Caribbean Tales begins production of comedy series “GARVEY’S GHOST”

 

Inspired by Denham Jolly’s 2017 Toronto Book Award-winning memoir

Denham Jolly

CaribbeanTales Media Group has announced the start of principal photography for its new and exciting comedy web series, Garvey’s Ghost.

Packed with both wit and drama, the project is the creation of Showrunner and award-winning Director, Frances-Anne Solomon.  It features Jamaican King of Comedy, Owen “Blakka” Ellis, as the ghost of Marcus Garvey, with Degrassi’s Richard Walters as Young Denham Jolly, and The Wire’s Melanie Nicholls-King as Miss Violet Williams.

The star-studded cast also includes Peter Williams (stargate SG1) as famed Black activist Harry Gairey; actor and critically acclaimed filmmaker, Valerie Buhagiar as the troublesome neighbor Maria; and Canadian icon and National Treasure Mary Walsh as the evil Mrs. Murphy.

Owen “Blakka” Ellis

In Garvey’s Ghost, young Denham Jolly arrives in Toronto in 1955…. and rents a room in Miss Violet Williams’ boarding house. As the “Lady President” of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, Violet struggles to keep the organization afloat, ably assisted by the ghost of her mentor, the famed Black leader, Hon. Marcus Mosiah Garvey.

“We are super stoked to bring this incredible cast and never-before-seen world to audiences,  in a comedy that will resonate from here in Canada, to the Caribbean and everywhere that Black people live and laugh.” said Solomon.

The six-part series is supported by the Bell Fund, Ontario Creates and the Canada Media Fund.

It is one of two CTMG projects going to camera this year that are inspired by the 2017 Toronto Book Award-winning memoir of Denham Jolly, one of Canada’s most respected entrepreneurs, activists and philanthropists.

The second is the feature film IN THE BLACK that tells the story of Jolly’s incredible twelve-year struggle to create Canada’s

Mary Walsh

first Black radio station: Flow 93.5 FM.

Funded by Telefilm Canada, the Canada Media Fund, CBC, AfroGlobal Television, Feva TV, Hollywood Suite, and Rogers Cable Network Fund, the Frances-Anne Solomon-helmed movie is produced by critically acclaimed television and theater creator and producer, Nicole Brooks, and co-written with Andrews Burrows-Trotman (The Porter, DiggsTown).

Sphere Media’s Jennifer Kawaja is co-Executive Producer with Jamie Gaetz as Development Executive. 

“I trust Frances-Anne Solomon to tell my story with honesty, integrity and the directional creativity she always brings to every project that she touches.” said Denham Jolly.