15th Annual American Black Film Festival Recap – Day 2by Wilson Morales
July 8, 2011
After a great Day 1 of the 15th Annual American Black Film Festival, which ended with the opening night party at Club Play, it was back to business as Day 2 was filled with lots of interviews with a number of talent, including screenwriters and directors.
First up was the founder and CEO of ABFF Jeff Friday, who was happy to keep giving audiences a venue where rising actors and filmmakers can showcase their work in the hopes of networking their projects.
“We went to festivals and I just didn’t see black movies. I always wondered why there were no black films at different festivals. We wanted to create a gathering for black people in the film business. We’ve gone from 190 people who supported us in Acapulco to over 5000 presently in Miami 15 years later. I still can’t believe it.”
The next interview was with screenwriter Michael Elliot (‘Brown Sugar,’ ‘Just Wright’), who taught a workshop called ‘From Script to Screen’ and talked about his experience in selling his script without the benefit of having agent. My next slate of interviews were with directors Bill Duke and Robert Townsend. Not only was Townsend’s film ‘In The Hive’ opened the festival, but the director was also on hand to teach a class on pitching ideas to the right executives and studios. Duke, who had his first theatrically feature film ‘A Rage in Harlem’ twenty years ago, was here to teach a 3-day course on the business of acting and how to hone and craft your career.
Once my interviews were over, I then went to check out the screening of a 27 minute documentary on the making of ‘Boyz N’ the Hood,’ which celebrates its 20th Anniversary this year. The screening was then followed by a Q & A with Oscar nominated writer/ director John Singleton and moderated by Trina Robinson from NBC Miami.
In my earlier conversation with Singleton, he stated the importance of the film.
“It’s good for all the brothers and sisters at ABFF to see what the cast had to say making ‘Boyz N’ the Hood’ and what it meant for them. It was lot for them to actually understand that when the film came out there was a certain esthetic within the black filmmaking community professionally and the people who aspire to make films line myself, that we were making films for black people, by black people, and that we are unique to who we are. We were trying to make something different from what had been done before. Now, people are taking for granted of seeing themselves on screen. There’s not many visions of black culture being seen on the screen right now.”
With press passes limited to one person per outlet, not all events were attended by Blackfilm.com, so we couldn’t make Bill Duke’s Actors Boot Camp, and the meet and greet with Laz Alonso at the Cadillac Lounge.
The evening was filled with plenty of events, starting with the 14th annual HBO Short Film Competition at the Colony Theater. The place was sold out and many celebs including Keenen Ivory Wayans, Terrell Suggs, and radio talk show host Michael Baisden were in attendance. I also attended a private dinner in honor of Eric Benet and Erica Gluck for their upcoming GMC film ‘Trinity Goodheart.’
The evening ended with an afterparty at LIV @ the Fountainbleu which included a performance by R & B singer Melanie Fiona, who sang her signature song ‘It Kills Me.’
