Barbados will once again host the CaribbeanTales Film Festival (CTFF), Symposium & Marketplace from March 7 – 20 2011. The festival follows a highly successful event held last year that was a major boost for the local and regional film industry.

CEO of CaribbeanTales Worldwide Distribution and award-winning film maker, Frances-Anne Solomon spoke recently at the Island Inn Hotel in Aquatic Gap – not far from the Barbadian capital of Bridgetown {CLICK ON FOLLOWING LINK FOR FULL AUDIO};-

“The original CTFF held in Toronto for the last five years has been described as ‘bringing Caribbean films to the world‘, while our Barbados event brings the film world to the Caribbean with a view to developing the regional audio-visual industry.” Solomon said.

In 2010, the inaugural Barbados edition of the festival attracted 76 film makers, buyers, media professionals and visitors from the Caribbean, North America, the UK and South Africa to these shores and was a major boost for the fledgling Barbadian film industry. Among the many highlights was a workshop by renowned director, Julie Dash who was the first African American woman to have a film distributed theatrically throughout the United States.

CaribbeanTales Worldwide Distribution Inc., the only company dedicated in the English-speaking Caribbean to the distribution of Caribbean audio-visual content will stage the event which will include a Content Incubator, educational screenings, workshops as well as a symposium and marketplace focused on Caribbean content.

“A Hand Full of Dirt” has been given the honour of opening the Caribbean Tales Film Festival in Barbados with a screening on March 16. Ms Solomon tells the audience a bit about Director Russell Watson {CLICK ON FOLLOWING LINK FOR FULL AUDIO};-

“Russell Watson was born and raised in Barbados. A graduate of the Edna Manley School of Drama, Jamaica, he holds an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His artwork has been exhibited internationally, and he has created several short film and multimedia works. A Hand Full of Dirt is his first feature film.”

SYNOPSIS – “Archie Redman is a middle aged man chasing a fading dream. Obsessed with holding on to his failing hotel, he has sacrificed everything – his marriage lies broken, his son estranged and the bank is poised to foreclose. Ben, his bitter father, ignores his pleas for help, unable to forgive an act of betrayal committed twenty years ago over a parcel of hard-earned land.”

Russell himself is thrilled by the fact of overcoming financial constraints nevertheless to maintain standards expected of more experienced colleagues that he was still able to deliver a quality product {CLICK ON FOLLOWING LINK FOR FULL AUDIO};-

A HAND FULL OF DIRT is a micro-budget Bajan film shot on mini-DV and opening March 16, 2011 at the CaribbeanTales Film Festival.

The US Embassy is a co-sponsor and their Deputy Public Affairs Officer – Joseph Schaller – explains why the Festival is key to American culture as well as Caribbean interests {CLICK ON FOLLOWING LINK FOR FULL AUDIO};-

Dr Schaller sees Caribbean Tales in March as an offshoot of USA’s Black History Month which falls in February and this fulfils the mission’s mandate to assist with the cultural mores of this hemisphere

The envoy also explained that most of USA’s contribution will be via the donation of space for screenings at a key historical landmark for Barbados and Americans {CLICK ON FOLLOWING LINK FOR FULL AUDIO};-

Many films and seminars are to be held at George Washington House, according to the Embassy’s Deputy Public Affairs Officer

Meanwhile, Dr Don Marshall in his capacity with the BIDC was very satisfied to see a successful marriage of Business components with an Entertainment focus – a potential which Barbados has long overlooked according to the UWI Lecturer {CLICK ON FOLLOWING LINK FOR FULL AUDIO};-

BIDC plans to assist with the Writer’s Workshops and also wishes to renew its Cultural Alliance with Invest Barbados

The former Chairman of the SSA also shared wit the audience a discussion he had with Elombe Mottley (The founder of Yoruba Yard in Fontabelle and uncle to St Michael North East MP Mia Mottley) and a possible explanation of the term “Bajan” and how it relates to stick-licking Barbados’ indigenous fighting style {CLICK ON FOLLOWING LINK FOR FULL AUDIO};-

Observing that “stick-licking” is a dying Martial Art, he compared it to the plot of “The Last Samurai” – but the kicker was that “Bad John” was contracted to ‘Bajan‘ since most such characters with this deadly skill came from Barbados; Marshall invited the audience to confirm or refute the contention and take their research and make it into a documentary or a movie