Proud Sponsor of the Urbanworld Film Festival
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Urbanworld Film Festival DIGITAL FILM MUSIC SEP 21 - 25 NYC 2016 Program Guide TABLE OF CONTENTS FESTIVAL PARTNERS 4 FOUNDER / LEADERSHIP / TEAM 5 FESTIVAL DIRECTOR WELCOME 7 PRESENTING PARTNER WELCOME 8 FOUNDING PARTNER WELCOME 10 NY FILM COMMISSIONER WELCOME 13 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS 14 VENUES MAP 15 URBANWORLD DIGITAL 16 URBANWORLD MUSIC 20 LIVE SCREENPLAY READINGS 22 THE STAND 25 URBANWORLD: BROOKLYN EDITION 26 SPOTLIGHT SCREENINGS 28 REVOLT YOUNG FILMMAKERS SHOWCASE 36 NARRATIVE FEATURES (U.S. CINEMA) 44 NARRATIVE FEATURES (WORLD CINEMA) 54 DOCUMENTARY FEATURES 62 SHORTS PROGRAM ONE 68 SHORTS PROGRAM TWO 74 SHORTS PROGRAM THREE 81 SHORTS PROGRAM FOUR 89 SHORTS PROGRAM FIVE 96 20TH ANNIVERSARY ARTWORK: SHANTELL MARTIN 104 FESTIVAL JURORS 106 SCREENING SCHEDULE 112 FILM CONTACT INFORMATION 114 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 118 2 3 FESTIVAL PARTNERS LEADERSHIP AND TEAM PRESENTING PARTNER FOUNDER Stacy Spikes FESTIVAL DIRECTOR Gabrielle Glore FESTIVAL TEAM FOUNDING PARTNER Programmers Juan Caceres, Cat Miles, Aidah Muhammad, Tony Murphy, & Marquida Webster Filmmaker Relations Aidah Muhammad & Ashley Mui Marketing & Partnerships Qimmah Saafir PRESTIGE PARTNER Community Engagement Juan Caceres Public Relations & Press Staci R. Collins Jackson & Novona Cruz The Collins Jackson Agency UW Music & UW Digital Marquida Webster Festival Operations Danielle Howell & Quan Lateef-Hill PREMIERE PARTNERS Technical Operations Tony Murphy & Ntsako Mabasa Screenplay Competition & Live Readings Samantha Debicki Live Screenplay Readings Director Tracey Moore / The Spirited Actor Coordinating Producer Sandy Cabada Registration & Box Office Lead Candace Jones INDUSTRY PARTNERS Box Office Managers Sam Finkle & Keeyah Johnson Theater Managers Melody Araujo, Tykecia Hayes, Kelley Jackson, Amber Turner Merchandise Anthony Gomez Production Crew James Goodwin, Tristan Marshall, Lawrence Hudson, & Samuel Walcott MEDIA PARTNERS Volunteer Coordinator Nadeen Gayle Graphic Design & Web Design [Word.] Festival Video Producer Sabrina Thompson | KUU Productions BOARD OF DIRECTORS Lawrence Adjah | Our Family Dinner PROMOTIONAL PARTNERS Ty Ahmad-Taylor | THX Ltd. Sherrese Clarke | Morgan Stanley Keith Clinkscales Lisa Davis | Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz Gabrielle Glore | The Glore Group Jacqueline Glover | HBO Steve Pamon | Parkwood Entertainment Steven Wolfe Pereira | Neustar, Inc. Stacy Spikes | MoviePass COMMUNITY PARTNERS Darrell Walker URBANWORLD EXTENDS DEEP GRATITUDE TO OUR AMAZING VOLUNTEERS. Urbanworld Foundation, Inc. 174 W. 4th Street, #119 New York, NY 10014 [email protected] urbanworld.org 4 5 FESTIVAL DIRECTOR WELCOME Class Divide It is with much gratitude and enthusiasm that we celebrate Urbanworld’s 20th Anniversary HBO World Championship Boxing® milestone. Each year, the Urbanworld team endeavors to elevate the festival, building on the foundation created by visionary founder Stacy Spikes. He too had a dream… one that encompassed inclusion and parity of storytellers across the industry landscape. From this ambition emerged Urbanworld, a platform and community supporting underrepresented content creators with distinct voices, sharing stories from around the world. While remaining unwavering in this mission, we continue to inspire and expose cross-cultural makers and innovators redefining our “urban” world. Urbanworld20 presents an impactful slate of films representing 20 countries from across the globe, allowing us to highlight the artistic works of those who provide a glimpse into cultures transcending domestic sensibility. This expanded vision allows for richer engagement by our festival community, as audiences experience cinema in new ways, with fresh stories and perspectives challenging the norm. SM Insecure Urbanworld’s cadre of partners represents companies, brands, organizations, and individuals with a shared sense The Wire® Boardwalk Empire® of responsibility. They exercise their power and influence for good, leveraging the business opportunity that exists, while connecting with creative thinkers who are transforming the world with their work. We are ever grateful for the support of new presenting partner REVOLT and founding partner HBO — they have not just aligned with us, but amplified our imprint. We thank prestige partner BET Networks and the many other longstanding partners who support our efforts to expose, inform, and inspire. We are honored to have Ava DuVernay and David Oyelowo return to the Urbanworld family as Festival Ambassadors in this special year. Both acclaimed for their many contributions and successes, these two individuals perfectly reflect the caliber of artistry and activism that Urbanworld seeks to embody. The integrity and consistency of their work represent the standards we set for our festival. Our genuine belief is that creativity is fluid and we embrace the increasingly blurred lines across arenas of self- expression. It excites us to see creators innovating in ways that are free of limitation. To commemorate this landmark Game Of Thrones® year, visual artist Shantell Martin created an original work to represent the Urbanworld journey and spirit. You’ll find her artistry present in various ways throughout the festival, as she reminds us that creativity presents an opportunity Mavis! for discovery and imagination. Learn more about Shantell’s collaboration with the festival at urbanworld.org. Confirmation To further mark the occasion, Urbanworld will introduce some new elements, including THE STAND, an intimate pitch event featuring 2 creative projects presented in partnership with Overstand, as well as a community event hosted at BRIC in Brooklyn, as we share some Urbanworld love beyond Manhattan. We will also launch urbanworld INDEPENDENT, which provides original content highlighting insights and personal journeys of industry experts across creative, technical, and business vantage points. It is through this new platform that Urbanworld will connect with global audiences year-round. Every Story So, come join us for premieres, panels, pitches, and parties! None of which would be possible without Urbanworld’s incredible behind-the-scenes team and volunteer squad, who each year rally around Urbanworld as only true family can. Every Voice As we turn the page on our 20-year milestone, come join us in celebrating this chapter and experience our world — Urbanworld! Every One With purpose & gratitude, Gabrielle Glore The Leftovers Festival Director Urbanworld Mavis! Photos © 1978 Mark PoKempner and Courtesy of Miikka Skaffari/Film First SM, ® & © 2016 Home Box Offi ce, Inc. All rights reserved. Ballers® All The Way The Night OfSM 6 7 1280225_CC-CSR_UrbanWorldAd_MCM_8.5x11_FINAL.indd 1 8/22/16 1:37 PM PRESENTING PARTNER WELCOME 8 Concept T-9 FOUNDING PARTNER WELCOME Dear Urbanworld Film Festival Attendees: As Founding Sponsor, we welcome you to the 20th Urbanworld Film Festival! HBO is proud to celebrate twenty years of partnership with Urbanworld. Two decades ago, Stacy Spikes had a vision for a film festival that harnessed the collective power of multicultural storytellers and audiences. HBO recognized that vision and has since had HBO is proud the pleasure of witnessing Urbanworld Film Festival’s revolutionary growth, broadening its influence on entertainment with today’s growing population of diverse filmmakers and to support the audiences. Through our partnership with Stacy and Gabrielle Glore, HBO has been able to support this platform where on screen talent, directors and industry influencers connect through film competitions, panel discussions and TH networking events. 20 ANNUAL HBO invites you to experience a variety of events throughout the festival that examine the intersection of race, class, gender, technology, and culture. By popular demand, we will host Urbanworld Digital at our corporate headquarters URBANWORLD for the seventh consecutive year. Urbanworld Digital explores the connection of technology, content creation, and marketing. We will kick off our series of events with an intimate conversation between HBO CEO Richard Plepler FILM FESTIVAL and Hip-Hop icon, author, and philanthropist Russell Simmons at Urbanworld Digital. On the following evening, we are excited to continue the conversation with two distinctive screenings that are both timely and relevant. The first will be HBO Documentary Film, Class Divide, which will be followed by a moderated discussion with the film’s subjects and filmmakers, Marc Levin and Daphne Pinkerson. Class Divide highlights the recent effects of hyper- gentrification in New York City’s West Chelsea neighborhood, focusing on an intersection where an elite private school sits directly across the street from public housing projects. Immediately following, we are eager to present our newest star of the HBO family, Issa Rae, with a preview screening of the HBO original series, Insecure. Issa Rae will join us afterward for a moderated discussion on her unique journey where she utilized digital platforms to gain YouTube fame for her original web series Awkward Black Girl to writing and starring in her own show on HBO. Premiering this fall, Insecure takes a look at the friendship, experiences and tribulations of two black women. Finally, HBO is proud to sponsor the $5,000 cash prize for the winner of the Best Documentary Film Award. Through the years, HBO has cultivated committed relationships with organizations and film festivals that dedicate themselves to supporting and elevating multicultural talent. We recognize the importance of telling everyone’s story and are pleased to support