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              Don’t let Queer Coolie-tudes slip under your movie watching radar By Stephen Weir Just make sure that you don’t get popcorn grease on your keyboard. You are going to need your online devices to catch all the movies for this year's CaribbeanTales Film Festival. Last night (Wednesday_ the 15th annual Toronto based festival began, not with a red carpet, but with an online presence that has the potential to reach thousands and thousands of movie lovers. “ In spite of what’s happening in the world right now, we have continued to forge ahead,” wrote festival founder and moviemaker Frances-Anne Solomon. “ In our new online programming we are able to reach an even wider, global audience than the traditional theatre film festival … Necessity truly is the mother of invention.” Last night (Wednesday) the festival’s kick-off theme was “The Trini In Me” with a focus on Trinidadian filmmakers and the International Premiere of Grace & Saleem directed by Jian Hennings. Grace &

On The Road With Grace & Saleem Director Jian Hennings found his actors on Facebook and then took them on a Trinidad road trip. Hennings, director and writer of Grace & Saleem , concedes that it is damn hard to make a “road movie” in Trinidad. “It is a small island, you can drive around our little world in 3 or 4 hours.” Everyone has seen a road movie, from Thelma and Louise to Dumb and Dumber ; the genre has been a cinema staple for over 60 years. These are films where the main characters are usually unknowingly on a journey of self-discovery. The destination is rarely as important as the experience of getting there. Move over Hollywood. While most road movies are Made-in-America, Hennings has lensed this all in Trinidad making it the Caribbean’s first authentic On The Road movie. It is a good one. Grace & Saleem is a love story of an unlikely couple told via three distinctive chapters of their relationship together. They have a soul changing road tri

CaribbeanTales is all set to put on the Big Show, but Virus Shutdown waits in the wings. The CaribbeanTales Film Festival (CTFF) has an amazing plan for 2020; quality Trinidadian, Caribbean and world movies, a gala launch, and an outreach festival in England. “Now,” says Dianne Webley the newly promoted director of the Festival, "if the virus shutdown soon has an end, we can tell Toronto when this is all going to take place.” Earlier this week, Frances Anne Solomon, the founder of the annual festival announced that Webley has taken over the day-to-day operation of the 15th annual fall classic. She also announced that three new people have joined the CTFF board. “A long-time member of the CaribbeanTales family, Diana Webley has been working at Harbourfront Centre for 15-years,” said Solomon. “For the past two years she has also served as the Associate Festival Director for CTFF.” “What has happened is that Frances Anne (Solomon) has been deeply involved with her own feature