Picture of the week – Atlantic Film Festing

This week’s photo was shot at Colour Me‘s premiere at the Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax.  I did a post with my own personal review of this film a few months ago, and just as a side note for you Montreal readers, the film will be screening in Montreal TONIGHT!  Anyhow, my friend and the producer of the film, Sherien Barsoum was in town for the screening and I got to accompany her and her publicist Meghan as well as the film’s subject, Anthony McLean to a few screenings and even a little industry party! I’ve got lots of thoughts to share about the films that we checked out and also have  few restaurant reviews to post. Stay tuned for those this week!

Colour Me

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about becoming a “contributor” rather than a “taker”.

Tonight, I got to experience one of my closest friends making her contribution. And it was beautiful.

Sherien and I grew up together, but have become especially close over the last few years.   We share many of the same interests and ideas and I’ve loved seeing our friendship grow.   Sherien has always talked about one day making a movie – and though I believed in her, I am somehow still blown away that she has actually made it happen.  She started creating the film “Colour Me” two years ago – and tonight, for the first time, I got to see the final product – Sherien invited me to preview her film at a focus group here in Ottawa.

“Colour Me” is a film that explores the tough concepts of race and identity through the life of Anthony McLean. It is a powerful movie that is a great starting point for dialogue (and even though I am biased, I really believe this to be true).  It touched me on many levels, because although the film focuses on ‘black identity’, I think the themes resonate with anyone who has ever sought to explore where they fit into society (which, let’s face it, is all of us).   What I think comes through is that we all have many layers, and that any attempt at classifying a person into one sort of ‘sub-group’ will be a colossal failure.   This failure is perhaps due to the fact that sub-groups in and of themselves are so difficult to define and demarcate.  The movie asks questions such as what it means to be black as well as where our notions of black identity come from.  It was amazing to hear stories not just from Anthony, but also from the youth who were profiled in the movie and who also shared about their journey in trying to answer these questions.

Please check out the “Colour Me” trailer and check the website for info on screenings and on how you can get a copy of this film.  I promise, you will not regret it!