Reel World Film Festival 2005

Martin Luthur King had a dream. So did Tonya Lee Williams: it was the Reel World Film Festival - a film festival to promote films and film makers of cultural diversity. It was held this year in Toronto from April 13 - 17, 2005. This is the fifth year of the festival and it gets bigger and better every year. The list of sponsors include CityTv, Toronto Star, Warner Brothers, Rainbow Cinemas, Famous Players, Corus, Wallace Studios, Global, Vision TV, Star, CHIN, 99.1, NFB, the Ontario Trillium Foundation, Telefilm Canada, Toronto Arts Council, Canadian Heritage and Wallace Studios among many others. The festival consists of industry series, films from countries across the world such as India, Australia, England, German, United States, China and Mexico, festival awards and the opening and closing gala parties.

The opening gala film was The Salon, based on Shelly Garrett's hit stage production, Beauty Shop and was shown at the downtown Famous Players. This film was funny in parts but some found the plot repetitive. The closing gala film, Morning Raga explores the elements of classical Indian music and combines it with contemporary rhythms and evolves around the three main characters whose life is changed by a tragic accident. Of great interest to Torontoartsandevents due to our recent visit to South Africa was David Hickson's Beat the Drum which covers the AIDS academic through the eyes of an HIV-finfected South African orphan. By the Dawn's Early Light: Chris Jackson's Journey to Islam, a film by Zareena Grewal, U.S.A., was powerful and moving at this year's festival: It told the story of NBA basketall star Chris Jackson's conversion to Islam and his refusal to stand up and pay tribute to the American flag due to American acts throughtout the world and the effect that this had on him - eventally forcing him to play basketball in Europe. This is a must see film!

The 2005 ReelWorld Awards Ceremony took place on Sunday April 17th and the winners are!:

NFB Award for Best Canadian Documentary: Tiger!
Director: Lalita Krishna
Producer: Lalita Krishna
ReelWorld Award for Best International Documentary: Preto contra Branco (Black against White)
Director: Wagner Morales
Producers: Malu Viana, Clara Ramos
Kodak Award for Best Canadian Short: Amal
Director: Richie Mehta
Producers: Richie Mehta, Rupinder Nagra, Neeta Tandon
Bell ExpressVu Award for Best International Short Film: Little Terrorist
Director: Ashvin Kumar
Producer: Dileep Singh Rathore
PricewaterhouseCoopers Award for Best International
Feature Film: Beat the Drum
Director: David Hickson
Producers: W. David Mcbrayer, Karen S. Shapiro, Richard Shaw
ReelWorld Award for Best Canadian Music Video: Soobax
Artist: K’Naan
Director: Micah Miesner
Producers: Natalie Galazka, Sol Guy, Jarvis Church
ReelWorld Award for Best Canadian Feature: Pink Ludoos
Director: Gaurav Seth
Producer: Andrew Boutilier, Cynthia Chapman, Samantha Morris
Tony Stoltz Completion Fund
Winner: Director - Chandra Siddan for her movie Remembrance of Things Present
Star! ReelChoice Audience Award: Devotion
Director: Dawn Wilkinson
Producers: Suzie Mukherjee, Dawn Wilkinson
2005 ReelWorld Award of Excellence 2005
Shabana Azmi

With films from a wide diversity of cultures, Tonya's dream has come true - this festival is now a significant and important film festival and mark your calendar for next year! I know I will.

Salon VIP's

Salon - the Lawyer!

Director, Mark Brown, Salon

Actress, Shabana Azmi, Morning Raga @ Her Awards Brunch

Shabana Azmi Accepting Award of Excellence

Audience Award Winner, Dawn Wilkinson, Dir. Devotion - all Smiles!