jeff friday Archives - Rolling Out

Photo source: Melanie L. Brown Jeff Friday, the creator and founder of the American Black Film Festival, sat down with rolling out to discuss the future of the event and how he intends to raise ABFF’s profile. What ideas, competitions, or events are you considering for ABFF next year? Two ideas. The purpose of every…

If you haven’t been to the American Black Film Festival in the last 20 years, you’ve been missing out. Rolling out recently spoke with Jeff Friday, the festival’s founder, about the exciting things that film festival attendees can look forward to at ABFF 2019. The film festival will be held from June 12-19 in Miami Beach, Fl..…

Jeff Friday’s name is synonymous with the American Black Film Festival. As its founder, he has been at the helm for the past 23 years. He has convened a who’s who of Black Hollywood in one place every summer for more than two decades to screen their movies, celebrate their accomplishments, honor them and have an…

GM Executives, past and present, photographed with the 2019 GMAAN Black History Month honorees. (Photo provided) The General Motors African Ancestry Network held its 13th annual Black History Month Celebration on Friday, Feb. 8, 2019, at the Detroit Renaissance Marriott. This year’s program theme was The Power of Reinvention, and was presented by Cadillac, which is…

A former advertising executive, Jeff Friday didn’t imagine that he’d be here today, 22 years later. The founder of ABFF Ventures Inc. now has more than an inkling that the world is his oyster. Recently during the 2018 ABFF Honors at the Beverly Hilton he chats with actor Laz Alonso about expansion to Africa and…

ABFF (American Black Film Festival) Ventures, a multifaceted entertainment company specializing in the production of live events, television and digital content targeted to upscale African American audiences, is gearing up for two highly-anticipated events leading up to the summer. The first kicks off this year’s award season. ABFF Honors returns to the Beverly Hilton in…

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…

The American Black Film Festival (ABFF) dedicates a four-day weekend to showcase quality film and television content by and about people of African descent. This year, ABFF 2015 promoted greater diversity by adding the first multicultural Television & Media Expo, among other seminars and workshops at the event which was held June 11-14, 2015 at at…

Fresh off a plane from Hollywood and on her way to Monte Carlo, actress Taraji P. Henson makes a surprising guest appearance at the invitation-only Cadillac and American Black Film Festival “Daring Greatly” lunch at The Chester restaurant located in the Gansevoort Hotel in New York’s Meatpacking District. “Keeping us relevant is important. It means nothing if…

Film Life kicked off their 19th annual American Black Film Festival in New York City on June 11. The four-day event dedicated to showcasing quality films and television content by and about people of African descent, screened Dope on opening night. In attendance were “Empire” actress Taraji Henson, the 2015 ABFF ambassador; Dope actress Chanel Iman, MiMi Michaels, as…

The American Black Film Festival 2013 took over South Beach on the week of June 19-24 with the plethora of celebrity sightings and appearances, movie premieres, awards programs, short film competitions, exclusive parties and educational workshops. Sponsored by Cadillac, a division of General Motors, along with HBO, the ABFF saw the casts of both the…

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — If there is a way to define the commencement of the 17th annual American Black Film Festival (ABFF), it would be “riveting” and “raw.” Celebrities, filmmakers, actors, media and others converged onto the famous Colony Square in South Beach for the opening night screening of the emotionally powerful and searing Inevitable Defeat…

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — There will be enough stars to decorate a Christmas Tree at the 2013 American Black Film Festival in South Beach this week, including comedian Kevin Hart and actresses Sanaa Lathan and Regina King and many others. Sponsored by HBO and Cadillac and entering it’s 17th year, the ABFF promises many surprises,…

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Jeff Friday chewed on the question like an after-dinner mint when asked what were some of his favorite and most magical moments in the 16 years of the American Black Film Festival, the premiere film festival catering to African American and minority moviemakers. It was almost like trying to pick…

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Before we get to the reasons why aspiring and active filmmakers, producers, actors and other cinematic artists should attend the 2013 American Black Film Festival in South Beach on June 20-24, lets list the reasons ABFF founder Jeff Friday started the critically-acclaimed filmmakers convention in the first place, now in its…

Despite the magnificent success of black filmmakers and the plethora of African American movie options from the mid-1980s to the late ’90s, there was a radical paradigm shift in the mentality of Hollywood in the new millennium that all but brought black film production to a complete halt. According to American Black Film Festival founder…

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — The 15th annual American Black Film Festival was hardly disrupted by the battalion of menacing storm clouds that spit nonstop precipitation over the proceedings. If anything, it made the indoor celebrations and parties that much more intense. The likes of the legendary Bill Duke, Keenan Ivory Wayans, Robert Townsend, Mekhi Phifer,…