At this time of year it is easy to get swept up into the cyclone that is the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and overlook the numerous other festivals playing in the city. When it comes to cinematic options Toronto has an embarrassment of riches. One festival that will be kicking off this week is the Caribbean Tales International Film Festival (CTFF), which runs September 9 – 19, 2015 at The Royal Cinema. Celebrating its tenth year, the festival was established to celebrate “the talents of established and emerging filmmakers of Caribbean heritage who practise their art across the Caribbean Diaspora worldwide – including Canada and the Caribbean, Europe, the Americas, Africa, China, India and the Middle East.”

Scouring diverse selection of titles, here are five films we are keen on seeing:

Mala Mala
Mala Mala is a feature-length documentary about the power of transformation told through the eyes of 9 trans-identifying individuals in Puerto Rico.

Sand Dollars
A relationship between a beautiful and impoverished young local girl and her wealthy European lover is put to the test as issues of class, inequality and exploitation rise to the surface.

Cristo Rey
A love story set in the Dominican Republic, where two half brothers, one an acknowledged Dominican and other seen as Haitian, compete for the love of the same woman.

Pelo Malo
Turmoil is created when a nine year old boy’s obsession with straightening his “bad hair” for his school picture worries his single widowed mother about the boy’s identity.

Lee Scratch Perry’s Vision of Paradise
The unique, poetic, humorous and “prophetic” adventure with the legendary Lee Scratch Perry is the one movie that explains it all…

The full slate of films and ticket information can be found at the Caribbean Tales International Film Festival website.