Le Gang des Antillais (West Indies Gang) won the Caribbean Spirit Award for the best feature film at the 12th annual Caribbean Tales International Film Festival (CTFF) in Toronto.

It was one of eight films honoured by the CTFF at the #INTERSECT: Closing Night and Awards held recently at the Sociabank Cineplex.

Le Gang des Antillais  (Jean-Claude Barny ( Barbados, Guadeloupe/France, 2016) chronicles the lives of 70s Caribbean immigrants to Frances, and the difficulties they encounter in the “metropole”.

The best documentary  was Traces of Sugar ((Ida Does, Amsterdam, 2017  ) which deals with the tangible and immaterial traces of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the history of slavery in the city of Amsterdam.

The best short film was VÌRÉ (Hugo Rousselin, Guadeloupe/France, 2016); In this film Isaac is in mourning for the death of his brother Legba when a vision in the water brings him to new consciousness.

The Impact Award went to Shashamane (Giulia Amati,  Barbados/Italy/Ethiopia/Jamaica/Uk, 2016) which chronicles a chapter of the lengthy history of the African diaspora, through the voices of men and women who have left the West to embark on an extraordinary journey and reclaim their African identity.

The other awards were as follows:

Innovation Award -Kafou (Bruno Mourral, Haiti, 2016)

Best Cinematography -Cutlass (Darisha J. Beresford, USA/Trinidad and Tobago, 2016)

#Intersect Award for Best LGBT film -Play the Devil (Maria Govan, Trinidad and Tobago/Bahamas/USA, 2015)

CineFAM Award – Best Woman of Color Creator –

Traces of Sugar (Ida Does, Amsterdam, 2017)

Commenting on the 12th annual festival, Frances-Anne   Solomon,   Executive   Director   of   the   CaribbeanTales, said ” our goal was a challenge – to think about what Legacy means for us, as people of the Caribbean and its Diaspora, and reflect that back through stories on film.”

” We want to thank the thousands of people who supported us in Toronto, and we want to let them know we are already looking towards 2018, our lucky 13th   Festival, when we will again bring stories from the Caribbean Region to sell-out audiences,” she said.

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CTFF is produced by CaribbeanTales Inc., a registered Canadian Charity that aims to connect people through film. The company’s mandate is to foster and encourage intercultural understanding and racial equality, through the creation, marketing and distribution of film programs, events and projects that reflect the diversity and creativity of Caribbean heritage culture.