CaribPR Wire

For Immediate Release

CaribPR Wire, MIAMI, FL, Weds. May 30, 2017: The CaribbeanTales International Film Festival and their partners today announced their 2017 Short Film Challenges (SFC). The SFCs throw a spotlight on important themes, new voices, and urgent current social issues, providing a platform and visibility to emerging filmmakers.

This year there will be three (3) themes, and five (5) total challenges:

#INTERSECT – for Queer and Trans People of Colour (QTPOC), co-presented with the Toronto Queer Film Festival, features diverse stories of any theme and genre from across the Caribbean Region and Diaspora. This challenge is supported by the Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention.

#BlackLoveMatters, is presented with the Toronto-based Black Daddies Club and Young and Potential Fathers, and will explore stories of black masculinity, fatherhood, and black love.

The three CineFAM challenges are part of CaribbeanTales the global initiative to support bold new stories by women of colour worldwide.  “CineFAM” in Haitian-Creole means “films by women”. This year there are three CineFAM challenges:

CineFAM Caribbean Smartphone Challenge – presented by Flow and in partnership with the Belize International Film Festival and the Chicago Caribbean Film Festival. This challenge is open to all Caribbean women living in the Region and Diaspora. The winner will receive a $1,500 USD prize, a combination of cash and equipment.

CineFAM Canada – presented with Trinity Square Video and Telefilm. Designed for Canadian women of colour creators through an open call for 5-minute screenplays. Two teams will be chosen to receive production support and in-kind funding up to $1500 through Trinity Square Video and CaribbeanTales.

CineFAM South Africa - presented with Sisters Working in Film and Television (SWIFT) at the Durban Film Mart (DFM). The Challenge will take place on the second week of the Durban International Film Festival 2017, where SWIFT will offer a no-budget filmmaking workshop. A theme will be announced and filmmakers will have five days to write, shoot, edit and upload their films. Enrolment in the workshop is non-mandatory. The Challenge is open to all women-identified South Africans and will be open for submissions between July 18, 2017and July 23, 2017. Winners will get the opportunity to attend and premiere their films at CTFF in September 2017.

Participants in each Challenge have the opportunity to compete for a range of prizes.

Winning films will have their World Premiere Screening at CaribbeanTales International Film Festival (CTFF) 2017, and receive distribution through CaribbeanTales Worldwide Distribution on CaribbeanTales-TV-com.

All films must be five minutes or less, must be world premieres, and must be owned, created and led by people of colour.

For more information and to submit to one of the challenges visit the website: http://caribbeantales-tv.com/short-film-challenges/.

Trinity Square Video is a space to re-imagine media arts. Founded in 1971, it is one of Canada’s first artist-run centres and its oldest media arts centre. As a not-for-profit, charitable organization Trinity Square Video aims to meaningfully engage diverse creative voices through its accessible production, post-production, and exhibition support. Trinity Square Video champions an evolving definition of video by presenting challenging contemporary art that inspires its members and audiences to expand their understanding of media art. We strive to create a supportive environment, encouraging artistic and curatorial experimentation with video that challenges notions of medium specificity and advances media art as a creative discipline.

Telefilm Canada is a Crown corporation reporting to Canada’s federal government through the Minister of Canadian Heritage. Headquartered in Montreal, Telefilm provides services to the Canadian audiovisual industry with four regional offices in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax.

Sisters Working In Film and Television is a non-profit organization established in 2017 that aims to advance the participation of women professionals in film and telelvision. The organization lobbies for inclusion, gender parity and the support of womxn in the South African audiovisual landscape while forming pan-African and global networks for womxn professionals.

Durban Film Mart is a co-production and finance market and is a joint programme of the Durban Film Office (DFO) and the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF). DFM provides filmmakers from across Africa with a valuable opportunity to pitch projects to financiers, distributors, sales agents and potential co-producers, and to participate in meetings, project presentations and a series of master classes and workshops on the latest industry trends.

Flow us a customer brand under C&W, which is a full service communications and entertainment provider and delivers market-leading video, broadband, telephony and mobile services to consumers in 18 countries. C&W also operates a state-of-the-art submarine fiber network – the most extensive in the region. Learn more at http://www.cwc.com/, or follow C&W on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter.

CaribbeanTales is a group of companies that produces, markets, and sells Caribbean-themed film and television content for global audiences. It includes CaribbeanTales Inc. a registered Charity based in Toronto, Canada; the Caribbean-Tales International Film Festival (CTFF) that produces events around the world; the renowned CaribbeanTales Incubator Program, a development and production hub for original Caribbean content; CaribbeanTales Worldwide Distribution (CTWD), the largest  full-service distribution entity dedicated to the monetisation of Caribbean content; CaribbeanTalesFlix, our production arm, and CaribbeanTales-TV, a video on demand platform.

NASSAU, Bahamas, March 28, 2017 /PRNewswire/ – Bahamas-born Sammi Starr, Sony Music recording artist, is proud to announce the launch of “#Bahamas, Your Best Picture Deserves My Best Song”, a grassroots social media campaign aiming to share with the world Sammi’s love for his country and the sounds of its Junkanoo festival through his song “Jump in Da Line”, a single produced and remixed by Latin Grammy^® winner, DJ Buddha.

Photo – http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/483261/Sony_Music_Sammi_Starr.jpg

Sammi Starr is launching “#Bahamas” on Tuesday, March 28^th on his website www.sammistarrmusic.com as well as on Instagram. Sammi will search for his favorite photos and videos posted on Instagram with the hashtag #Bahamas and share them back with a soundtrack, his Bahamian Carnival anthem “Jump in Da Line” as well as an invitation to visit his web page. Fans can also add Sammi’s music to their photos themselves visiting www.sammistarrmusic.com.

“When you come to The Bahamas you are surrounded by beauty, music, culture, history and great vibes. I find thousands of pictures on Instagram of Bahamians and visitors having the time of their lives here. They inspired me to add my song “Jump in Da Line” as the soundtrack to their most vivid memories as we all celebrate together Junkanoo style through #Bahamas!” said Sammi.

“Jump in Da Line” is inspired by Junkanoo and it describes the Bahamian Junkanoo festival including the groups in formation and lines all moving to the sound of the rhythm. The song has received extensive airplay since its release and you can listen to it on the platform of your preference clicking here.

About Sammi Starr
Sammi Starr is a renowned Bahamian recording artist and producer in the Caribbean. Sammi landed a recording contract with Sony Music Latin for his single “Jump in Da Line” after winning the Music Masters Competition during the 2015 Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival organized by the Bahamas National Festival Commission. He represents The Bahamas with pride at international events throughout the Caribbean and in the United States. His style has been described as a unique blend of Marvin Gaye, Usher, Kanye West and John Legend with an island twist. For more information, please visit: www.sammistarrmusic.com

Grammy Nominated Legendary Jamaican Jazz Great Monty Alexander.

CaribPR Wire, NEW YORK, NY, Tues. Jan. 10, 2017: Grammy-nominated, award-winning Jamaican jazz pianist and band leader, Monty Alexander, will begin the New Year in fine style as he returns to the Jazz Standard, one of NYC’s renowned jazz clubs, from Jan. 31st to Feb. 4, 2017 for ten shows under the theme: “Looking Back.”

Alexander kicks off a five-night series of shows on January 31^st by looking back on his career of pure jazz performances as he remembers and revisits his musical journey in jazz and jazz collaborations with some of the greatest giants of the genre between 1959 and 1977.

On Jan. 31^st and Feb. 1^st, Alexander, along with special guests Warren Wolf, (vibraphone), and Ron Blake, (tenor sax), will reprise songs from the Impulse! LP: ‘That’s The Way It Is,’ an outstanding album by the Milt Jackson Quintet – featuring Alexander, Ray Brown and Teddy Edwards that was recorded live in 1969 at Shelly Manne’s Manne–Hole in Los Angeles.

On Feb. 2, 2017, the jazz maestro, whose “right-hand lines ring out with the power of a great vocalist” according to NPR, will remember legends Dizzy Gillespie, Milt Jackson and Norman Granz and Jazz at the Philharmonic/Montreux 1977.

The show wraps up on Friday, Feb. 3^rd and Saturday, Feb. 4^th with a special Jamaican fusion spotlight as Alexander, Jamaica’s Commander of Distinction, and his band, the Harlem-Kingston Express, bring the vibes of his beloved homeland to their fans, while remembering Clement Seymour “Sir Coxsone” Dodd, CD and Studio One, one of Jamaica’s most influential record producer whose record label and recording studio has been described as the ‘Motown of Jamaica.’

Show times are 7:30 and 9:30 P.M. nightly. Caribbean and other jazz fans who call New York City home can secure their tickets for the shows here or by logging on to the Jazz Standard website. Tickets are $35 for per show from Jan. 31^st to Feb. 2^nd and $40 per show from Feb. 3^rd – 4th.

For over a decade, the Jazz Standard, at 116 E 27th St, New York, NY, has been setting the standard for world-class jazz, warm hospitality, pitch-perfect sound and award-winning Southern cuisine and barbecue in an intimate and comfortable environment.

Alexander is an American classic. His performances have been called pure magic by many journalists and jazz fans around the world and his sets are undoubtedly “a refined concept of groove.” This extraordinary musician continues to tour the world relentlessly with various projects, delighting a global audience drawn to his vibrant personality and soulful message. His energetic pieces, documented on more than 70 CDs, draws upon the timeless verities: endless melody-making, effervescent grooves, sophisticated voicings, a romantic spirit, and a consistent predisposition “to build up the heat and kick up a storm,” as Alexander puts it.

In the course of any given performance, Alexander applies those aesthetics to a repertoire spanning a broad range of jazz and Jamaican musical expression – the American songbook and the blues, gospel and bebop, calypso and reggae. Like his “eternal inspiration” – Erroll Garner -  Alexander is cited as the fifth greatest jazz pianist ever in The Fifty Greatest Jazz Piano Players of All Time (Hal Leonard Publishing) and mentioned in Robert Doerschuk’s ‘88: The Giants of Jazz Piano.’

Alexander’s voluminous discography includes albums for many labels including MPS, Concord Music, Island Jazz, Telarc and Studio One. Two of his most fondly remembered professional associations was with legendary jazz entrepreneur and producer Norman Granz, who conceived of Jazz at the Philharmonic back in the late 40’s/50’s and “Sir Coxsone Dodd.” The pianist recorded “Monty and the Cyclones” between 1959-1961 for Studio One and released three LPs on Granz’s Pablo label in the 70’s – Jamento (1978), In Tokyo (1979), and Soul Fusion (1978) by Milt Jackson & The Monty Alexander Trio.

For more on Monty Alexander and his music visit him on YouTube or at montyalexander.com. You can also like him on Facebook at facebook.com/officialmontyalexander or keep up to date on his performance on Twitter at @montyHKE.

Media Contact:

Felicia Persaud

Hard Beat Communications

718-476-3616

[email protected]