To close its 7th edition, the Montreal International Black Film Festival will show a Quebec premiere: I AM SLAVE, based on the life of Mende Nazer, a 21st century slave. “We’re proud to close the festival with such an intense film and have its director Gabriel Range with us, here in Montreal”, declared MIBFF programming director Émile Castonguay.

I AM SLAVE, official selection of the 2010 TIFF, is the latest film of Gabriel Range, who directed Death of a President. It was written by Jeremy Brock, who also wrote The Last King of Scotland, for which Forest Whitaker won an Oscar for Best Actor. Gabriel Range wanted to depict Mende Nazer’s dramatic life, “This woman demonstrated exemplary courage. She’s an inspiration to us all. I hope this film will raise awareness and start a debate to stop slavery.”

I AM SLAVE CHARMED THE CRITICS:

“The strikingly shot picture leaves a lasting impression…” – Michael Rechtshaffen, Hollywood Reporter;

“A tense, heart-wrenching film about the slave living next door” – Tom Henheffer, Maclean’s;

“The film was even more affecting than I’d expected…” – Rachel Cooke, NewStatesman.

SYNOPSIS

Twelve-year-old Malia, the daughter of wrestling champion Bah, gets kidnapped from her Sudanese village in the Nubar mountains by a pro-government Arab militia and sold as a slave to a woman in Khartoum who mistreats her. Six years later, the woman moves to London and takes Malia with her. The young woman is given a new identity, but her life of misery continues. Her passport is taken from her and she is told her father will get killed if she contacts the authorities. Fortunately, someone gives her hope of escaping and reuniting with her father. A thriller set in London’s slave trade and centered on a woman’s fight for freedom. There are about 5,000 people currently working as slaves in the UK.

The 7th MIBFF is slated to run from September 22 to October 2, 2011

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 nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting Cinema, Art and Culture. The mission of the Montreal International Black Film Festival is to stimulate the development of the independent film industry and to encourage 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 .

Get all the Festival news at:
www.montrealblackfilm.com
www.facebook.com/Blackfilmfestival
www.twitter.com/filmblackmtl

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INFORMATION:

Director of Media Relations: Carla Beauvais
carla@montrealblackfilm.com (438) 868-5450

Francophone Press Agent: Fadwa Lapierre
fadwa@montrealblackfilm.com (514) 884 9545

Anglophone Press Agent: Kathryn Wnek
kat@montrealblackfilm.com (514) 677-9635