musician

From acclaimed director Bruce McDonald, teaming with Emmy and Oscar nominated documentary producer Erin Faith Young and her producing partner Jennifer St. John, comes a rare and exclusive musical journey. Rita Chiarelli, an award-winning recording artist, takes a pilgrimage to the birthplace of the blues, Louisiana State Maximum Security Penitentiary a.k.a Angola Prison. She never imagined that her love of the blues would lead her to a historic jailhouse performance with inmates serving life sentences for murder, rape, and armed robbery. This musical journey is a glance into what used to be the bloodiest prison in America, but now gives lifers something to live for through the power of music. In contrast to sensational stories of convicts, we witness remarkable voices of hope as their love of music radiates humanity and redemption on their quest for forgiveness.

Set at an idyllic music camp for emerging musicians in rural Ontario, A Drummer’s Dream focuses on a rare assembly of some of the most versatile drummers in the world, including Nasyr Abdul Al-Khabyyr, Dennis Chambers, Kenwood Dennard, Horacio “El-Negro” Hernandez, Giovanni Hidalgo, Mike Mangini and Raul Rekow, awe-inspiring musicians who have backed up the likes of Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Carlos Santana and now – each other. It showcases their explosive talent – running the gamut from Latin and rock to jazz and soul – as well as their passion, humour and irresistible personalities.

Don Carlos is one of Mexico's most famous, and successful, street musicians. Nearly 80 years old, he's been serenading pedestrians and commuters for more than 45 years with haunting melodies he creates with an ivy leaf. He discovered his calling after losing his arm in an accident at age 13, and has become one of the best foliar artists in the world. He's managed to build his own house and raise four daughters, but he has no pension, so he has too keep working to support himself and his wife. At the twilight of his life, he still hopes to fulfill his last dream - to record an album. The film will be touring the festival circuit in 2009 and is also available in French and Spanish.

Cubanos, a completely independent production, liberates itself from television convention to draw an impressionist portrait of the Cuban community. Sincere interviews and sequence shots reveal an identity fragmented by 48 years of dictatorship. The main character, Catuey, a Cuban musician who has been living in Québec for a number of years, brings to his journey and his songs the image of an ideal Cuba hurt by the division in its people and the group-think that prevails in Miami. While Catuey and the interviewees try to define themselves both as individuals and as Cubans, one scene at a time, the camera paints a broader, more complex portrait of a people held prisoner by their history. By exploring the richness of cinematographic language, Cubanos goes beyond the documentary genre to become a road movie that takes us to the heart of Catuey's struggle.