now?" Why end the film with a direct address to the audience? she was asked.
She replied: “I start and end the film with that message. The first few minutes are a rapid fire of where we are today and Harry talking about how he feels about that. And everything in his soul and every fiber of his being says: What do we do now? The idea was that you figure out for yourself what to do now, after seeing what had been figured out for you in the past. As Ruby Dee recalls in the film, Harry told her You need to find an assignment – I'm not going to give you an assignment. The film is designed to inspire young people to find their assignment.”

“Harry actually came to me with the film and we spoke for many, many hours. At one point, he took my hand, his eyes filled with tears, and he said, "I'm so worried that I'm not going to be passing the baton." At that moment I was reminded that when I was 15, I wanted to march with Martin Luther King from Selma to Montgomery. Now I have a 15-year-old daughter who is filled with the same passion and desire to change the world as I was, but with no leaders or organized movements to turn to. I thought that making this film would help to pass the baton and provide my daughter's generation with a roadmap.”

Perhaps the film might arouse similar emotions here.

“Sing Your Song” premieres at the Frank Collymore Hall on Wednesday April 11 at 6:00 p.m.

Tickets are Bds $35 obtainable and can be bought online at http://CaribbeanTale

EVENT DETAILS

Name: CaribbeanTales 2012 @ Island Inn - FIlm Festival, Symposium, Incubator

Date: April 10 - 15, 2012

Venue: Venues around Barbados: Island Inn, Aquatic Gap; Frank Collymore Hall, Bridgetown; George Washington House; Olympus Cinemas, Sheraton Mall;

Tickets: CaribbeanTales-events.com

Media and Information : Frances-Anne Solomon, Director 266-7779; Nancii Yearwood, CaribbeanTales@gmail.com.

ABOUT THE WRITER

Wenty Bowen is a documentary filmmaker and screenwriter. A former Fulbright Scholar, he was a Senior Lecturer at UWI Mona, where he taught Sociology, Journalism and Television Production at the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication. He was also Publications Editor at the Institute of Social and Economic Research (now SALISAS) at UWI Mona. His feature articles have been published in newspapers in the United States, the United Kingdom and the Caribbean, and his television play about Jamaican National Hero Sam Sharpe as well as his cultural and news documentaries were broadcast by the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation.

 

 

CARIBBEANTALES 2012 in the NEWZ

President's Film Endowment Bearing Fruits
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