Staff WriterFrances-Anne Solomon’s award-winning feature film HERO – Inspired By The Extraordinary Life & Times Of Mr. Ulric Cross opened at TIFF Bell Lightbox to an enthusiastic sold-out audience on February 28. Now by popular demand, HERO will have a limited run in Toronto at Imagine Carlton Cinema from March 29 – April 4, 2019.
The Toronto Limited Engagement is being co-presented by local Black Community organizations including The United Negro Association (UNIA), The Mighty Race, The Black Business and Professional Association (BBPA), Fathers 4 Fathers, United Achievers Community Services, Young & Potential Fathers, and online magazine ByBlacks.com. Screenings will be followed by a Talk Back session with the Director and Canadian based actors.
“After spending such a long time making the film, it is really gratifying to get such overwhelmingly positive and passionate feedback from audiences,” says Canadian filmmaker Frances-Anne Solomon. “Since the TIFF premiere, we have been to screen HERO in locations across Canada and around the world.
An earlier cut of HERO had its festival launch on home turf at the Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival in September 2018, where it won the festival’s coveted Audience Choice Award and was met with rave reviews. Earlier that month, a sold-out special preview screening in Toronto had paved the way for HERO’s historic launch, as the first Black Canadian film to have a cinematic release this year.
Screening dates have been announced for Ottawa and the UK.
About HERO
Shot in Trinidad, the UK, Ghana, and Canada, HERO is the story of Ulric Cross, who in 1941, left his small island home in Trinidad to seek his fortune, and become the British Royal Air Force’s most decorated West Indian airman. His life took a dramatically different course when he followed the call of history, and joined the independence movements sweeping Africa in the ‘50s and ‘60s.
The film boasts an all-star, international and pan-African cast including Canada’s Peter Williams (Stargate SG1), the UK’s Joseph Marcell (Fresh Prince of Bel Air), Fraser James (Resident Evil), and Pippa Nixon (John Carter), Ghanaian superstars John Dumelo and Adjetey Anang, and Trinidad and Tobago’s Nickolai Salcedo in the lead role as Ulric Cross.
Praise for HERO
“Frances-Anne’s work is heartfelt and powerful. It has and continues to play a vital role in carving out space for underrepresented voices and important conversations.” – Tonya Williams, Reelworld Film Festival.
“Solomon achieves a patina-ed narrative, patchwork quilting vignettes that go from Belmont, Trinidad, to Britain then Ghana, Cameroon and Tanzania…” – Christopher Pineiro, writer, and artist.
“Uplifting and informative, the film features Nickolai Salcedo, a superb actor who commands attention. HERO is a cinematic juggling act, and director Frances-Anne Solomon pulls it off with aplomb.” – T&T Newsday
HERO Online Ticketing Info
Toronto | March 29 to April 4, 2019 – Imagine Cinemas Carlton Cinema
Ottawa | April 25, 2019 – Imagine Cinemas Ottawa
London UK | May 18, 2019 – BFI Southbank
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