New up-coming Trinidadian-Canadian filmmaker, Ian Harnarine, will be honored for his work with an Award of Recognition from the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, at the CaribbeanTales Youth Film Festival Gala, February 4, 2012.

The award is in acknowledgement of Harnarine's successful debut short film, Doubles with Slight Pepper, which won Best Canadian Short at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) 2011. The film is presently touring across the country in the TIFF Canada's Top Ten series. Doubles with Slight Pepper has also been nominated for a Genie (the Canadian counterpart award of the Oscars), as Best Live Action Short Drama.

The film, starring Trinidadian actors Errol Sitahal, Sanjiv Boodhu, and Susan Hannays-Abraham, chronicles the story of Dhani, a young street vendor in Trinidad struggling to resolve emotions sparked by the return of his long estranged father from Canada. It is a moving, poetic tale about the contemporary Caribbean immigrant experience of those who leave and those left behind.

The project was initiated through Harnarine's experience in the 2010 CaribbeanTales Incubator Program (CIPAVE) – a program helping aspiring Caribbean filmmakers to create professional content and provides access to potential creative partners and funding from around the region. Doubles with Slight Pepper was then produced with partial funding from the Trinidad and Tobago Film Company, a production organization dedicated to providing local filmmakers with needed funding and production technology.

"I am humbled and grateful that the Government of Trinidad & Tobago has chosen to bestow this incredible honor upon me," says Harnarine. "Without the financial assistance of the Trinidad and Tobago Film Company, as well as the unwavering support of CaribbeanTales, this film would not have been possible. I am deeply thankful for the opportunity to share a bit of Trinidad & Tobago's rich culture with the world."

Director Ian Harnarine grew up in Toronto, the son of Trinidadian immigrants. Drawn towards filmmaking, he left behind his work in Nuclear Physics to pursue at degree at New York University's Graduate Film School. He is currently on the Faculty at NYU in both the Physics Department and the Tisch School of Film.

The Award for Outstanding Contribution to Film will be presented by the High Commissioner for the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in Canada His Excellency Philip Buxo on the occasion of the CaribbeanTales Youth Film Festival Gala Brunch, co-hosted by TIFF, at TIFF Bell Lightbox on Feb 4, 2012.