To continue to amplify the necessary conversation around sustainability, innovation, community activism Planet in Focus celebrates its 21st Annual International Environmental Film Festival from October 14-23rd. Planet in Focus is an environmental media arts organization with year-round programming. The mandate is to produce cultural events that showcase engaging and artistic films that question, explore and tell stories about the world in which we live.

“Over 2 million of the 12 million associated with the transatlantic slave trade died en route. In effect, what you’re looking at is a crime scene.” Kramer Wimberley

Teaming up to give a moment of decompression during this season of global health and social justice crises, the legendary Jamaican comedic actor Oliver Samuels and Toronto’s beloved entertainment mogul Jay Martin have been busy preparing a wholesome treat for their combined audiences.

It was all so simple. A group of friends, happily leaving the Airbnb they had rented in California on their way back home to Toronto, when the situation quickly got out of hand. While loading their suitcases into their rental cars, several police cars had encircled them, with a helicopter overhead, and were immediately detained and questioned.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many to question how their lives will move forward and the process of adjusting to “the new norm”. Many people were hit hard, however, students have it especially difficult as they prepare to enter an ever-changing workforce due to the pandemic along with changes to their style of learning. Many programs have now transitioned to remote-only learning, introducing a new set of challenges.

Jillian Danford is a wife, mom, boss, and visionary who has harnessed the star power of her charismatic clan to produce a social media phenomenon. The self-made YouTube sensation has enamoured millions with the daily antics of a typical Caribbean family living in the Canadian suburbs.  The outspoken mom and laid-back dad are proud parents of millennial and Gen Z children. 

Louis Gossett Jr.’s film debut was in the 1961 classic movie "A Raisin in the Sun" with Academy Award-winning actor Sidney Poitier.

There’s an ambitious docu-series on YouTube titled ‘This Far’. The 30 episode project features successful Canadian immigrants and first-generation Canadians. Each episode runs about 10 minutes long and offers an in-depth- yet not overbearing- gaze into the subject’s trials, tribulations and triumphs of living and growing in Canada. It’s the exquisite, personal story told in 30 unique ways. The chilled background beat along with quick cuts and colloquial graphics perhaps offers a hint as to who’s behind the series.

Alexander Gallimore is a 17-year-old Jamaican Canadian actor and writer with an impressive trajectory. Represented by Fountainhead Talent he’s already made appearances in both theatre and film roles. He co-founded the first Black Students Union at his high school and he sits on the Toronto International Film Festival Next Wave Committee. Recently, he was accepted to New York University Tisch School of the Arts to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drama beginning in fall 2021. But this actor and budding filmmaker can’t wait until next year to start making movies, he has a story he needs to get…

Toronto-based filmmaker, Adrian Wallace, an award-winning director, screenwriter, and actor, has produced a documentary titled “Black Sun” that tells the story of two women anguished by acts of gun violence, and how they used their experiences to take a personal stand to help their affected communities. In addition to this film, Adrian is also developing his second documentary. It’s the second season of his YouTube series “Courtside”, which was his debut feature, as well as an upcoming TV show. I caught up with the busy thespian in Black History Month.