Frances-Anne Solomon is an award-winning author, producer, director and curator. She began her profession on the BBC as a TV producer and govt producer. After transferring to Canada, she based the CaribbeanTales Media Group, which produces culturally-diverse movie and tv.
Solomon directed “Claiming Area,” the eighth episode of the CBC docuseries Black Life: Untold Tales, which delves into the historical past of Black settlements throughout Canada and the often-overlooked tales of Maidenville, Sask.; Africville, N.S.; and Montreal’s Little Burgundy in Quebec.
Black Life: Untold Tales sequence reframes the wealthy and sophisticated histories of Black folks in Canada over 400 years.
Solomon desires younger folks to know there have been “necessary, joyful, linked Black communities” in Canada for greater than 200 years.
“You’ll be able to’t underestimate the harm finished to the psyche should you don’t have a historical past,” she mentioned.
“Folks assume the historical past is like this outdated factor about some fuddy-duddy, cranky outdated people who find themselves irrelevant to my life in the present day,” she mentioned. “However actually, they had been preventing huge battles similar to us.”
The documentary seems on the communities razed to make means for highways, parks and concrete infrastructure. However amid the devastation, there are additionally tales of resilience and the relationships that endured.
“The Black neighborhood throughout Canada is outlined by a lot pleasure,” Solomon mentioned. “Sure, we have now struggled. Sure, we proceed to battle. And it’s extraordinary the way in which that we as a folks popping out of horrible, horrible experiences [have turned] horror into pleasure.
“I imply, it’s actually a testomony to our unimaginable survival … And so, in a means, the episode is a hymn to Canada by way of our eyes.”
She directed the function movies What My Mom Informed Me, Peggy Su! and A Winter Story and the sequence Lord Have Mercy! and Coronary heart Beat. Her current movie, Hero: Impressed by the Extraordinary Life & Instances of Mr. Ulric Cross, acquired important acclaim.
