21st Annual Urbanworld Film Festival
“Marshall” had its U.S. premiere at the 21st Annual Urbanworld Film Festival on September 23, in New York. After the “Marshall’s” screening at Urbaworld, there was a Q&A with Boseman, Sterling K. Brown, Josh Gad, and director Reginald Hudlin moderated by Tamron Hall.
Urbanworld, along with founding partner HBO, offer 80 selections that represent the broadest lens of diversity across stories, characters, themes, and cultures. Among those to attend were Ava DuVernay, Chadwick Boseman, Gabourey Sidibe, Jeffrey Wright, Rutina Wesley, and Kofi Siriboe.
One of the highlights of the Festival was “Blackout,” starring Jeffrey Wright, Jerry Lamothe, Zoe Saldana, Michael B. Jordan, Robbie Tate–Brickle, LaTanya Richardson, and Melvin Van Peebles. “It’s a true blessing to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of ‘Blackout,’” Associate Producer Dedra Tate told me. “I was the President/General Manager of Queen Latifah‘s Flavor Unit Entertainment when I first met actor/writer/director Jerry Lamothe.
“It was his incredible script, based on true life events in his Brooklyn neighborhood, and vision that led me to sign him,” Tate continued, “and become Associate Producer of the film, which took us on an incredible journey. It took a village to make this independent film and we were blessed with an all-star ensemble cast.”
Ava DuVernay debuts the midseason premiere of “Queen Sugar,” that airs on Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network, and was followed by a Q&A with series stars Rutina Wesley, Dawn-Lyen Gardner and Kofi Siriboe.
Also, the thought-provoking HBO documentary “Baltimore Rising,” directed by Sonja Sohn, was also showcased.
The anticipated Irv “Gotti” Lorenzo’s “Tales,” that appears on BET, and uses Fetty Wap’s “Trap Queen” as the thematic backdrop of the episode was also followed by a QA&A. Urbanworld Digital returned to deliver a series of thought-provoking conversations, covering a range of topics including global opportunity, the convergence of content and technology and diversity in the industry. These are just a few of the eclectic and exciting entries that on display at the four day electrifying festival.
