Award-winning filmmaker, writer and producer Frances-Anne Solomon kicks-off the Seventh Annual ReelWorld Film Festival opening night gala with the world premiere of her new film A Winter Tale. It tells an emotional story of the bullet that shattered a community, with Toronto as a central character. The screening takes place at the Scotiabank Theatre (formerly the Paramount) on April 11, 2007.

Written, directed and produced by Frances-Anne Solomon, the film features a talented ensemble cast led by Canadian stars Peter Williams and Michael Miller, and Caribbean icons Leonie Forbes and Denis "Sprangalang" Hall. A Winter Tale offers a brilliant perspective on the timely issues of gun violence in this city set against the backdrop of a multicultural community's unrealized hopes and dreams.

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, six men make a pact to form a support group in hopes of salvaging their broken spirits and redeeming their besieged community.

Frances-Anne Solomon is an award-winning filmmaker, writer and producer whose credits as a writer/director include Lord Have Mercy! (VisionTV, 2003), Peggy Su! (BBC Films, 1997), What My Mother Told Me (Channel 4, 1995) and Bideshi (British Film Institute, 1994). She is the President and Artistic Director of the two companies she founded, Leda Serene Films and CaribbeanTales and has also worked as a film and television producer for the BBC.

Leda Serene Films is Frances-Anne Solomon's film, television and theatre production vehicle based in Toronto. The company has produced award-winning cross-platform projects, feature films, creative documentaries and original theatre plays.

Recent projects include A Winter Tale, a feature film for Telefilm Canada and Chum Television; Literature Alive, the ground breaking 20-part documentary series that screened on Bravo!, Canadian Learning Television and OMNI, showcasing Caribbean Canadian authors; and Gemini-nominated Lord Have Mercy!, Canada's first truly multicultural sitcom, for Vision TV, Toronto 1, APTN and Showcase.

CaribbeanTales, a non profit organization founded by Frances-Anne Solomon, is Canada's premier multimedia company, producing educational films, videos, radio programs, audio books, theatre plays and websites, drawing on Caribbean culture.

-30-

Available for interviews, Frances-Anne Solomon

For more information, visit www.ledaserene.ca,
www.awintertale.ca,
www.caribbeantales.ca,
www.literaturealiveonline.ca