CaribbeanTales International Film Festival Offers an Array of Stories

By Neil Armstrong

Photo credit: Eddie Grant     Diana Webley, Co-Director of CaribbeanTales International Film Festival, with the program guide for the September 4-20 festival

The 14^th annual CaribbeanTales International Film Festival (CTFF) will showcase a wide range of films from September 4 -20 at the Royal Cinema and Imagine Cinemas Carlton in Toronto.

Using the theme ‘A New Day,’ Frances-Anne Solomon, CEO of CaribbeanTales says, “It is a brand new day for Caribbean film, a day where filmmakers are able to stand up with pride and hope, eyes and hearts ever upward. Our voices are being heard and the depth of our stories, our legends, our unique perspective on the world, is even more poignant and relevant. We’re here to raise up our Caribbean filmmakers and to shine a light on their importance, but most of all, to share their stories with the world.”

The festival has themed nights featuring films about the environment on September 13, music on September 14, LGBT on September 19, Haiti on September 13, Trinidad on September 14 and Jamaica on September 18.

The opening night on September 4 will showcase the feature film, “Rattlesnakes,” directed by Julius Amedume. It tells the story of Robert McQueen who has a wonderful family and makes a decent living.

“However, underneath the perfect husband act, he lives a double life and often has affairs with other married women. When one of their husbands finds out his identity, Robert finds himself abducted and tortured for his adulterous affairs.”

The short film that will be shown that night is “Oseyi and the Masqueraders” directed by Alwin Bully of Dominica. “A young boy comes of age when he conquers his fear of the carnival costumes of his village, and learns two family secrets.”

One of the three films being featured on Jamaica Night is “Rockstone and Fire” directed by Dr. Courtney C. Coke, the medical director of Radiation Oncology at Advocate Sherman Hospital in Elgin, IL. USA.

He spent his formative years on a citrus and sugarcane farm in Pennants, Clarendon in Jamaica where he was raised by his grandparents. Dr. Coke also has a home in Potsdam, St. Elizabeth and is deeply entrenched in the community.

“Rockstone and Fire” is a short film which is a “tribute to the century old Spanish-wall structures that dot Jamaica’s rural landscape in St. Elizabeth. The buildings hold memory, cultural connections and significance for the place and the people.”

The other films that night are “Children of the Incursion” directed by Ina Sotirova and “Last Street” directed by Amanda Sans Pantling.

“Children of the Incursion” is a “poetic journey through memories, realities and universal truths as seen through he eyes of inner-city youth that attempts to understand the rampant and increasing violence in Jamaica.”

An excerpt of the synopsis of “Last Street” notes that, “After the controversial extradition to the U.S of the famous druglord Christopher “Dudus” Coke, chaos reigns in his former areas of control in West Kingston, Jamaica. Bands of teenagers kill each other for any little reason. Although violence in Jamaica is always portrayed as drug related, this film unveils a real truth which links a culture of violence to masculinity and shooting guns.”

The media launch on July 4 featured Idris Elba’s directorial debut, “Yardie.”

It is a heartfelt story about love, revenge, and the meeting of cultures, adapted from the novel by the Jamaican author, Victor Headley.

Set in ’70s Kingston and ’80s Hackney, “Yardie” centres on the life of a young Jamaican man named D (Aml Ameen), who has never fully recovered from the murder, committed during his childhood, of his older brother Jerry Dread (Everaldo Creary).

D grows up under the wing of a Kingston Don and music producer named King Fox (Sheldon Shepherd). Fox dispatches him to London, where he reconnects with his childhood sweetheart, Yvonne (Shantol Jackson), and his daughter whom he has not seen since she was a baby. He also hooks up with a soundclash crew, called High Noon. But before he can be convinced to abandon his life of crime and follow “the righteous path,” he encounters the man who shot his brother ten years earlier. Thus, he embarks on a bloody, explosive quest for retribution — a quest
which brings him into conflict with vicious London gangster Rico (Stephen Graham).

Among the films to be featured on LGBT Night is “Judgment Day” directed by Francesca Hawkins of Trinidad & Tobago.

“In 2017, Jason Jones, a human rights activist, filed an historic constitutional motion against the state, challenging colonial-era anti-homosexual laws in Trinidad and Tobago. The case opens up deep divisions between civil rights activists and politically powerful religious groups,” notes the synopsis.

The feature presentation is “Rafiki” directed by Wanuri Kahiu of Kenya which is a love story between two young women (played by newcomers Samantha Mugatsia and Sheila Munyiva) in a country where homosexuality is still illegal.

“Rafiki” is saturated with joy, heartbreak, and a richly effervescent cinematography that showcases director Wanuri Kahiu’s native Nairobi in all its vibrancy.

The 10^th anniversary of the CaribbeanTales Incubator (CTI) will be facilitated alongside the festival.

In August, there will be CTFF community screenings at Island Soul at the Harbourfront Centre (Aug. 4); Eglinton BIA at the Maria Shchuka Library (Aug. 9); and Under the Stars: Movies in the Park in Regent Park (Aug. 14).

Visit caribbeantalesfestival.com for a complete schedule of the films.