The American Black Film Festival (ABFF) Develops an Array of Talent Pipeline Programs in Partnership with HBO®, Comcast NBCUniversal, Turner and TV One

FESTIVAL EXTENDS ITS LEGACY OF SUPPORTING TALENT IN FRONT OF AND BEHIND THE CAMERA

THE 22nd ANNUAL ABFF RETURNS TO MIAMI JUNE 13 – 17, 2018

New York, New York (December 20, 2017) – The 22nd annual American Black Film Festival (ABFF) returns to Miami from June 13-17, 2018. ABFF has a rich history of prestigious talent pipeline programs designed to identify, showcase and introduce talented artists, including directors, actors, writers and other content creators to the industry at large. These unique programs are partnered with major entertainment media companies such as HBO, Comcast NBCUniversal, Turner, TV One and more and provide industry awareness and cash prizes, along with career-enhancing opportunities within mainstream Hollywood.

Born from ABFF founder Jeff Friday’s conviction that Black artists deserve the same opportunities as their mainstream counterparts, the talent pipeline programs act as a valuable conduit between Hollywood and emerging talent including Ryan Coogler (Black Panther, Fruitvale Station, Creed), Stephen Caple, Jr. (The Land, Creed 2), Clement Virgo (Greenleaf), Omari Hardwick (Power, Being Mary Jane), Emayatze Corinealdi (Roots, Miles Ahead, Ballers), Keronda Kiki McKnight (Bad Dad Rehab), Ben Watkins (Hand of God) and Saladin K. Patterson (The Big Bang Theory) are among the festival’s beneficiaries of these unique opportunities.

Comcast NBCUniversal is partnering once again with the American Black Film Festival on the NBCUniversal Hosting Workshop, which is designed to help emerging TV hosts sharpen their skills, and identify dynamic personalities ready for on-air opportunities.

Approximately twenty five (25) candidates are selected to participate in a three day workshop. Two promising hosts are selected to attend the festival and gain hands-on experience conducting red-carpet interviews live from the 2018 American Black Film Festival in Miami.

The 6th annual ABFF Comedy Wings Competition, sponsored by HBO, is a national search to identify people with a natural ability to be funny and have the chops to become outstanding comedic talent. The ABFF Comedy Wings Competition was created to showcase talented, yet undiscovered comedians and introduce them to the industry at large.

Semi-finalists are selected from the pool of entries to perform at a renowned Los Angeles comedy club and prove themselves funny enough to secure a position as a finalist. Up to five finalists will be flown to the 2018 ABFF in June to perform before a panel of esteemed judges, where one will be crowned the winner and receive a $5,000 cash prize along with the opportunity to meet with an HBO comedy executive.

Now in its 21st year, the HBO Short Film Competition is regarded as one of the most prestigious short film showcases in the country. Each year five filmmakers (writers and/or directors of African descent) are selected as finalists to receive a trip to the ABFF in Miami, FL (inclusive of airfare and hotel accommodations) to screen their film during the festival. One of the five films is selected at the festival to receive the HBO® Short Film Award and a cash prize of $10,000.

Turner Broadcasting has partnered with ABFF for a second year, seeking new writing talent through the ABFF Turner TV Writing Contest. Two winners are selected in the genres of Comedy and Drama, with each winner will receiving a cash prize and the opportunity to meet with the original programming development teams at Turner’s TBS and TNT Networks.

The ever-popular TV One Screenplay Competition searches for a feature film writer with a contemporary story, focused on the American black cultural experience that has wide audience appeal. TV One selects three (3) finalists to attend the ABFF in Miami (inclusive of airfare and hotel accommodations). One winner is selected and announced at the ABFF Awards Presentation during the festival. The winner will receive a $5,000 cash prize and will have an opportunity for their film to be produced and air on TV One, the following year.

For complete submission details and to review all eligibility requirements for the ABFF Talent Pipeline Programs go to https://www.abff.com/miami/talent-pipeline-platforms/.

Festival passes are on sale now at www.ABFF.com, offering three different levels of access to festival events. Questions regarding registration should be directed to [email protected].

ABFF SOCIAL MEDIA:

Sponsors of the 2018 American Black Film Festival are HBO® (Founding and Presenting Sponsor); Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau (Host and Presenting Sponsor); TV One (Presenting Sponsor); Comcast NBCUniversal (Presenting Sponsor); Turner (Premier Sponsor); American Airlines (Official Sponsor) and Walter Kaitz Foundation (Industry Partner).

To apply for media credentials, please go to https://www.abff.com/miami/media/media-credentials/.

ABOUT ABFF:
The American Black Film Festival (ABFF) is an annual event dedicated to showcasing quality film and television content by and about people of African descent. The festival is committed to the belief that Black artists and content creators deserve the same opportunities as their mainstream counterparts. ABFF founder Jeff Friday conceived the festival in 1997 as a vehicle to promote diversity in the motion picture industry, and strengthen the Black filmmaking community through resource sharing, education, artistic collaboration and career development. For more than two decades, the ABFF has been the standard-bearer of excellence in independent Black cinema, having premiered the works and supported the careers of many of today’s most successful artists, including Ryan Coogler (Black Panther), Anthony Anderson (Blackish), Will Packer (Girls Trip), Issa Rae (Insecure), Omari Hardwick (Power) and Raoul Peck (I Am Not Your Negro). Today, it is the preeminent pipeline for Black talent, in front of and behind the camera, significantly expanding the range of talent in the entertainment industry at large. The ABFF is a property of ABFF Ventures LLC, a multifaceted entertainment company specializing in the production of live events, television and digital content, targeted to upscale African American audiences. The company is a joint venture between Film Life Inc. and Black Enterprise, two prominent media and event companies, each with legacies of showcasing the best of African American culture and achievement.

PRESS CONTACT:

Strategic Heights Media
Michelle Huff Elliott
[email protected]
212-634-7176

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The 22nd Annual American Black Film Festival (ABFF) Announces the 2018 Master Class Line Up with Industry Veteran Glendon Palmer and Casting Director Kimberly Hardin

Confirmed Workshops include Nailing Your Audition and Financing Independent Films

New York, New York (December 12, 2017) – The 22nd Annual American Black Film Festival (ABFF) is thrilled to announce the 2018 line up for its highly anticipated Master Class series, taking place in Miami, Florida June 13-17. The master classes are intense workshops designed to help emerging artists hone the craft of filmmaking in various disciplines. The classes will be led by two of the industry’s top experts including Glendon Palmer, SVP of Development and Production at Global Road Entertainment and casting director, Kimberly Hardin.

Glendon Palmer will lead the “Master Class: Film Financing” session, which will instruct indie filmmakers on the task of getting their dramatic and/or documentary feature films financed. This class will provide insider perspectives and frank advice on what it takes to get indie pictures made, as well as how ever-changing technologies, distribution windows, alternative financing opportunities, and working with other countries, impact the financing process. Palmer is the Executive Producer of the films Southside with You, Jumping the Broom and Fifty Shades of Black.

Casting director Kimberly Hardin will teach the “Master Class: Nailing Your Audition” session, which will focus on preparation, how to audition and how to own the room. Hardin’s casting credits includes Cadillac Records, Think Like a Man and Snowfall. Her workshop will demonstrate a comprehensive pragmatic approach to gaining employment, understanding pay rates/contracts, mastering one line and “under-five” auditions, and maintaining a positive attitude, while navigating the business.

Master class tickets are sold separately from the festival passes. They are currently available for purchase at https://www.abff.com/miami/master-classes/.

Festival passes are on sale now at www.ABFF.com, offering three different levels of access to festival events. Questions regarding registration should be directed to [email protected].

ABFF SOCIAL MEDIA:

Sponsors of the 2018 American Black Film Festival are HBO® (Founding and Presenting Sponsor); Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau (Host and Presenting Sponsor); Comcast NBCUniversal (Presenting Sponsor); Turner (Premier Sponsor); American Airlines (Official Sponsor) and Walter Kaitz Foundation (Industry Partner).

To apply for media credentials, please go to https://www.abff.com/miami/media/media-credentials/.

ABOUT ABFF:
The American Black Film Festival (ABFF) is an annual event dedicated to showcasing quality film and television content by and about people of African descent. The festival is committed to the belief that Black artists and content creators deserve the same opportunities as their mainstream counterparts. ABFF founder Jeff Friday conceived the festival in 1997 as a vehicle to promote diversity in the motion picture industry, and strengthen the Black filmmaking community through resource sharing, education, artistic collaboration and career development. For more than two decades, the ABFF has been the standard-bearer of excellence in independent Black cinema, having premiered the works and supported the careers of many of today’s most successful artists, including Ryan Coogler (Black Panther), Anthony Anderson (Blackish), Will Packer (Girls Trip), Issa Rae (Insecure), Omari Hardwick (Power) and Raoul Peck (I Am Not Your Negro). Today, it is the preeminent pipeline for Black talent, in front of and behind the camera, significantly expanding the range of talent in the entertainment industry at large. The ABFF is a property of ABFF Ventures LLC, a multifaceted entertainment company specializing in the production of live events, television and digital content, targeted to upscale African American audiences. The company is a joint venture between Film Life Inc. and Black Enterprise, two prominent media and event companies, each with legacies of showcasing the best of African American culture and achievement.

PRESS CONTACT:

Strategic Heights Media
Michelle Huff Elliott
[email protected]
212-634-7176

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The 2018 American Black Film Festival Honors Announces Nominees for Movie and Television Shows (Drama & Comedy) of the Year

Actor & Comedian Cedric the Entertainer to Host the Annual Event

Show Returns to Los Angeles Sunday, February 25, 2018

#ABFFHonors

New York, NY (December 6, 2017) – Today, ABFF Ventures announced the 2018 ABFF Honors television and movie nominees. The show will return to the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles on Sunday, February 25, with actor and comedian Cedric the Entertainer as host.

The awards show celebrates individuals of African descent who have made distinguished contributions to American culture through their work, and salutes the year’s best movies and television shows. ABFF Honors was created by American Black Film Festival founder Jeff Friday, to promote camaraderie and a spirit of mutual appreciation among multicultural artists in Hollywood.

This year’s “Movie of the Year” nominees touch on historical figures and subject matters, social and economic issues and women’s empowerment, mixed with a girl’s adventure. Included, is a biopic about Thurgood Marshall and one of his greatest challenges he faced while working as a lawyer for the NAACP; another nominee is an American horror film, which follows an interracial couple and the series of increasingly disturbing discoveries each character faces. Our next nominee takes us on a wild all-girls adventure to New Orleans, during Essence Festival, and along the way they rekindle their sisterhood and rediscover their wild side. Our final nominee highlights two families battling the prejudice of the Jim Crow South and how their lives collide in a dramatic way.

Nominees for “Movie of the Year” are:

  • DETROIT (Annapurna)
  • GET OUT (Universal Pictures)
  • GIRLS TRIP (Universal Pictures)
  • MARSHALL (Open Road Films)
  • MUDBOUND (Netflix)

The “Television Show of the Year” (Drama) nominees are powerful, smart, loyal and authentic. From a powerful criminal attorney who tests everyone’s limits and reveal dark truths, to a night club owner leading a double life as a drug kingpin and an inside look into the world at Georgia A&M, where the newly elected president has her hands full managing personal and professional scandal and drama, to a family struggling to gain a sense of cultural identity, a complicated story of three siblings who inherited a sugarcane farm and finally we take a journey to 1983 for a history lesson on the crack cocaine epidemic in Los Angeles – television over the past year has been captivating, genuine and provocative.

Nominees for “Television Show of the Year” (Drama) are:

  • HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER (ABC)
  • POWER (STARZ)
  • THE QUAD (BET)
  • QUEEN SUGAR (OWN)
  • SNOWFALL (FX)

The “Television Show of the Year” (Comedy) nominees made us laugh every night, while pushing the envelope on subjects of sex, crime, race and politics. From an awkward Black girl who navigates the racy tribulations of modern-day love and friendships and a man who questions cultural assimilation for his family, who lives in an upper-class neighborhood, to five diverse, hardworking manicurists who try to make ends meet in an unstable economy in Central, Florida and a film adaptation, which follows a group of students of color at Winchester University who are faced with a landscape of cultural bias, to a show whose main character struggles to define herself and divide her time amongst her friends, job and her three lovers. Television comedies took risks and entertained us all season.

Nominees for “Television Show of the Year” (Comedy) are:

  • BLACK-ish (ABC)
  • CLAWS (TNT)
  • DEAR WHITE PEOPLE (Netflix)
  • INSECURE (HBO)
  • SHE’S GOTTA HAVE IT (Netflix)

The winners of all three categories will be determined by the 2018 ABFF Honors Awards Committee, comprised of films critics and entertainment editors who vote for the nominees and winner in each competitive award category. In addition to the jury vote, the general public is invited to vote for their favorite television show and movie, online, via www.ABFFHonors.com, from December 20, 2017 through January 22, 2018.

To qualify for “Movie of the Year,” narrative feature films must have been directed by and/or feature a lead actor of African descent and have had a U.S. theatrical release, or broadcast premiere on a cable television or streaming platform during the 2017 calendar year.

To qualify for “Television Show of the Year,” the scripted television series (comedy or drama) must be created by and/or feature a lead actor of African descent and have had a U.S. television premiere on broadcast, basic or premium cable, digital delivery and pay-per-view cable or pay-per-view digital delivery, during the 2017 calendar year. For full details on the 2018 ABFF Honors eligibility and consideration rules, visit www.ABFFHonors.com.

This year, The American Black Film Festival (ABFF) Honors is proud to present legendary actor, singer and writer Billy Dee Williams with the “Hollywood Legacy Award;” actor Omari Hardwick with the “Distinguished ABFF Alumni Award;” actress and comedian Tiffany Haddish with the “Rising Star Award” and director Ava DuVernay with the “Industry Visionary Award.”

The 2018 honorees will join an illustrious list of past ABFF Honors celebrants, including actors Denzel Washington, Regina King, Don Cheadle, Diahann Carroll, Queen Latifah, Issa Rae, Terrence Howard and filmmakers and producers Ryan Coogler, F. Gary Gray and Will Packer.

The event is executive produced by ABFF Ventures founder Jeff Friday and presented in association with de Passe Jones Entertainment.

For media inquiries, apply for media credentials and additional information about the 2018 ABFF Honors, please log on to www.ABFFHonors.com.

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SOCIAL MEDIA:

ABOUT ABFF:
The American Black Film Festival (ABFF) is an annual event dedicated to showcasing quality film and television content by and about people of African descent. The festival is committed to the belief that Black artists and content creators deserve the same opportunities as their mainstream counterparts. ABFF founder Jeff Friday conceived the festival in 1997 as a vehicle to promote diversity in the motion picture industry, and strengthen the Black filmmaking community through resource sharing, education, artistic collaboration and career development. For more than two decades, the ABFF has been the standard-bearer of excellence in independent Black cinema, having premiered the works and supported the careers of many of today’s most successful artists, including Ryan Coogler (Black Panther), Anthony Anderson (Blackish), Will Packer (Girls Trip), Issa Rae (Insecure), Omari Hardwick (Power) and Raoul Peck (I Am Not Your Negro). Today, it is the preeminent pipeline for Black talent, in front of and behind the camera, significantly expanding the range of talent in the entertainment industry at large. The ABFF is a property of ABFF Ventures LLC, a multifaceted entertainment company specializing in the production of live events, television and digital content, targeted to upscale African American audiences. The company is a joint venture between Film Life Inc. and Black Enterprise, two prominent media and event companies, each with legacies of showcasing the best of African American culture and achievement.

PRESS CONTACTS:
Michelle Huff Elliott
Strategic Heights Media
michelle@strategicheights.com
212-634-7176