Young Jamaican-Canadian Female Filmmaker Tackles Issue of Anti-Black Racism Stereotypes in Short Film

After enjoying a sold-out screening at the 2018 Toronto Black Film Festival and Toronto Short Film festival, the short film Tagged, written/directed/produced by budding filmmaker and Masters graduate of Ryerson Jual DaCosta will have an exclusive screening at Ryerson’s Rogers Communications Centre, 80 Gould Street – Room Rcc204, Toronto, ON, M5B 2M7 on April 12, 2019.

Inspired by a true story, the film highlights the murder of a promising young black man and explores the grief of a family and community riddled with pain. As they deal with his loss, they are also battling to dispel stereotypes and tags suggesting their son died by the gun and so he must have also lived by the gun.

“I was motivated to make the film after witnessing the hurt and pain the family endured after losing a young black male and seeing how prevalent this stereotype is today,” said filmmaker Jual Dacosta.

“One of my goals with creating the film is to highlight common stereotypes attached to black men, and heighten awareness to the fact that not all black youth killed by the gun lived by the gun and the pain of mothers that don’t get to grieve,” said Jual. “The purpose is to educate the larger population of the strength and achievements of black youth when given the chance in a positive society.”

Jual is no stranger to entertainment, having appeared in music videos with Mya (Fallen), in the film The Freak and The Mighty acting alongside Sharon Stone, and interviewed Tim Burton at the Toronto International Film Festival as a member of their Next Wave committee and also a director on Rogers Daytime television show. She was also the recipient of the Aditya Jha Graduate Award in Media Production, an annual media scholarship at Ryerson, sponsored by Corus Entertainment, Sports Net, Marci Ien, Dwight Drummond, Shaw Media and CTV to name a few.

Jual Dacosta (Writer/Director/Producer), Cj Byrd-Vassell (Tyler Nailen), Teisha Lockhart (Trish Nailen/mother), Tyra Dorsey (Tasha Nailen), Herschel Andoh (Pastor) are available for advance interviews. The Directors and Actors will participate in a Talkback after the screening on April 12, 2019. The Talkback will be moderated by G98.7FM radio personalities Mark and Jem from the Morning Show.

Click here to view online Media Kitfor production stills and bios
Click here to view trailer
Click here for online ticketing