News Americas, TORONTO, Canada, Mon. Nov. 9, 2020: The pivotal role played by British-Trinidadian journalist and activist Claudia Jones in launching the world’s largest street festival, the Notting Hill Carnival, is the focus of a new Canada-UK co-production.
Leading the production is acclaimed Canadian director Frances-Anne Solomon (Hero: Inspired by the Extraordinary Life and Times of Mr. Ulric Cross). The film will be produced by Solomon’s CaribbeanTales Media Group (CTMG), in partnership with Nadine Marsh-Edwards’ UK-Based Greenacre Films and Lisa Wickham’s Trinidad and Tobago-based Imagine Media International Limited.
Set in London in 1958 as violent race riots ravaged the country, CLAUDIA tells the story of Jones, a Trinidad-born activist deported to England from McCarthyite USA, who comes up with an ingenious plan to unite Britain’s Black and white working classes.
“Claudia was a modern day superhero rooted in the real world, whose remarkable life and achievements straddled the USA, England and the Caribbean.” says Solomon. “I could not be more excited to work with this global team of accomplished Black women to tell this inspiring story.”
“Greenacre Films is proud to partner with Frances-Anne and CaribbeanTales to tell the story of a remarkable Black woman whose achievements helped to shape the London we live in today,” says Marsh-Edwards, whose many acclaimed productions include Been So Long, starring Michaela Cole.
Imagine Media’s CEO Lisa Wickham believes that, “Frances-Anne’s film shines a much-deserved light on a Caribbean-born woman whose rich and beautiful legacy amplifies Black voices and experiences as a whole.”
Joining the team as co-creator and co-writer is British actress, writer and director Adjoa Andoh (Bridgerton, Dr. Who, Invictus) and rising British screenwriter Omari McCarthy.
“Claudia’s work promoting women’s rights, Black rights and the rights of the poor and disenfranchised laid the seeds for so much that followed – African and Caribbean independence, civil rights, Pan Africanism and inevitably, today’s Black Lives Matter movement,” adds Adjoa Andoh.
CLAUDIA’s development has been funded by Telefilm Canada. The project is one of thirteen (13) films selected for the Attagurl Program, a unique year-long lab supporting the development and distribution paths of amazing projects by women and non-binary around the world.
CaribbeanTales Media Group (CTMG) is a multi-faceted group of media companies that produces, markets, and sells culturally diverse film and television content from the Caribbean and its wide Diaspora. It includes: CaribbeanTales Inc a registered Canadian Charity, CaribbeanTales Worldwide Distribution, a film distribution entity, CaribbeanTales International Film Festival, now celebrating 15 years; Caribbeantales-TV, a VOD streaming service; the Creatives of Colour Incubator, a year-round development and production hub, and CaribbeanTalesFlix, its production arm.
In 2014, Frances-Anne Solomon founded CineFAM, to amplify the voices of women of colour creators worldwide – that includes an annual film festival, an incubator and film productions. 2020 sees the launch of the inaugural Windrush Caribbean Film Festival, a UK-based charity that celebrates the impact of the Windrush generation on life on Britain and the world.
Recent award-winning CTMG productions include HERO – Inspired by the Extraordinary Life & Times of Mr. Ulric Cross by Solomon(Trinidad & Tobago/Canada 2019); Caribbean Girl NYC by Mariette Monpierre (Guadeloupe/Canada 2016); Battledream Chronicle – A New Beginning, by Alain Bidard (Martinique/Canada 2016); and Kingston Paradise by Mary Wells (Jamaica/Canada 2014).
Greenacre Films is an independent production company founded by award-winning producers Nadine Marsh-Edwards and Amanda Jenks. They bonded over their desire to create fresh, surprising stories with diverse voices. Working with great talent is the key to our success, we are an inclusive space that allows innovative ideas to be realised; where whether you are an award-winning writer or an exciting newcomer you feel able to be bold in your vision and creatively ambitious. Our television and film slate aims to connect with both the UK and global audiences and all, at their heart, are stories that explore the human condition in surprising and entertaining ways.
Imagine Media International Limited is an award-winning, full-service, production company, based in Trinidad and Tobago and South Africa. Founded by award-winning producer-director & media personality Lisa Wickham, the company provides content creation across all media platforms, event management, marketing & PR Services, graphic design and training & consultancy. Imagine Media has developed and coordinated projects in Europe, North America, Africa and several Caribbean countries.
