The Best of Caribbean Tales

Every year since 2006 the Caribbean Tales Film Festival, founded by the Trinidadian-British-Canadian filmmaker Frances-Anne Solomon as a showcase of the best of Caribbean and Caribbean Diaspora film, has taken place annually in Toronto, Canada. In a couple days’ time, the Best of Caribbean Tales, a spin-off of that festival, will begin in Barbados, and run until March 2nd.

The festival will screen some of the best Caribbean films of recent years, including Maria Govan’s Rain (the opening night film at last year’s trinidad + tobago film festival), Mariel Brown’s documentary The Solitary Alchemist (jury prize for best documentary at last year’s ttff), and Frances-Anne Solomon’s own A Winter Tale (audience award-winner for best feature film at the 2007 ttff).

There will also be a number of workshops, including a directing masterclass with American filmmaker Julie Dash, director of the seminal Daughters of the Dust, and a workshop with Trinidadian-Jamaican cinematographer Franklyn “Chappie” St Juste, whose credits include The Harder They Come and Coolie Pink and Green, which won the audience award at last year’s ttff for best short film.

Other events include symposia on marketing and distribution for Caribbean films, as well as a workshop presentation of a screenplay, Tide Running, adapted from the novel by Oonya Kempadoo. The keynote address at the launch of the festival this Tuesday will be given by the acclaimed Barbadian writer George Lamming.