This release features the CaribbeanTales Worldwide Media (CTWD) team and their recent trip to the 40th Annual Conference of the Caribbean Studies Association (CSA) in New Orleans, Louisiana. At this conference the team presented an important panel discussion on the unique role of film and new digital technologies in healing the historical hurts and divisions between Africa and the Creole cultures of the Caribbean and the Americas.

CTWD Highlights the Healing Power of Film at 2015 Caribbean Studies Conference. New Orleans, Louisiana, May 29th 2015 (Sonique Solutions) – CaribbeanTales Worldwide Distribution (CTWD) presented an important panel discussion on the unique role of film and new digital technologies in healing the historical hurts created by our colonial past, that have fueled divisions between Africa and the Creole cultures of the Caribbean and the Americas. The presentation took place during the 40th Annual Conference of the Caribbean Studies Association (CSA) in New Orleans, Louisiana. Presenting on the panel were CTWD Chair, Dr. Keith Nurse; renowned filmmaker and Co-founder of Banyan Ltd.,Christopher Laird; and filmmaker and ‘art-ivist’, Nicole Brooks. CTWD’s attendance at CSA was made possible by CTWD's ‘3D Distribution Project’,  financed by the ACP Cultures+ Program.

Caribbean  Studies is growing in popularity among scholars and universities worldwide. This educational field is a core market for CTWD’s catalog of over 300 titles, many of which are used effectively as curriculum tools on a range of subjects, including history, cultural studies, immigration, sociology, economics, politics, and gender studies.

During the CSA Conference, CTWD also announced its landmark partnership with the Banyan Archives. This unparalleled Collection spans 4 decades and includes more than 3,000 high-quality documentary video recordings of Caribbean rituals, cultural festivals, and hundreds of interviews with celebrated Caribbean artists and icons.

Christopher Laird said : "After two presentations at the CSA and the enthusiastic response from those who attended and who heard about the existence of this remarkable entrance into the resources available for Caribbean enquiry and research - which one person described as ‘epic’ - I think the use of video/film as a research tool in a context heavily invested in text is at last getting some traction. The excitement generated was palpable"

“Film records and documents our cultures, both past and living, and has the power to unite territories divided by distance, language and  bodies of water. The synergies and similarities throughout the Diaspora are undeniable, haunting, resonant, and healing. Films on Caribbean subjects provide tools for education  that did not exist before. They are invaluable  for education, documentation and forward  development, ” said  Frances-Anne Solomon, Founder of CTWD.



CTWD's top Educational Sellers include:

•‘Forward Home’ by Lisa Wickham: a documentary which analyzes the economic power of the Caribbean Diaspora, based on the groundbreaking work of Dr. Keith Nurse, the region’s leading cultural industries specialist.

•‘70: Remembering A Revolution’ by Alex de Verteuil and Elizabeth Topp, which documents Trinidad and Tobago during the 1970’s black power movement.

•‘Calypso Dreams’ by Geoffrey Dunn and Michael Horne, which chronicles the spirit and traditions of calypso music and profiles the genre’s mightiest legends.

•YURUMEIN - Homeland by Andrea Leland. Resistance, Rupture and Repair. The story of the Caribs of St. Vincent in the Caribbean. Visit our website

http://CaribbeanTales-Worldwide. for a full list of educational titles and prices.

About THE BANYAN ARCHIVE

Since the 1970's, the Banyan team has been carrying out innovative and high quality documentary video projects on the history and cultural traditions of Trinidad and Tobago and numerous other countries in the Caribbean. These community-oriented and collaborative projects have resulted in one of the most wide-ranging and in-depth archives of Caribbean trought and creativity. "I am very pleased to have had the opportunity to visit the climate-controlled Banyan Archive in Port of Spain. The scope of the Archive's more than 3000 video recordings is unparralled. Among the vast holdings are documentaries of performances of orisha rituals in Trinidad; the Phagwa festival in Trinidad and Guyana; Junkanoo in Jamaica, the Bahamas, and Belize; La Marguerite and Rose events in St Lucia; and various Amerindian traditions in Guyana and Dominica. The Archive also encompasses hundreds of interviews with Caribbean artists and other figures,  such as writers CLR James, George Lamming, and V.S. Naipaul; calypsoonians Roaring Lion, Lord Kitchener, Lord Pretender, and David Rudder; visual artists Carlisle Chang, Ken Critchlow, and Christopher Cozier; and filmmakers Euzhan Palcy and Perry Henzell. " -- Stephen Stuempfle, executive Director, The Society for Ethnomusicology, Indiana University.



After four years of work with the National Library Services of Trinidad and Tobago, York University in Toronto, Canada, and the University of the West Indies at St Augustine, Trinidad, the Banyan archive has now been digitised and a comprehensive database of over 14,0000 records of metadata for the over 2000 files has been compiled. Banyan, together with CaribbeanTales Worldwide Distribution, is now making this unique and invaluable archive of Caribbean culture available to educational institutions and libraries for students and researchers. The archive may be purchased in physical form and incorporated into an institutions own network or through a virtual online access by annual subscription.