Multicultural communities set stage for the 4th Annual Regent Park Film Festival

TORONTO - October 10, 2006

The fourth annual Regent Park Film Festival kicks off with an exciting line-up, about the lives and experiences of multicultural communities in Canada, with a focus on Regent Park and St. Jamestown. Free of charge, the five-day event takes place from November 8th to 12th, 2006, at Nelson Mandela Park Public School (440 Shuter Street).

Festival Director, Chandra Siddan, proudly presents a collection of films on love, faith, politics, violence, the refugee condition and identity in multicultural spaces in Canada and the world. The film festival offers workshops, school matinee programs and art exhibits, while the screenings are coupled with Q and A sessions and panel discussions, with featured filmmakers.

Some highlights over the weekend include Canadian filmmaker David Sudz Sutherland's Doomstown. Shot in Regent Park, the film focuses on a young black man dealing with his choices in an environment of gang warfare in an inner-city area of Toronto. Sudz Sutherland will be in attendance and participate in post-screening discussions.

The festival continues with The War Within (USA), co-written by lead actor Ayad Akhtar. The film is centered on a Muslim student, unjustly tortured for presumed terrorist activities, who arrives in New York to wreak vengeance. His well-adjusted friend welcomes him into his home not knowing his plan. Akhtar, who will be in attendance, powerfully juxtaposes conflicting notions of fraternity through the positions of global fundamentalist Islamic brotherhood versus personal friendship.

South African filmmaker Khalo Matabane presents Story of a Beautiful Country. This poignant film presents the citizens of the new South Africa expressing their thoughts and feelings about their history and reflecting upon post-apartheid realities of race, class, democracy and the future. Matabane will be in attendance during his screening and available for Q and A sessions.

An all Canadian program on love and sex presents a rich range of multicultural perspectives. Among the Canadian entries for the festival are Cricket and the Meaning of Life and Hardwood . Other international films set to screen are China Blue (USA, China), From Dust (Sri Lanka, U.A.E.), Shadya (Israel), The Story of Xiao-Yan (China) and Refugee All Stars (Guinea, Sierra Leone).

Reflecting the unity and diversity of Regent Park through film, the festival screens works from and about countries that Regent Park residents have migrated from including: China, Korea, Sierra Leone, Zanzibar, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the Caribbean. The festival also presents perspectives from Canada and the USA that address immigrant experiences, inner city issues and multicultural relationships.

This year, Regent Park Film Festival is being organized with the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, The City of Toronto and Toronto Community Housing Corporation. The festival is also supported by the Nelson Mandela Park Public School and various community agencies such as Regent Park Focus, Regent Park Neighbourhood Initiative, Council of Agencies Serving South Asians and others.

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Available for interviews, Regent Park Film Festival Director, Chandra Siddan

For more information visit, www.regentparkfilmfestival.com

For media inquiries please contact:

Kevin Pennant
kp@pennantmediagroup.com