CaribPR Wire

The Wonder Years Star is in discussions to play Jamaican-Canadian Community worker Harry Gairey

For Immediate Release

CaribPRWire, Toronto, Canada, Thurs. Nov. 11, 2021: Casting is underway for In the Black and popular American actor Richard Gant has been attached to the project to play the role of Jamaican-born Harry Gairey. Produced by CaribbeanTales Media Group and directed by Caribbean-Canadian Frances-Anne Solomon, the feature film is an adaptation of entrepreneur and activist Jamaican-Canadian Denham Jolly’s memoir of the same name.

In the newly re-imagined The Wonder Years (ABC), Gant guest stars as Granddaddy Clisby – the latest role for the 77-year-old actor who also plays grumpy Walter on CBS’s The Neighborhood. The veteran actor is known for his roles on Greenleaf (Percy Lee), The Mindy Project (Melville Fuller), Men of a Certain Age (Owen Thoreau, Sr.), General Hospital and NYPD Blue.

“I met Richard last year in Los Angeles at the premiere of Hero at the Director’s Guild of America Theater,” recalls Solomon. “So, when I was thinking about who would be the perfect actor to play the role of the legendary Harry Gairey, a Jamaican-born community leader and activist who worked as a railroad porter, Richard’s commanding presence and booming voice instantly came to mind. He will be phenomenal!”

In the Black focuses on Jolly’s journey from Jamaica to Canada, the enormous influence Jamaican political activist Marcus Garvey had on his life as well as Jolly’s fight to secure a license for a Black-owned Toronto radio station, Flow 93.5.

The film has received support from the Harold Greenberg Fund and Telefilm Canada. Producer Nicole Brooks has also recently signed onto the project. Brooks’ production work began with Frances-Anne as story editor for Lord Have Mercy (Vision TV/Showcase/APTN/Toronto One) and she has gone on to create and produce several critically acclaimed and groundbreaking television and theatre productions including Echo (SunTV), Divine Restoration (Vision TV/ TVOne), Obeah Opera and executive produced CaribbeanTales’ slate of international pilots through its flagship Incubator Training Program. Also on board are writer Andrew Burrow-Trotman - The Porter (CBC) Frankie Drake Mysteries (CBC) Utopia Falls (CBC/Hulu), Diggstown (CBC) and development executive Jamie Gaetz. Solomon’s recent feature film, Hero: Inspired by the Extraordinary Life and Times of Mr. Ulric Cross is now available on Showtime, Prime Video, Hulu and Cineplex Store.

Media Contact: Fennella Bruce | 647.290.7610 | [email protected]

CaribbeanTales Media Group (CTMG) is a multi-faceted group of media companies that produces, markets, and sells culturally diverse film and television content from the Caribbean and its wide Diaspora.  Founded by award-winning filmmaker and Academy Member Frances-Anne Solomon, CTMG includes: CaribbeanTales Inc, a registered Canadian Charity, CaribbeanTales Worldwide Distribution, a film distribution entity, CaribbeanTales International Film Festival; Caribbeantales-TV, a VOD streaming service; the Creatives of Colour Incubator, a year-round development and production hub, and CaribbeanTalesFlix, our production arm.

PHOTOS:

Actor Richard Gant, l, and CaribbeanTales Media Group founder and director  Caribbean Canadian Frances-Anne Solomon. (Photo courtesy of Caju Creative)

Actor Richard Gant (Courtesy: richardgant.com)

Trinidad’s Jillian Danford & Jamaica’s Warren Danford’s Daily Culture Clash with their      Canadian Kids Bring the Laughs to the Caribbean and U.S

For Immediate Release

CaribPR Wire, Toronto, ON, Tues. June 1, 2021: Canada’s first Black Caribbean reality show, Auntie Jillian, begins airing on Synergy TV on Sunday June 20th, 2021, at 8pm EST with a Live “Meet The Danfords” post-show special hosted by Fusion’s DJ DLife. “I never thought people would be interested in my family, let alone make Canadian television history,” exclaimed Jillian Danford, aka Auntie Jillian. “But to have the show airing throughout the Caribbean and the U.S has completely exceeded my wildest expectations.”

Auntie Jillian started off on YouTube™, quickly amassing 100K+ subscribers and more than 14 million views from a culturally diverse international audience. Born in Trinidad and married to her Jamaican-born husband Warren, the couple’s hilarious interaction with their Canadian Millennial and Gen Z kids, Myles and Milan are just one of the reasons Synergy TV picked up the show. “We love how Jillian and Warren keep the Caribbean culture alive in their household, passing it down to Myles and Milan. This is the kind of positive programming that Synergy is bringing to the Caribbean and the US,” said O’Brian Haynes, General Manager of Synergy TV. “We fell in love with The Danfords, we know our viewers will too!”

When cultures collide, hilarity ensues as the Danfords with their extended fun-loving cast of friends encounter laugh-out-loud moments. From their first camping trip to a Generation X vs. Millennial cook-off, and Warren’s first waxing experience, Auntie Jillian keeps viewers in stitches.

Auntie Jillian airs Mondays at 8pm EST starting June 21st with encore presentations Thursdays and Sundays at 8pm EST.

The Danfords are available for Television and Radio interviews from June 13th – June 20^th and available Print and Digital upon request.

YT: @AskAuntieJillian | IG: @AskAuntieJillian | Twitter: @AuntieJillian | FB: AskAuntieJillian

Synergy TV is one of the most popular television brands across the Caribbean. Available from South America to the U.S, it has a total market reach of 6.47 million people and transmits from: Air Link, DIGICEL, Direct TV and is available through the TEGO TV APP. For more than three decades, Synergy TV continues to be the channel of choice for Caribbean content.

PLEASE SEE PHOTO HERE

Media Contact: Fennella Bruce | [email protected] 1.647.290.7610

Director Frances-Anne Solomon’s Award-Winning Feature Film will be streaming in Canada, the US and the UK from May 21st

For Immediate Release

CaribPR Wire, TORONTO, Canada, Fri. May 21, 2021: HERO, the film inspired by the extraordinary life of Caribbean-born Mr. Ulric Cross, will be available exclusively in Canada on Premium VOD in the Cineplex Store and Prime Video in the U.S. and U.K on May 21^st, 2021.

HERO opened to rave reviews at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in Canada and played in cinemas across the UK on a 40 City tour covering England, Scotland and Wales prior to the pandemic. Following this successful tour, HERO went on to win multiple awards and was the Opening Night feature film for the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles.

HERO stars Trinidad’s Nickolai Salcedo in the title role, Peter Williams (Stargate SG1), Joseph Marcell (FreshPrince of Bel Air), Jimmy Akinbola (Holby City) and Ghanaian superstars John Dumelo, Adjetey Anang and Prince David Oseia.

Film and television industry pioneer, Frances-Anne Solomon has expertly lifted the lid on one of many untold stories of notable Caribbean professionals who made it their life’s mission to foster African independence. Film critic Mike McCahill of The Guardian called Hero, “Stimulating and provocative – filmed history to prompt debate.”

“It’s exciting to know that Ulric’s remarkable life will be shared on a global scale,” said Solomon.

Watch the official HERO trailer (33s)

STREAM NOW:

Amazon Prime UK:https://amzn.to/3bCX2gn

Amazon Prime US: https://amzn.to/3u2PXw7

Showtime U.S.: https://s.sho.com/3wj8GFg

Cineplex Canada: https://cinplx.co/3wnpAm9

PROMOTIONAL IMAGES AVAILABLE HERE AND HERE

*Note to editor: HERO is also available in the U.S on Showtime’s specialty channel Sho Next and its streaming platform Showtime On Demand.

Media Contact: Fennella Bruce | 647.290.7610 | [email protected]

For UK inquires: Evadney Campbell | 07716 289 717 | [email protected]

For Trinidad inquiries: Wendell Bompart |[email protected]

For screener requests and publicity materials, please contact: [email protected]

Twitter: Hero_Film Instagram: hero_film Facebook: HERO4ALLTIME Web: www.heroulriccross.com

CaribbeanTales Media Group

CaribbeanTales Media Group (CTMG), is a multi-faceted group of media companies that produces, market, and sells culturally diverse film and television content from the Caribbean and its wide Diaspora.

Imagine Media

Imagine Media International Limited is an award-winning, full-service, production Company, based in Trinidad and Tobago and South Africa. Founded by award-winning, Producer-Director & Media Personality Lisa Wickham, the Company creates content across all media platforms.

Republic Bank

Headquartered in Trinidad and Tobago, Republic Financial Holdings Limited (RFHL) is the registered owner of all of the banks in the Republic Group – Republic Bank Limited, Republic Bank (Guyana) Limited, Republic Bank (Barbados) Limited, Republic Bank (Grenada) Limited, Republic Bank (Suriname) N.V., and Republic Bank (Ghana) Limited, as well as Republic Securities Limited and other subsidiaries.

Capital Motion Picture Group

Capital Motion Picture Group is a distributor of world-class entertainment to audiences around the globe. As part of its diverse offering of independent cinema, Capital Motion aims to both entertain and engage with audiences with an appetite for discovery.

CaribPR Wire, Boston, Mass., Mon. Mar. 15, 2021: Award-winning filmmaker, writer, and producer, Jonas Nosile, invites the Haitian and Caribbean community to bring to life The Ransom.

This new film dramatizes a difficult and tumultuous journey of human suffering and resiliency, throwing light on the brutality faced by Taíno and African slaves in Hispaniola, while ending on a hopeful and positive note.

“Society has made great progress and come a long way, but this struggle for equality has been underway for more than 400 years—and still continues. The Ransom will show that the quest for equality is universal by telling the story of how, early in American history, a group of Africans brought to the Caribbean revolted to fight for their freedom and right this wrong,” said Nosile.

The Ransom tells this incredible story through Marie-Jeanne, a wealthy multi-racial Haitian woman living in France, who journeys back home for family affairs and is kidnapped. Her ransom, however, will require more than just money: she must travel back in time to reckon with her family’s complicity in Haiti’s tragic and violent history and face the truth about her own estrangement from her homeland. To be filmed in Panama and Haiti with ethnically accurate casting and with dialogue in English/Castellan/Spanish-Taíno creole/French, the movie will highlight the daily life of a once-thriving indigenous people and the desire for liberty of African slaves, all against the backdrop of the Caribbean sugar plantation system.

“As the world continues to deal with the negative effects of discrimination, racism, and imbalances of power, The Ransom provides a difficult but necessary reminder of the past and uses it as a catalyst for change. The rough yet resilient tale will tap the emotions of audiences around the world and keep this important part of our history alive. There couldn’t be a better time than now for a film with a social message,” said Nosile.

Jonas’s last project, “Haiti: Triumph, Sorrow, and the Struggle of a People,” won numerous awards, including the Associated Press Award for Best Documentary, and was nominated for an Emmy Award (Regional) in Outstanding Societal Concerns Programs. For The Ransom, he is teaming up with film veterans in Hollywood including veteran screenwriter Mark Richard, a former executive at LD Entertainment.

For more information about this film and to learn how the Haitian and Caribbean community can help bring it to fruition, visit http://theransommovie.com or email [email protected]

GET PHOTO HERE

RICHMOND, Va., Dec. 28, 2020 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ – Soulidifly Productions, a film company with a mission to produce meaningful, uplifting stories that are entertaining and beautifully told, has partnered with TRIAL X FIRE, LLC, the distribution branch of Urban Home Entertainment, to release Joseph to audiences everywhere on video-on-demand starting December 24, 2020, on Amazon Prime and Vimeo.

“Joseph will bring viewers a deeper understanding of how the search for truth can be healing, especially during times of social and political unrest,” said BK Fulton, founding chairman and CEO, Soulidifly Productions. “This film aligns with 2019’s ‘Year of Return’ and the ‘Decade of Return’ currently being expressed by African leaders and global influencers as more people search for answers in the present by looking to clues from the past.”

Winner of the 2020 “Best Diaspora Narrative Feature” award at the Africa Movie Academy Awards, Joseph was shot on location in Ghana, Jamaica and Barbados and produced by Step by Step Productions with assistance from Soulidifly Productions. Joseph is a dramatic feature film about Joseph King, a young Jamaican doctor with a burning desire to re-connect to his family’s roots with the Ashanti tribe in Ghana. The quest to “go home” creates family conflict. Joseph’s curiosity about Africa is fueled even more by a friend from medical school, who would boast about his homeland Ghana. His stories contradict with what Joseph hears and sees about Africa in the media. A serious tragedy, a chance meeting and an unfulfilled promise drive Joseph towards an uncertain destiny.

Access trailer: https://www.soulidifly.com/joseph

Joseph has been endorsed and supported by the Governments of Ghana, Jamaica and Barbados and was included in the Ghana Tourism Authority’s “Year Of Return.” The film was released theatrically in Ghana, Nigeria, Jamaica and other Caribbean islands, and in the U.S. in select AMC theaters earlier this year.

Directed by Marcia Weekes and co-written by Weekes and Delphine Itambi from the Republic of Cameroon, the film includes Caribbean/African actors and artists.

About Soulidifly Productions
Founded in 2017, Soulidifly tells the stories of multiethnic, multigenerational people across various segments of life, experiences and eras. https://www.soulidifly.com/

About Trial X Fire, LLC
A distribution brand of Urban Home Entertainment, TRIAL X FIRE, LLC (TXF) is a privately owned company that specializes in Movies, Television, and Musical programming. TrialxFire.com.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1392380/Soulidifly_Productions_Joseph_Movie_Poster.jpg

Acclaimed Director Frances-Anne Solomon to spearhead

this historic new project

For Immediate Release

CaribPR Wire, TORONTO, Canada, Mon. Nov. 9, 2020: The pivotal role played by British-Trinidadian journalist and activist Claudia Jones in launching the world’s largest street festival, the Notting Hill Carnival, is the focus of a new Canada-UK co-production.

Leading the production is acclaimed Canadian director Frances-Anne Solomon (Hero: Inspired by the Extraordinary Life and Times of Mr. Ulric Cross). The film will be produced by Solomon’s CaribbeanTales Media Group (CTMG), in partnership with Nadine Marsh-Edwards’ UK-Based Greenacre Films and Lisa Wickham’s Trinidad and Tobago-based Imagine Media International Limited.

Set in London in 1958 as violent race riots ravaged the country, CLAUDIA tells the story of Jones, a Trinidad-born activist deported to England from McCarthyite USA, who comes up with an ingenious plan to unite Britain’s Black and white working classes.

“Claudia was a modern day superhero rooted in the real world, whose remarkable life and achievements straddled the USA, England and the Caribbean.”  says Solomon. “I could not be more excited to work with this global team of accomplished Black women to tell this inspiring story.”

“Greenacre Films is proud to partner with Frances-Anne and CaribbeanTales to tell the story of a remarkable Black woman whose achievements helped to shape the London we live in today,” says Marsh-Edwards, whose many acclaimed productions include Been So Long, starring Michaela Cole.

Imagine Media’s CEO Lisa Wickham believes that, “Frances-Anne’s film shines a much-deserved light on a Caribbean-born woman whose rich and beautiful legacy amplifies Black voices and experiences as a whole.”

Joining the team as co-creator and co-writer is British actress, writer and director Adjoa Andoh (Bridgerton, Dr. Who, Invictus) and rising British screenwriter Omari McCarthy.

“Claudia’s work promoting women’s rights,  Black rights and the rights of the poor and disenfranchised laid the seeds for so much that followed  – African and Caribbean independence, civil rights, Pan Africanism and inevitably, today’s Black Lives Matter movement,”  adds Adjoa Andoh.

CLAUDIA’s development has been funded by Telefilm Canada. The project is one of thirteen (13) films selected for the Attagurl Program, a unique year-long lab supporting the development and distribution paths of amazing projects by women and non-binary around the world.

Media Contact: Fennella Bruce | 647.290.7610 | [email protected]

CaribbeanTales Media Group (CTMG) is a multi-faceted group of media companies that produces, markets, and sells culturally diverse film and television content from the Caribbean and its wide Diaspora. It includes: CaribbeanTales Inc a registered Canadian Charity, CaribbeanTales Worldwide Distribution, a film distribution entity, CaribbeanTales International Film Festival, now celebrating 15 years; Caribbeantales-TV, a VOD streaming service; the Creatives of Colour Incubator, a year-round development and production hub, and CaribbeanTalesFlix, its production arm.

In 2014, Frances-Anne Solomon founded CineFAM, to amplify the voices of women of colour creators worldwide – that includes an annual film festival, an incubator and film productions. 2020 sees the launch of the inaugural Windrush Caribbean Film Festival, a UK-based charity that celebrates the impact of the Windrush generation on life on Britain and the world.

Recent award-winning CTMG productions include HERO – Inspired by the Extraordinary Life & Times of Mr. Ulric Cross by Solomon (Trinidad & Tobago/Canada 2019); Caribbean Girl NYC by Mariette Monpierre (Guadeloupe/Canada 2016); Battledream Chronicle – A New Beginning, by Alain Bidard (Martinique/Canada 2016); and Kingston Paradise by Mary Wells (Jamaica/Canada 2014).

Greenacre Films is an independent production company founded by award-winning producers Nadine Marsh-Edwards and Amanda Jenks. They bonded over their desire to create fresh, surprising stories with diverse voices. ​Working with great talent is the key to our success, we are an inclusive space that allows innovative ideas to be realised; where whether you are an award-winning writer or an exciting newcomer you feel able to be bold in your vision and creatively ambitious. Our television and film slate aims to connect with both the UK and global audiences and all, at their heart, are stories that explore the human condition in surprising and entertaining ways.

Imagine Media International Limited is an award-winning, full-service, production company, based in Trinidad and Tobago and South Africa. Founded by award-winning producer-director & media personality Lisa Wickham, the company provides content creation across all media platforms, event management, marketing & PR Services, graphic design and training & consultancy. Imagine Media has developed and coordinated projects in Europe, North America, Africa and several Caribbean countries.

For Immediate Release

CaribPR Wire, TORONTO, Canada, Thurs. March 19, 2020: Toronto-based CaribbeanTales Media Group has announced that it has begun work on a feature film based on the award-winning memoir In the Black by one of Canada’s most respected entrepreneurs, Denham Jolly. The feature development is supported by the Harold Greenberg Fund and the Telefilm Development Program. A short film based on Jolly’s early life is also being produced. His compelling memoir, that won the Toronto Book award in 2017, tells the inspiring story of his journey from Jamaica to Canada in the 1950’s, through his struggles to overcome racism and become an extremely successful businessman, activist, philanthropist, and publisher.

Solomon, the producer and director on this project, will work with screenwriter Andrew Burrows-Trotman and development executive Jamie Gaetz  to recreate the triumphs and trials of  Jolly’s life, the fabric of which is interwoven with Marcus Garvey’s ideals of economic self-empowerment,  music of the time, and the activism of several generations of Black Canadians who are also part of this remarkable story.

“Denham Jolly’s ten-year battle to win a license for Canada’s first black radio station, is the stuff of urban legend. In the Black shows Canada from a unique point of view. It’s the story of Canada herself, through a fresh and important lens. Our audiences are hungry for authentic stories about Canadian life: Real lives of real people who came to this country and made it their home.” says Solomon.

An icon of the Black community in Canada, Jolly is a founding member of the Black Business Professional Association, Harry Jerome Scholarship Fund, Harry Jerome Awards, Black Action Defence Committee and the Harriet Tubman Games, to name just a few organizations his hand has touched. A self-made millionaire, last year he paid off the mortgage for the Jamaican Canadian Centre and continues to be a philanthropist working behind the scenes to support numerous community causes.

“I cannot express how pleased and excited I am to know that my experiences in Canada and the building of the Black community in Toronto will be documented in film. Writing my memoir and receiving tremendous feedback for it has been both gratifying and humbling. Now, future generations will be able to watch my life story on the big screen,” says Jolly. “I trust Frances-Anne Solomon to tell this story with honesty, integrity and the directional creativity she always brings to every project she touches.”

Frances-Anne Solomon is an award-winning filmmaker, producer, curator and entrepreneur.  A 2019 Director member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, her  third feature film Hero Inspired by the Extraordinary Life and Times of Mr. Ulric Cross has received wide critical acclaim on its worldwide tour, that includes theatrical runs in both Canada and U.K. and the Opening Night sold-out screening at the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles.  She is the founder and CEO of the multi-facetted CaribbeanTales Media Group. In 2017 she founded CineFam, to support bold original stories by women of colour creators. Prior to returning to Canada in 2000, Solomon had a successful career as a TV Drama Producer and Executive Producer with the BBC in England.

Andrew Burrows-Trotman is an established Canadian writer. He has been in the writer’s room for Frankie Drake (CBC), Homicide Club (Bell) and Diggstown (CBC).  He is currently working on a dramatic pilot with executive producer and former NBA player Steve Nash called Hardwood, and he is developing a miniseries based on Lawrence Hill’s acclaimed novel The Illegal (Conquering Lion, CBC).

Jamie Gaetz is a story editor and development consultant with extensive experience in the Canadian media industries. As an analyst at Telefilm Canada, she worked with clients across Atlantic Canada and in Quebec., part of  the team that nurtured talent behind many award-winning films, including two shortlisted for Cannes, one Sundance selection, a winner of the Claude Jutra Award, several selected for TIFF and a top download on iTunes.

The CaribbeanTales Media Group produces, markets and sells Caribbean-themed film and television content for global audiences. It includes the CaribbeanTales International Film Festival, CaribbeanTales Incubator Program, CaribbeanTales Worldwide Distribution and CaribbeanTalesFlix.

The Harold Greenberg Fund/Le Fonds Harold Greenberg is a national funding organization that supports the development of Canadian dramatic feature films. Since 1986, it has invested over $85 million in the Canadian film and television industry, which is more than 4, 000 projects.

Peter Williams and Melanie Nicholls-King play Harry Gairey and Violet Williams, respectively, in the short film Violet's Story.

Denham Jolly

Director Frances-Anne Solomon

For more information:

www.caribbeantales.org

https://www.bellmedia.ca/harold-greenberg-fund/

Media Contact: Fennella Bruce|FKB Media Solutions|[email protected]|647.290.7610

More photos and B-roll available upon request.