The Top Five Moments From The 2018 American Black Film Festival
You probably saw your newsfeeds blasted with ABFF hashtags all weekend long. Not familiar with ABFF? The American Black Film Festival is the nations largest gathering of black film and tv enthusiast. The organization prides itself on being at the forefront of diversity in Hollywood and continues to inspire generations of new artists and storytellers. Check out our five top moments from this years festival below:
5. WHITNEY - The untold story of icon Whitney Houston premiered at this years festival received rave reviews. As Yolanda Sangweni put it, "Saw the new #WhitneyHouston documentary last night at #abff and my lord... it will leave you gutted. And praying. And remind you of the gift of “the voice”
4. LOVE IS- Legendary producer and writer Mara Brock Akil a long with her husband Salim premiered her new show "Love Is" based on the true story of their relationship set to premiere on OWN June 19th. As Mara informed the ABFF crowd, ""My light is bright because I've jumped through fear to go be closer to myself."
3. SUPERFLY - The talk about movie this summer Superfly also premiered at ABFF. Superfly is a 2018 American action crime film directed by Director X and written by Alex Tse. A remake of the 1972 blaxploitation film Super Fly, it stars Trevor Jackson, Jason Mitchell, Michael K. Williams, Lex Scott Davis, and Jennifer Morrison, and follows a career criminal who tries to get out of the Atlanta drug scene, only to have one bad deal put him in harm's way. Rapper Future produces alongside Joel Silver, as well as wrote the film's original songs. Superfly was released in the United States on June 13, 2018 and received mixed reviews from critics. You can check it out in theaters now.
2. A Conversation with Ryan Coogler included the star director diving deep into his hit films: Fruitvale Station, Creed and Black Panther. Coogler expressed to the crowd, “Every time I make a film, I treat it like I’ll never make another one.”
1. Jesse Williams Presents Blebrity: Have you heard of the app Blebrity? Well, if you haven't, get into it! The app is created by actor and activist Jesse Williams and includes 30 categories with a few of our favs being: Church, HBCU, The 90s, Actin’ a Fool, NYC, Celebrity Beef, Trap Muzik, and White Folks Invited To The Cookout. Williams held a secret shindig during ABFF at the Miami SoHo House which included some of our favorite celebrity's; Ryan Destiny, Issa Rae, Kofi Siriboe, Y’lan Noel, Ryan Coogler, Tristan “Mack” Wilds, Jay Ellis, Angela Rye, Karin Gist, Richard Brooks, Omari Hardwick, Jamie Hector, Stephen Hill, and Elijah Kelley to name a few.