About Us
The Charles Taylor Theatre and Media Arts Association is a not-for-profit cultural association that produces The Emerging Lens Film Festival, the association was provincially incorporated on August 8, 2010.
Our Mandate
The mandate of the Charles Taylor Theatre and Media Arts Association is to educate, empower and inspire by honouring the influence of African Canadian and other cultural filmmakers and to bring recognition to their work.
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To acknowledge the educational power of video, media arts, and theatre that is rich in wonder, honest compassion, and wisdom.​
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To present the unique work of our cultural filmmakers and to create a larger appreciation for their cultural stories.​
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To be a training ground for our youth storytellers, filmmakers, and performers.
We believe every year we come together for the festival, creates greater opportunities and possibilities for our filmmakers and artisans in this medium. We are really proud to say that we continue to grow our multiple connections through our community and our partnerships.
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Every night the screenings begin with a cultural performance as it is important for us to culturally locate what we do within our community by shaping our festival within our own culture. This is then followed with the screening of the films, an in-depth question and answer session with the filmmakers with the audience and lastly a networking reception with the filmmakers. Each year it grows! Our audience consists of community members, writers, media, students and other artists. All our events are free to the public.
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The Emerging Lens film festival is on the Canadian Screen Awards list as eligible festivals! Submit your film for next year's line up today!!
“You pray for rain, you gotta deal with the
mud too. That's apart of it.”
- DENZEL WASHINGTON