The event lit up the silver screen of Toronto’s historic The Royal Cinema with a screening of “A Caribbean Dream,” a masterful re-imagining of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer’s Night Dream” by Barbadian director, Shakirah Bourne. The evening also featured a sneak peek at the trailer and behind-the-scenes footage of the highly-anticipated “Brown Girl Begins” by CaribbeanTales incubator alumni, Sharon Lewis. Attendees were treated to a talk-back with both Bourne and Lewis, moderated by Quentin VerCetty, co-founder of Black Future Month and the Black Speculative Arts Movement.

Throughout the night, several notable speakers took the stage including the Hon. Jean Augustine, CarbbeanTales Inc. Board Member, and CEO of FLOW (the event’s lead sponsor), John Reid. This year’s Legacy series was revealed to include 14 feature films and 30 short films from 18 Caribbean countries.

The CaribbeanTales International Film Festival will run September 6-21 in Toronto.