Announced this morning by Frances-Anne Solomon, CEO of the CaribbeanTales Group of Media Companies – the official launch of its new video-on-demand (VOD) platform CaribbeanTales-TV, an online project specializing in Caribbean-themed film and television content.

CT-TV is part-funded by the Ontario Trillium Foundation and aims to target regional and global audiences for Caribbean film, which includes many of you I’m sure. There aren’t exactly a lot of web portals where one can go and watch a curated selection of films from the Caribbean.

The online platform has developed from a year-long collaboration between Solomon and German filmmaker and entrepreneur Cay Wesnigk, CEO of Onlinefilm.org.

“In our present time where youth are commanding and learning from Internet and new media, this is a great way for them to have technological access to heritage stories,” says Solomon. “The Internet is not only the way of the future and indeed the present, it offers Caribbean content creators instant access to Diaspora audiences worldwide. These global Caribbean citizens are passionate and committed followers of Caribbean culture in all its incarnations, and now also to Caribbean film.”

The collaboration has resulted in the development of two distinct online platforms. The first, CaribbeanTales-TV.com goes live today, September 12th, which will come with a Netflix-style subscription component, and includes some 300 titles from the CaribbeanTales Worldwide Distribution catalogue – a combination of the old and the new.

The second caribbean.onlinefilm.org, part of the Onlinefilm.org network, is a user-controlled, self-distribution platform for content makers to sell work directly to their fans. It offers Caribbean filmmakers the opportunity to introduce their work to global audiences on a pay per view basis.

Now you know, so take advantage! I will, and will highlight those films that I do eventually watch.

CaribbeanTales is a group of media companies that produces, markets, and exhibits Caribbean-themed films for regional and international distribution, including: CaribbeanTales Worldwide Distribution, that links quality Caribbean movies and their audiences everywhere, the CaribbeanTales Film Festival  that produces events and training programs around the world, and CaribbeanTales.ca, a non profit based in Toronto, Canada, that produces educational programs through film, contributing to an inclusive Canadian society.