George Brown College students will be volunteering at this year’s Toronto Black Film Festival

File photo: Toronto Black Film Festival closing night 2013. Photo courtesy of Toronto Black Film Festival.

The Toronto Black Film Festival (TBFF) has announced the programming line-up for their third annual festival. Running during Black History Month from Feb. 10 to 15, it continues the nation-wide celebrations and reflections of the past.

This year’s Toronto Black Film Festival has a wildly diverse team of volunteers including George Brown College students who are part of the student leadership academy.

Spearheaded by Fabienne Colas, president and co-founder of the TBFF, and Emile Castonguay the festival’s program director and co-founder, who both have a mission to show movie-goers a different way of seeing the world.

Their hope is that by connecting viewers of different backgrounds to black films, communities will be able to come together and celebrate differences and embrace our similarities.

“2015 is a symbolic year for the festival, commemorating 60 years since Rosa Parks’ refusal to surrender her seat to a Caucasian passenger on a public bus in Alabama, initiated a new era in the American quest for freedom and equality,” according to a TBFF press release.

It is also a celebration of 50 years since the assassination of civil rights activist Malcolm X, and five years since the devastating earthquake in Haiti that killed an estimated 220,000, left 3,500,000 affected and over 300,000 people injured, according to the Disasters Emergency Committee.

This year TBFF will offer work from 38 filmmakers and feature premieres from 18 countries.

The festival’s opening night will be at the the Isabel Bader Theatre, and tickets prices will range from $10 to $25. There will also be a $145 passport card that will grant attendees access to all the events.

For more information students can visit torontoblackfilm.com.