To open 6th annual Toronto Black Film Festival as a Canadian Premiere
A powerful film on the legacy of physical abuse of black women and Rosa Parks’ intimate role in Recy Taylor’s story!
Wednesday, February 14, 2018 – 7:30PM at Isabel Bader Theatre
Tickets on sale now at TorontoBlackFilm.com
The Toronto Black Film Festival – TBFF, founded by the Fabienne Colas Foundation and presented by TD Bank in collaboration with Global News, will kick start it’s 6th edition with the Canadian Premiere of Nancy Buirski’s documentary feature The Rape of Recy Taylor on Wednesday, February 14 – 7:30PM at Isabel Bader Theatre. The film had its World Premiere at the Venice Film Festival and was awarded the prestigious Human Rights Nights Special Prize for Human Rights in 2017 at the 74° Venice Biennale. #TBFF18 runs from February 14 – 19, 2018. Tickets for the opening film are on sale now here.
As Oprah Winfrey accepted the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award at the 2018 Golden Globe Awards, she invoked Taylor‘s name in her speech that delved into racism and sexism. “She lived as we all have lived, too many years in a culture broken by brutally powerful men. For too long, women have not been heard or believed if they dare speak the truth to the power of those men. But their time is up. Their time is up.”
“We are deeply honored to open #TBFF18 with Nancy Buirski’s The Rape of Recy Taylor, a poignant film which has arrived at a very pivotal moment. It is important for us to shed the light on this part of history, the climate that we’re in and the unprecedented transformational #MeToo movement that is empowering more women to speak up.” declared Fabienne Colas, President and founder of TBFF.
Recy Taylor, a 24-year-old black mother and sharecropper, was gang raped by six white boys in 1944 Alabama. Common in Jim Crow South, few women spoke up in fear for their lives. Not Recy Taylor, who bravely identified her rapists. The NAACP sent its chief rape investigator Rosa Parks, who rallied support and triggered an unprecedented outcry for justice. This film exposes a legacy of physical abuse of black women and reveals Rosa Parks’ intimate role in Recy Taylor’s story.
“Our hope is that The Rape of Recy Taylor is a bullhorn – that it ignites others to tell this story, too, some who may be closer to the experience. Their stories will be deeper, resonate in new, revealing ways and attract more unconverted by their immediacy and authenticity. Those new to it will feel its utter commonality because of its human, truthful detail. We will have been honored to set the stage for the ongoing discussion and exposé of a story of rape in the Deep South.” – Nancy Buirski, Director and producer
Recy Taylor, a name I know and I think you should know, too – Oprah Winfrey at the Golden Globes
Planting a flag firmly at the intersection of patriarchy, sexism and white supremacy, The Rape of Recy Taylor is a documentary of multiple layers and marvelous gumption. – NY Times
Nothing can prepare you for the emotionally packed ending of the documentary – Huffington Post
A stirring, infuriating marvel – Roger Eibert
It’s essential viewing – The New Yorker
