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Feature
Films
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Rude
(Clement Virgo - 1995)
Rude
is director Clement Virgo's first feature film. Rude follows
the trials and tribulations of three characters on an Easter weeknd
as they deal with their weaknesses and attempt to come to terms
with themselves. Rude, a fourth character, represents the consciousness
of the Black community. The film is a departure from the stereotypical
"'Hood" films popular in the U.S. Rude shows
Black characters dealing with more than just drugs, guns and death.
Virgo
came to Canada from Jamaica at the age of 11. He worked in the
fashion industry as a window display artist; later he was a resident
at the Canadian Film Centre. An earlier work, Save My Lost
Nigga' Soul, won prizes for Best Short Film at both the Toronto
and Chicago Film Festivals (1993). This film also won the Paul
Robeson Award for Best Short Film of the African Diaspora at the
Pan African Film and Video Festival (1995) and received a Genie
nomination for Best Canadian Short Film (1994). Virgo has been
active in the Toronto film community as a board member of both
the Liaison of Independent Film and Television and the Black Film
and Video Network.
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Poor
Boy's Game (Clement Virgo - 2007)
At
the heart of Virgo's 2007 film, Poor Boys Game, is
Dannie Rose (Rossif Sutherland) - a White tough who has recently
been released from jail into a Halifax smoldering with racial
tension. Rose was sent to jail for the savage beating of a Black
teenager who is left severely disabled. A local Black boxer (Flex
Alexander) challenges Rose to a boxing match which sets off a
number of tragic events, and places Rose in an uneasy relationship
with the disabled boys father, a gentle former trainer (Danny
Glover).
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Soul
Survivor (Stephen Williams - 1995)
Soul
Survivor was written and directed by Stephen Williams. Soul
Survivor is Stephen Williams' first feature film. His other
works include an episode of Madison and four episodes of
Liberty Street, both Canadian television shows. He has
also produced a short film, A Variation on the Key 2 Life,
which was a Gold Plaque Award Winner at the Chicago International
Film Festival in 1994. Williams has also done commercial spots
for Canada's 24hr music station, "Much Music." Soul Survivor
had its world premiere as the opening film of International Critics'
Week at the Cannes Film Festival in 1995. This film was also featured
at the Sundance Film Festival 1995 as part of the Canadian Spotlight
Series and opened the 1995 Toronto Film Festival.
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Love, Sex and Eating the Bones (David "Sudz" Sutherland -
2003)
Advertising
executive Jasmine (Marlyne Afflack) decides to abandon her celibate
lifestyle when she encounters Michael (Hill Harper), a photographer
who spends his nights working as a security officer. Michael's
obsession with pornography leads him to try to fashion a "porn-inspired"
sex life with Jasmine. She attempts to humor him at first, but
soon begins to tire of his fixation with celluloid sexuality.
Sutherland's film explores the relationship between love and lust
in this humourous and heartfelt film which premiered at the 2003
Toronto International Film Festival.
Sudz
Sutherland is based in Toronto and works as a writer and director
in film and television. His short film My Father's Hands
(1999) won the HBO Short Film Award at the 2000 Acapulco Black
Film Festival. His other films include the shorts i'm a big
girl (1998) and Win/Loss/Tie (1998) and the documentary
Speakers for the Dead (co-director, 2001). Love, Sex
and Eating the Bones (2003) is his first feature film
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Nurse.Fighter.Boy
(Charles Officer - 2008)
Nurse.Fighter.Boy
is an urban love story about the soul of a mother, the heart of
a fighter, and the faith of a child. Jude is a single mother who
descends from a long line of Jamaican caregivers. Silence is a
‘past his prime’ boxer who fights illegally to survive. Ciel is
a boy who delves into music, conjuring dreams for his mother.
During the last week of summer, a late-night brawl finds the fighter
in the nurse's care causing their three fates to be forever entwined.
Nurse.Fighter.Boy premiered at TIFF
2008 and won the audience award for Best in World Cinema and a
jury prize for Best Cinematography at the Sarasota Film Festival.
It was also released theatrically in Canada on February 2009.
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A
Winter Tale (Frances-Anne Solomon - 2007)
Shots ring out one winter night and a
bullet meant for a local street dealer kills a ten-year-old boy.
In the downtown Toronto community of Parkdale, grief and suspicion
hang heavily in the air, while the nightly patrons at Miss G’s
Caribbean TakeAway resume their ritual of beer and banter. But
one of them, Gene Wright, cannot go on. He begs his friends for
help. In a most unusual development, six Black men make a pact
to form a support group in hopes of salvaging their broken spirits
and redeeming their besieged community.
A Winter Tale is set against the
backdrop of a multicultural community's unrealized hopes and dreams.
Bitter and tragic, funny and hopeful, the film tells a uniquely
Canadian story that features Toronto as a central character.
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