Canadian Film Festival Shines Spotlight on Jamaica – Actress Leonie Forbes to be honoured

The 2007 ReelWorld Film Festival, which got underway yesterday (April 11) in Toronto, Canada, will shine the spotlight on Jamaica, with the screening of seven films that focus on the island’s culture and lifestyle.
The five-day festival, which is being held in partnership with Jamaica Trade and Invest (Jampro), will also honour renowned Jamaican actress Leonie Forbes. The theatre, television and screen legend will receive ReelWorld’s Award of Excellence for more than 50 years in the business.
Ms. Forbes, known as Jamaica’s first lady of theatre and film, stars in one of the films, A Winter Tale, which will have its world premiere at the festival’s opening night gala. A Winter Tale draws attention to the gun violence in one of Toronto’s innercity communities and how residents reacted to the accidental shooting of a nine-year old boy.
The other films are Louise Bennett: Miss Lou Then and Now, a documentary on the literary icon; Sun Dogs about the Jamaican dogsled team in the 2006 Dogsled Championships in Scotland; A Hard Road to Travel on the life of late director Perry Henzell; Wondrous Oblivion about the friendship between a young Jewish lad and a Jamaican boy newly arrived in England; A Portrait of Mr. Pink, a short documentary on a 73-year-old Jamaican man, who moved to the United Kingdom more than 40 years ago; and DJ Derek’s Sweet Memory Sound, about an English man who satisfies his craving for a more exciting life by playing music for elderly Jamaican immigrants.
The ReelWorld Film Festival was founded in 2000 by Tonya Lee Williams, a Canadian of Jamaican heritage, who starred in the American soap opera The Young and the Restless for many years.
This year’s five-day festival will screen 66 films from 13 countries, including eight world premieres, two international premieres, 26 documentaries and 41 shorts.