Toronto Black Film Festival
January 26 - Singapore / Toronto
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Michael Lints
michael@ourbrokenchains.com
Broken Chains Documentary selected for Toronto Black Film Festival
Singapore, January 26 – Broken Chains is selected for the prestigious Toronto Black Film Festival. The Toronto Black Film Festival (TBFF), presented by TD Bank Group (TD) in collaboration with Global News, is celebrating its 10th anniversary, February 16 – 21, with a bigger and stronger ONLINE programming! Created by the Fabienne Colas Foundation, TBFF commemorates this important milestone with a record number of 200 films from 30 countries. This year’s line-up consists of remarkable films, highlighting important topics such as women’s issues, politics, social injustice, discrimination, mental health, arts, sports, accomplishment, among others.
For the last decade, TBFF has become Canada’s largest celebration of Black History Month, attracting hundreds of thousands of festivalgoers, of all ages and ethnic backgrounds. Year after year, through its bold and diverse programming, the Toronto Black Film Festival has been a necessary platform for Black artists who would otherwise remain invisible. Coming together at the Toronto Black Film Festival has allowed members of all cultural communities to better understand one another.
Directors Aaron Stewart and Michael Lints are thrilled to be part of the festival. "It is an honor for us to showcase Broken Chains at the festival. It has been a long journey for the production team and cast, as we are trying to push the message for social justice and economic equality".
Broken Chains is a documentary project started in June 2020 in Singapore after global protests against institutional racism following the murder of George Floyd. The death of George Floyd and discussion about institutional racism inspired me to write a Medium-post called "I am exhausted and I want you to know why." I was looking for a way to help bring systemic racism to the attention of corporations and the tech industry. Oftentimes people would see racism, but have difficulty understanding how these issues have reverberating and persistent effects on the individuals targeted as well as society at-large. After I published my article, many people asked: "what can I do besides listen?" The answer is not only complex but requires input and insight from different layers of society, different generations and different backgrounds.
About Broken Chains
The Broken Chains documentary was founded by Michael Lints, Aaron Stewart, Jamaur Bronner, and Karim Raffa. Investigating the effects of systemic racism through an economic lens, BROKEN CHAINS is a personal and poignant documentary exploring the racial wealth gap in America. Featuring candid, in-depth interviews with today's leading economists, educators, entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, and technologists, BROKEN CHAINS identifies the 8 critical barriers to black success and explores what needs to be done to create a more equitable system that fosters equal opportunity.