American Black Film Festival showcases Black experience

American Black Film Festival Honors Jenifer Lewis at “Best of the ABFF” Awards Show

The American Black Film Festival attracted more than 7,000 New Yorkers and beyond is where film and TV enthusiasts converged. More than 30 documentaries, web originals, short films and narrative features were showcased at the AMC Empire 25 in Times Square to a devoted, movie-going audience. The selection of narratives, web shorts and documentaries in competition included expansive scope and diversity, and explored such topics as love, race, politics, relationships, crime and fame.

DOPE, the opening night film, directed by Rick Famuyiwa, was presented by the Motion Picture Association and shown at the SVA Theatre. Produced by the renowned Forest Whitaker, Nina Yang Bongiovi, Pharrell Williams, and Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, this coming of age comedy/drama is one of the buzziest and most talked about film releases of the 2015 summer season.

This year’s Spotlight Screenings included John Singleton’s Boyz N The Hood, the Season 4 premiere of ABFF Independent, with new host David Banner, Tasha Smith’s Boxed In, as well as features from ABFF alumni Julius Onah, Roger Bobb and Datari Turner.

The featured alumni screening was Bobb’s Girlfriends’ Getaway 2, which is a film about four girlfriends travel to Puerto Rico for a destination wedding and chaos ensues when the low-key wedding turns into a disaster. Vaughn, Angi Bones and Cas Sigers are also credited as producers.

“This year’s films highlight the importance of giving a voice to diverse storytellers. From a documentary on American mountaineers to a narrative about Black models, our roster of films reflects the breadth of the Black experience. It is also always wonderful to see ABFF alum return to showcase their latest projects. We encourage everyone to come out and support the work of these talented filmmakers,” Jeff Friday, American Black Film Founder CEO and founder, says in a statement.

On the closing night, Sunday, June 14, 2015, the “Best of the ABFF” Awards Show was presented by Cadillac, a premier sponsor of the American Black Film Festival. The event was designed to salute the aspiring and the accomplished, join us to celebrate this year’s award winning filmmakers and honor the outstanding career of actress Jenifer Lewis. She has over 260 Film and TV credits, including most recently The Wedding Ringer, “black-ish” and Think Like a Man Too.

The “Best of the ABFF” Awards Show was hosted by Chris Spencer, executive producer and co-creator of “Real Husbands of Hollywood.”