Staff WriterOn February 17, 2018 the short film Tagged, written/directed/produced by upcoming Jamaican Canadian filmmaker Jual Dacosta will have its world premiere at the 6th annual Toronto Black Film Festival.
Based on 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,” said 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 that is 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.
Tagged will have its world premiere at the Toronto Black Film Festival on February 17 at 3:00 p.m. at Carlton Cinema, 20 Carlton Street, Toronto.
Jual Dacosta (Writer/Director/Producer), Cj Byrd-Vassell (Tyler Nailen), Teisha Lockhart (Trish Nailen/mother) are available for advance interviews. They will be available for a limited number of interviews on February 17 as well at the screening.
To view production stills, click here to view online Media Kit
Media Writer
