BY SELINA McCALLUM
The coronavirus has interrupted many events this summer and forced organizers to adapt to the new rules of social distancing.
Many events have moved online, and recently the CaribbeanTales Film Festival (CTFF) has also done the same as it will be celebrating 15 years of talented, established and emerging filmmakers of Caribbean heritage.
Diana Webley is this year’s Festival Director for the 2020 CaribbeanTales International Film Festival. For the past two years she has served as Associate Festival Director for CTFF. She has been working at Harbourfront Centre for 15 years as a Senior Producer and Artistic Associate responsible for daily operational aspects and programming themes for their year-round festival and event season.
Webley talks about what movie lovers can look forward to at this year’s virtual event.
“We have a jam packed line up of eight nights of film. It is loaded with Caribbean content and stories to share that are definitely resonating with what’s happening right now outside our window. I think that these stories are going to mean so much more to everyone,” said Webley.
The Festival Director speaks on the festival having more of an international reach this year.
“We have a night that’s looking to truth to power. It’s an activism night. We have films from the states, Trinidad, and Jamaica that are featured on that night, and I feel that we are going to reach a wider audience now that we’re virtual. We can open the doors to others, friends of the Caribbeans,” said Webley. “I’m truly happy in one way being able to reach more people.”
CTFF will be announcing its 2020 livestream programming on Wednesday, July 8th at 7 p.m. on the CaribbeanTales-TV (CT-TV) online platform.
The international film festival will run from September 9th to October 22nd CT-TV.
CaribbeanTales-TV.com is an innovative digital streaming, subscription video-on-demand platform that provides access to over 300 culturally diverse films and TV programs, from the Caribbean and its wide diaspora. New films are added monthly.
The evening’s festivities will include special congratulatory messages, a retrospect of CTFF’s history and the cast talkback and screening of CTFF founder Frances-Anne Solomon’s award-winning film Hero: Inspired by the Extraordinary Life and Times of Mr. Ulric Cross.
The film has garnered several awards including: TTFF 2018 People’s Choice Award, 2019 AMAA Award for Best Diaspora Narrative Feature and the Ja’Net Feature Narrative Award from the Pan African Film Festival where it was the Opening Night film.
CaribbeanTales was pleased to announce their latest feature, CT-TV Live Events, which will include masterclasses, webinars, watch parties and screenings featuring conversations with filmmakers from around the world. Events will screen live and also be available to watch later on.
“Everybody has Youtube and Zoom, but we have our own video on-demand platform that has been in existence since 2013, and now we’re about to use it for this platform that we probably never thought that we should have to do before this pandemic,” said Webley. “I’m excited to launch our CaribbeanTales TV.”
Webley speaks on the impact the livestream events will have for CaribbeanTales.
“CaribbeanTales has been around so long that possibly only the Caribbean community knows about it. The outreach and impact will be tremendous from being online, especially if we’re able to geo-map where directors want their films to go. For example, we have a film that is done by a Japanese, Caribbean and Cuban filmmaker that definitely wants the world to see their work, and what they’re doing,” said Webley. “This could offer the opportunity for the festival to be outside and online in the future.”
Webley breaks down what CaribbeanTales means to her.
“To me, CaribbeanTales means continuing the legacy by sharing our stories through film and raising a glass to our stories. It means allowing our stories to live on for the next generation,” said Webley.
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