Harriet Tubman’s biopic Takes Top Honors in Montreal

MONTREAL, Sept. 17, 2019 Canada’s biggest black film festival, the Montreal International Black Film Festival, has unveiled the programming for its 15th year, which will be held from September 24 to 29, 2019.

MIBFF is honoured to open the festival with Harriet Tubman’s long awaited biopic, HARRIET. The film, directed by Kasi Lemmons and starring Tony-winning Broadway actor Cynthia Erivo, will be a Quebec Premiere at the Montreal International Black Film Festival following its world premiere at TIFF. (Focus Features, Universal Canada)

This year the festival will pay tribute to Euzhan Palcy, César winning director and the only Black woman filmmaker to have directed Marlon Brando, César winning actor Isaach De Bankolé, Haitian-American Hollywood star Jimmy Jean-Louis, iconic Quebecois filmmaker Jean-Claude Lord, Yusef Salaam & Kevin Richardson of the The Central Park Five whose story was told in Ava Duvernay’s Emmy Award nominated Netflix series, When They See Us.

MIBFF Black Market returns with master classes, conferences and workshops where international filmmakers will share their knowledge and experiences of film creation, financing, production, distribution, the festival circuit, how to take the leap to Hollywood and more. Also returning for its second edition, the MIBFF Kids Program. One of the highlight events is an initiative from The Fabienne Colas Foundation’s Youth & Diversity Program: Being Black in Canada. 15 emerging Canadian directors (18-30 years old), from black communities of Montreal, Toronto and Halifax, will screen their first short documentary films – produced through the program – as World Premieres. The 15th edition of MIBFF will close with Daryne Joshua’s, Ellen: The Ellen Pakkies Story which was South Africa’s selection for the 2019 Golden Globes, on Sept 29, 7PM at Cinema du Musée.

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