American Black Film Festival
The American Black Film Festival (ABFF) is an annual US film awards ceremony that takes place over several days and honors African American films and filmmakers who work in front of or behind the camera.
history
The ABFF took place for the first time in 1997 in Acapulco , Mexico , back then as the Acapulco Black Film Festival. Halle Berry and Bill Duke were recognized for their professional careers in the “Career Achievement” category and the feature film Hav Plenty won the competition in the “Feature Film Competition” category. Miramax then acquired the rights to the film.
In 1998, the "Actors Boot Camp" was introduced by Bill Duke and short films were included in the competition. Denzel Washington paid tribute to Debbie Allen and Morgan Freeman in a surprise appearance. In the film year 1999 the festival grew to over 1,000 invited guests and a board of directors was established under the chairmanship of Robert Townsend . Were honored Pam Grier and Samuel L. Jackson .
The independent film One Week won in 2000 in the “Feature Film” category; Moreover, were Melvin Van Peebles , Master P and Nia Long honored. In 2001 the ABFF showed the studio premiere of the Columbia Pictures film Baby Boy and Suzanne de Passe , John Singleton and Sanaa Lathan received awards.
In 2002, Film Life took over the organization of the ABFF and the “Film Life Movie Awards” were introduced. The venue was relocated from Acapulco to Miami in the US state of Florida . That same year, Chris Tucker and Keenen Ivory honored the festival chairman, actor Robert Townsend.
The festival, first presented by AOL Time Warner in 2003, already had over 2,500 invited guests . Gabrielle Union was named Best Young Actress in the “Rising Star” category and Dick Parsons presented the “Entertainment Innovator Award” to Russell Simmons . In 2004 Spike Lee received the "Time Warner Innovator Award" and Rosario Dawson a "Rising Star".
In 2005, the “Best Documentary Award” was introduced as a prize for outstanding documentaries and the festival featured the premieres of Hustle & Flow and Four Brothers . The guest at the festival event “A Conversation With…”, an interview format, was the musician Ice Cube . In 2006, actor Cuba Gooding Jr. was a guest at the event and the film Shadowboxer celebrated its festival premiere. Cicely Tyson shone in the “Empowering Women to Succeed in Hollywood” category.
In 2007 the ABFF took place in Los Angeles , California . That same year, Screen Gems' This Christmas premiered and Blair Underwood was interviewed on "A Conversation With ...". In 2009 Halle Berry opened the festival with over 4,000 visitors. Dennis Haysbert has been named President of the Jury and Anthony Mackie has been named Ambassador of the Festival.
The 14th American Black Film Festival was held in Miami, Florida in July 2010 with more than 3,000 visitors and director Lee Daniels ( Precious ) received a Career Achievement Award for his professional career.