Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

Jimmy Jean Louis in the Royal Cinema Theatre  lobby after screening of Rattlesnakes  -sweirsweir Caribbean Tales Film Festival Over For Another Year by Stephen WEIR The lights are on. The seats are empty. The popcorn has been swept off the floor. The 14th annual Caribbean Tales International Film Festival (CTFF) is over for another year.  After eight presentation nights and the screening of some twenty films, CTFF wrapped up last week with the screening of Sacred Water, an odd 3-year old African documentary about Kunyaza (a technique which Rwandese women use to ejaculate). “CTFF 2019 was a diverse and wonderful year filled with the best films from Caribbean filmmakers,” said Frances-Anne Solomon, CTFF Founder & Executive Director.  At closing night, the following awards were announced. Best Feature: Rattlesnakes directed by Julius Amadume. Best Documentary: Paradise Discovered: The Unbreakable Virgin Islanders directed by Peter Bailey. ...

-->   --> What is happening this year on Frankie Drake? Good things come for viewers who Waite! Brampton actor kills it on Mondays  By Stephen Weir You are at home watching the CBC. If it is Monday and someone has been murdered or a bank safe has been cracked, chances are Romaine Waite is involved. The up and coming Jamaican Canadian actor has an incredible oeuvre, and somehow two of the Canadian shows (and an American show to boot) he has regularly appeared in air on Monday evening. And yes somebody usually gets murdered, the bank’s safe usually gets blown open with sticks of TNT and nice-guy Waite usually helps solve the mystery. “Ha, Ha” laughed the Toronto based actor when the Caribbean Camera pointed out the Monday mayhem to him. “ Yes I did appear in a Murdoch Mystery or two, and yes it airs on Mondays, but, so too have a lot of other actors.   Season Three of the Frankie Drake Mysteries series is airing now on the CBC and...

BRAMPTON’S RISING STAR GOING HIGHER THAN THE 13 th  FLOOR   By Stephen Weir : The star  Polaris is  408 light years from Earth.  At the rate Haviah Mighty’s career has taken off, she should be there any day now! The Brampton Hip Hop artist won it all Monday night at the Carlu Hall in Toronto.  Not only did she win the Polaris Music Prize but her performance at the national music event broadcast by the CBC was rated stellar too. The Polaris is a music award annually given to the best full-length Canadian album based on artistic merit.  Mighty’s new album 13 th  Floor was deemed the country’s best. The award was established in 2006 and comes with a $50,000 cash prize. On Monday night, a jury of 11 music experts came to the downtown Carlu to pick the best Canadian album of the year.  Haviah Mighty  made history becoming the first hip hop artist to win the grand prize.  On stage after capturing the Polaris Music ...

  Bride and Groom all washed up, but that’s what made them so bubbly at this unique St Lucian wedding By Stephen Weir There wasn’t a dry eye at a very special St Lucia wedding held last Thursday.    A well-known scuba diving Canadian travel agent Julie Gilchrist and her beau Sean Gillen decided to get hitched underwater and in doing so set a record for the Caribbean! This past weekend the third annual Saint Lucia Dive Festival ended with a wrap-up celebration to honour the Southern Ontario couple who literally deep-sixed their wedding vows two days before.  It all happened some 30 feet down on the sandy bottom of a Caribbean bay near the ever-so-posh Royalton Resort. St Lucia is no stranger to out-of-country couples getting married on the island.  In fact they hold over 700 such weddings every year. But never ever in the history of the island have they ever seen such a wedding – it all took place underwater where the fish out-numbered the g...

--> One Pot. One Chair. One Table. Charmin’ dining hidden in plain sight. By Stephen Weir How does Charmaine Desir do it? Her food shack on the edge of Castries Central Market doesn’t have a sign, has only a bench for three and one seat at the dinner table. Oh yes, it doesn’t appear to have power and the roof leaks over the visitors when it rains. It is easy on the island of St Lucia to enjoy expensive fine dining, 4-star restaurants abound. Finding a hearty, gut-pleasing meal for $5? Now that is an adventure that seasoned travellers should consider taking. For the past17 years the Castries shack chef has been feeding customers one serving at a time in an unmarked shed (look for a cartoon of a young couple having lunch and checking their smart phone). Those in the know find her and as a result there is always a customer or two outside waiting to be fed. Since she can only seat one or two people at a time, she gets to know her customers really well "if...