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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 directe...

Film Festival Entry Lockdowns student’s fear of school shootings. By Stephen Weir The fear of gun violence in US schools is raising students’ stress levels to Code Red.  Generation Lockdown , a new 17-minute film about mass shootings in schools, will in all likelihood scare students, concern parents and make educators wonder if it could happen here in Canada. Lockdown – the protocol that American schools follow when there is a threat to students – means locking and barricading classroom doors and windows. The students hunker down clutching their teacher waiting until the emergency is over.  “ Lockdowns have become a hallmark of American Education and become a by product of the United States’ inability to curb its gun violence epidemic,” explains New York City based director Sirad Balducci.    “We hope this film will incentivize parents to be the first in the line of defense by removing kids’ access to guns in the home and giving them tools to iden...

Sit back. Relax. Turn On Your Smartphone.  Caribbean Tales Film Festival goes online in September 2020 Generation Lockdown By Stephen Weir Break out and bags of Orville Redenbacher's popcorn. You will need a shopping basket full to get through this year’s Caribbean Tales Film Festival  (CTFF) - and, oh gosh you are going to have to make it yourself.  The festival is going online this year, so all the movies will have to be enjoyed at home on computers, phones and pads. Last night the CTFF held a digital media launch for the coming virtual film fest. They announced the names of nine feature films and hinted at a coming lineup of 25 short movies that will be part of the 15th annual CTFF. CTFF runs from September 9th to October 2nd and will take place on the Video-On-Demand CaribbeanTales-TV (CT-TV) platform with livestream entertainment.  The film festival describes “CT-TV is an innovative subscription-based digital streaming platform that provides ac...