The American Black Film Festival 2012 – Preview

The American Black Film Festival

Celebrates Another Year of Connecting Hollywood to Independent Films.

The Film Life, Inc. 16^th American Black Film Festival (ABFF), the premier black film festival in America, will be held June 20 – 23 in Miami Beach, FL.

Each year 2,500 film aficionados, celebrities and Hollywood insiders attend the festival to enjoy movies, networking, cutting-edge seminars and groundbreaking panel discussions.

2012 festival highlights include:

• Fox Searchlight Pictures & Cinereach’s “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” one of the most talked about films of Sundance and the Cannes Film Festival, will open the festival while “Raising Izzie,” winner of the 2011 GMC Faith and Family Screenplay Competition, will be the closing film. http://abff.com/festival/press/press-releases/2012/060412.php.

• Special evening of celebration for the hit film “Think Like a Man.” Filmmakers Will Packer, Rob Hardy and Tim Story join select cast members in celebration of the film’s success. http://abff.com/festival/press/press-releases/2012/053112.php

• The inaugural Webisode Challenge to showcase promising online content. http://abff.com/festival/press/press-releases/2012/052412.php.)

• A conversation with a “Hollywood power couple” Salim and Mara Brock Akil. http://abff.com/festival/schedule/ABFF-2012-Schedule.pdf

• GMC TV announces finalists in 2012 GMC Faith and Family Screenplay Competition. http://abff.com/festival/press/press-releases/2012/gmc-announcement.php.

• “Beyond the Barriers & Biases – Black Women in Hollywood” panel. http://abff.com/festival/schedule/ABFF-2012-Schedule.pdf

• Kimberly Elise, Isaiah Washington, Common, and S. Epatha Merkerson among contenders for this year’s Grand Jury prize. http://abff.com/festival/press/press-releases/2012/051512-narratives.php.

• S. Epatha Merkerson’s “The Contradictions of Fair Hope” and the Desean Jackson story “Think NFL, Love Dad” are among the documentary competition selections. http://abff.com/festival/press/press-releases/2012/051512-docs.php.

Established in 1997, the core mission of ABFF is to promote cultural diversity within the motion picture industry. Through its film showcases and special contests, it annually introduces the top echelon of emerging artists to the film and television industry.

For more information of this year’s festival, please visit www.abff.com.