The BlackStar Film Festival took place August 2-5, 2012 in Philadelphia. Its mission was to celebrate the visual and storytelling traditions of the African diaspora and to showcase film and video works by and about black people from across the globe. Other obligations did prevent me from attending all but one event, but it was a good one - A Conversation with Ava DuVernay.    Ava DuVernay, is the first African American woman to take home the U.S. directing award at Sundance Film...

The Urbanworld Film Festival Presented by BET Networks Announces 2011 Festival Slate & Celebrates 15th Anniversary The 15th Annual Urbanworld Film Festival (www.urbanworld.org), presented by BET Networks, announced today that the world premiere of Diane Paragas' and Nelson George's Brooklyn Boheme (Spike Lee, Chris Rock, Branford Marsalis, Rosie Perez, Saul Williams) will serve as Opening Night selection for the festival, which will take place September 14-18, 2011 in midtown ...

The good part about still being unemployed is being able to attend networking lunches without worrying about being out of the office too long. Last week Reelblack, in conjunction with PIFVA and Scribe Video Center invited industry PR maven, turned indie filmmaker, Ava DuVernay to discuss "Do It Yourself" promotion, film distribution, her new feature length film I Will Follow and a new initiative aimed at giving black films a wide release in commercial theaters, called AFFRM (African-A...