About CaribbeanTales Media Group

Built over 20 years, The CaribbeanTales Media Group is the only media group in Canada that provides an ecosystem of screen-based activities that serve Black Canadian, and culturally diverse audiences. CTMG is Black-owned, staffed and controlled. Our Board leadership and staff are mainly Black and are culturally diverse. CTMG provides a pipeline of activities from creation to distribution that aims to uplift, enrich, promote and monetize Black and culturally diverse film and television content for audiences.

Founder and CEO

Founded by award-winning filmmaker and Academy member Frances-Anne Solomon, CTMG includes: CaribbeanTales Inc., a registered Canadian Charity; CaribbeanTales Worldwide Distribution, a film distribution entity; the CaribbeanTales International Film Festival, now celebrating 17 years; Caribbeantales-TV a VOD streaming service; the Creators of Colour Training (CCI), a year-round development and production hub for Creatives of Colour; and CaribbeanTales Media Group Productions, our production arm.

A trailblazer in the film and television industry, Frances-Anne Solomon is a Toronto-based award-winning writer, producer, director, curator and distributor in film, television and radio.

To learn more about Frances-Anne, click here.

Meet the Team

CaribbeanTales Media Group Staff

Diana Webley

Director of Festivals & Events

Najah Dowdie

Najah Dowdie

Marketing Manager of Festivals & Events

Caroline Guespin

Caroline Guespin

Associate Producer of Festivals & Events

Mandisa Pantin

Mandisa Pantin

Associate Producer of Festivals & Events

Tiffani Williams

Tiffani Williams

Executive Assistant

Isabelle Ofume

Isabelle Ofume

Marketing & Social Media Coordinator, Events

CaribbeanTales Media Group Staff

Courtney Panchan

Distribution & Payroll Manager

Michael Dobin

Michael Dobin

Distribution Consultant

Joy Coker

Joy Coker

WCFF Programmer

Steph Tablizo

Steph Tablizo

Development Producer & Production Manager

Dahlia Fernandes

Dahlia Fernandes

Development Producer & Marketing Manager of Productions

Akua Delfish

Akua Delfish

CineFAM Event Producer

Nikole Brooks

Nikole Brooks

Producer

Maya Bastian

Maya Bastian

Programming Coordinator

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Calyx Passailaigue

Development Producer & Fundraising Coordinator

CaribbeanTales Media Group Staff

Dawn Dowling

Fundraising Manager

Charles Rosss

Charles Ross

Video Editor

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Brian Medina

Video Editor

Garry Stewart

Garry Stewart

Windrush Caribbean Film Festival Company Director

Patricia Hamzahee

Patricia Hamzahee

WCFF Company Director

Board of Directors

Director

Hon Jean Augustine was appointed as the first Fairness Commissioner for Ontario in March 2007. She cares passionately about education and the challenges faced by newcomers to the province.Ms. Augustine attended the University of Toronto, where she earned bachelor of arts and master of education degrees. She became an elementary school principal with the Metropolitan Separate School Board in Toronto. From 1988 until 1993, she was chair of the Metro Toronto Housing Authority. Ms. Augustine was the first African-Canadian woman to be elected to the House of Commons. She was elected in the riding of Etobicoke-Lakeshore in 1993 and sat in Parliament until 2006. During this time, she served as minister of state for multiculturalism and the status of women, sat on several standing committees, and was a deputy Speaker. She also played a major role as parliamentary secretary to the prime minister.

Director

Mr. Denham Jolly is President, Chief Executive Officer, and Founder at Milestone Radio Inc. He owns and operates Tyndall Nursing Home and is the principal shareholder of B.D. Jolly Holdings which owns and operates real estate properties. Denham is a former publisher of CONTRAST, Toronto’s weekly Black community newspaper, and was founder and first president of the Black Business and Professional Association of Toronto. He is named in the Who’s Who of Ontario and the International Who’s Who of Professionals. He has served on the Board of Governors for a number of community organizations. Mr. Jolly is the recipient of two medals for his community service including Canada’s 101st Commemorative Medal and the Queen’s Silver Jubilee. He is also a recognized philanthropist.

Director & Secretary

Denise Herrera-Jackson is currently Chief Executive Officer of the Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival. Her other titles include: Member Programming Committee- Harbourfront Centre; Founding Board member, Caribbean Tales; Director, Caribbean-Canadian Literary Expo; theatre producer; Committee member of YWCA Women of Distinction Awards. She is an Information Technology consultant in several industries including Imperial Oil Limited, IBM Canada, Bell Canada, SOCAN, Sunlife Canada, Hewlett Packard, CIBC, Spamedica Cosmetic Surgery, Ministry of Finance and boutique technology companies. She is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario; and gained her Master from York University MES.

Director & Chair Person

Anne-Marie is an independent management consultant with over thirty years’ experience in helping to create and lead effective organisations. Her professional career spans the public, private and voluntary sectors. She also consults to international development agencies. Her areas of expertise usually focus on Diversity and Equity and include: Organizational change management ; Strategic planning and implementation; Human resources management and development; Policy and program evaluation. Previously, she served as an Assistant Deputy Minister with the Ontario Government. Prior to this, she was Superintendent of Human Resources at the Toronto Board of Education where she had overall accountability for the recruitment, development and placement of educational administrators and teachers at every level in the system. She began her professional career in the private sector as a Senior Organization Development Consultant to the President at ManuLife with responsibility for recruiting and training senior officers across Canada and the United States.

Director & Treasurer

Susan is an Accounts Executive at C.H.Hill Post Production Services. Previously, she was the General Manager at CaribbeanTales responsible for financial, personnel and contract management. She was Project Manager on many of their film and television projects., including Line Producer on the 26-part documentary series, Literature Alive, and on the first season of Heart Beat. She was the Producer on the award-winning feature film, A Winter Tale. Before joining the company in May 2003, Susan worked as an Administrator, Manager, Accountant and Fund-raiser for a range of non-profit organizations.

Director

Shawn has been active in the Arts and Entertainment industry for over 25 years, working with the dance, fashion, music and film/ TV industry. Shawn later moved on to operate his entertainment enterprise in his Toronto studio. Shawn shines in the international entertainment industry as a force in planning and designing top-notch performances of all scales as well as providing exceptional talent for numerous high profile events and clients.

Director

Elizabeth (Dori) Tunstall is a design anthropologist, public intellectual, and design advocate who works at the intersections of critical theory, culture, and design. As Dean of Design at Ontario College of Art and Design University, she is the first black and black female dean of a faculty of design. She leads the Cultures-Based Innovation Initiative focused on using old ways of knowing to drive innovation processes that directly benefit communities. With a global career, Dori served as Associate Professor of Design Anthropology and Associate Dean at Swinburne University in Australia. She wrote the biweekly column Un-Design for The Conversation Australia. In the U.S., she taught at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She organized the U.S. National Design Policy Initiative and served as a director of Design for Democracy. Industry positions included UX strategists for Sapient Corporation and Arc Worldwide. Dori holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Stanford University and a BA in Anthropology from Bryn Mawr College.

Director

Senior Partner of Nordicity, Peter is an internationally recognized expert in the arts, media and communications industry with almost 30 years of consulting experience. He has participated in all facets of the regulatory, policy development, program evaluation, economic analysis and business strategy formulation in the digital and traditional media and communications sectors in Canada and abroad. He has broad cross-creative sector expertise, involving multiple creative sectors in terms of common issues and solutions (e.g. skills development, financing and R&D/design).

Peter has deep knowledge of the arts and cultural industries, including the film/TV production sector, in particular through its transmedia incarnation through multiple platforms. His digital media experience has been gained through the evolution and convergence of the broadcasting and broadband distribution sectors. He led the study of distribution trends and the impact of digital technology on the creative sectors in Canada that was featured at the Digital Media at the Crossroads (DM@X) Conference in January, 2016. He was the primary author of a full review of the literature sector for Creative Scotland, primarily about writing, writers and publishing with some 38 recommendations for Scottish government and arts institutions. Museum sector projects include work on Canada’s Museum Assistance Program for PCH. A member of the Board of Directors of Canadian Stage in Toronto, he has worked on performing arts projects in Canada and internationally.

As a former chief of staff of the Minister of Canadian Heritage (when it was Secretary of State), he has maintained a professional interest in public support mechanisms for the cultural sector. From 1998-2002, Peter was the national lead partner for the Information Communications and Entertainment/Media practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting. He has served on the boards of high tech firms, TV broadcasters and not-for-profit arts, education, political and social-service organizations. He is currently the vice-chair of the board, and chair of the impact investment committee of Inspirit Foundation, which is a national grant-making organization that supports young adults in building a more inclusive and pluralist Canada.

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    CARIBBEANTALES MEDIA GROUP COMPANIES

    CaribbeanTales Media Group (CTMG) is a multifaceted group of media companies that produces, markets, and sells culturally diverse film and television content from the Caribbean and its wide Diaspora. 

    CaribbeanTales Media Group Productions

    CTMG Company History

    1999

    CaribbeanTales Inc.

    2005

    CaribbeanTales International Film Festival

    2009

    CaribbeanTales Youth Film Festival

    2010

    CaribbeanTales Worldwide Distribution

    Creators of Colour Incubator

    2013

    CaribbeanTales-TV

    2014

    CaribbeanTales Receives Charity Status

    2016

    CineFAM

    2018

    Black Heroes Educational Association

    2020

    Windrush Caribbean International Film Festival

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