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Montreal, July 9, 2013 – The highly anticipated film CHASING SHAKESPEARE by Norry Niven will open the 9th edition of the Montreal International Black Film Festival on September 18th, as a Canadian Premiere. Chasing Shakespeare, an American production, starring Danny Glover and Graham Greene, will kick-start the official competition. « We are very proud to open the festival with such a touching film in the presence of the director and the main actors; a shocking story with humanity and where love, traditions, poetry, beliefs and passion intertwine in surprising ways. A great film! » stated Fabienne Colas, President of the Festival.

Chasing Shakespeare stars the Hollywood legend Danny Glover (William Ward), two of the most famous Canadian Native actors, Graham Greene (Mr. Mountain) and Tantoo Cardinal (Older Venus),along with Chelsea Ricketts (Venus), Brina Palencia, Mike Wade (Young William Ward) and Clarence Gilyard Jr. (Jeremiah Ward).

Chasing Shakespeare is a beautiful, enchanting, love story about a young Native American woman’s search for her destiny and her widower husband’s attempts to reunite with her after her death. Based on a screenplay by James Bird, Chasing Shakespeare recounts the beginning, end, and rebirth of a love affair between William and Venus in rural Arkansas. Chasing Shakespeare is a great film by director Norry Niven with sensational performances from Danny Glover & Graham Greene.

Norry Niven cut his teeth in Hollywood shooting music videos and commercials. Returning to his native Texas he started Stone Core Films, arguably one of the most successful commercial production company in the southwest and has recently launched Three-One-O, a commercial production company in Los Angeles. He has directed award winning spots around the world for clients like Gatorade, Electronic Arts, McDonalds, Ford, Lincoln, Showtime, HBO, Wal-Mart, Hasbro, Tiger Electronics, Nintendo, Time Warner, 7-Eleven, Petsmart, Sears, Nestle, Disney, Visa, Six Flags, Albertsons, Mary Kay Cosmetics and Sea World. His current focus is a combination of visual effects and humor – with storytelling and beautiful film being the core of all of his work. His work for the all 8 seasons of the series “Dexter” has been heavily awarded. Chasing Shakespeare is his first feature film and he is already developing his next several feature length projects.

This epic, spiritual, magical, love story told over 50 years has already started a media buzz and interest from film festivals around the world and at this posting has won The Best Feature Award, the Best Actor Award (Danny Glover) and The Audience Award at First Glance Film Festival 2013; The Best Narrative Feature at Artisan Festival International Cannes World Cinema Initiative 2013; the Best Feature Award and The Audience Award at Big Island Film Festival 2013; The Audience Award at SXSW and it has be screened at Dallas International Film Festival 2013.

The 9th Montreal International Black Film Festival, created by the Fabienne Colas Foundation, will be held from September 18 to 29, 2013 and is presented by Global Montreal.

 

ABOUT THE MONTREAL INTERNATIONAL BLACK FILM FESTIVAL (MIBFF)

Presented by Global Montreal, the Montreal International Black Film Festival (MIBFF) was created in 2005 by the Fabienne Colas Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting Cinema, Art and Culture. As the biggest Black Film Festival in Canada, the mission of the MIBFF is to stimulate the development of the independent film industry and to showcase more films on the realities of Blacks from around the world. The Festival wants to promote a different kind of cinema, cinema that hails from here and from abroad and that does not necessarily have the opportunity to grace the big screen, groundbreaking cinema that moves us, that raises awareness and that takes us all by surprise! The MIBFF wants to deal with issues and present works that raise questions, that provoke, that make us smile, that leave us perplexed, that shock us… A fresh new look at black cinema from the four corners of the globe! www.montrealblackfilm.com .

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Get festival news on:

www.montrealblackfilm.com / www.facebook.com/blackfilmfestival / www.twitter.com/filmblackmtl

 

Programming Coordinator:
Joyce Fuerza
joyce@montrealblackfilm.com
(514) 882-3334

Director of media relations:
Carla Beauvais
carla@montrealblackfilm.com
(514) 690-5450