SUPERFLY

Sponsored by Sony Pictures and the Motion Picture Association of America

WED 6/13 | 7:30 PM | FILLMORE THEATER

The film that helped define a genre in its characters, look, sound, and feel – is reimagined with Director X, director of legendary music videos (Drake, Rihanna), introducing it to a new generation. The main character Priest wants out of the Atlanta drug scene, but as he ramps up sales, one little slip up threatens to bring the whole operation down before he can make his exit.

Directed by: Director X | Produced by: Matthew Hirsch, Future, Palak Patel, Joel Silver | Written by: Alex Tse | Starring: Trevor Jackson, Jason Mitchell, Lex Scott Davis, Michael K Williams, Jennifer Morrison, Esai Morales

Content Notice: The American Black Film Festival (ABFF) is committed to presenting and celebrating the widest range of Black images, stories and storytellers at our signature annual event, now in its twenty second year of showcasing the work of emerging and established filmmakers at the nation’s largest gathering of Black film and TV enthusiasts. This year, the festival’s opening night film will be ABFF’s premiere of Columbia Pictures’ Superfly, from acclaimed music video auteur Director X, starring Trevor Jackson (Grown-ish, American Crime) and Jason Mitchell (Straight Outta Compton). The film is a stylish, action packed crime thriller with a pulsating, driving soundtrack curated by celebrated trap artist Future, who also produces the film with Joel Silver. Please note that this film has received an R rating from the MPAA for nudity and violence, and as such, may not be suitable for audience members under the age of 17.

DOWN FOR WHATEVER

Presented by TV One

THU 6/14 | 2:30 PM | COLONY THEATER

Don’t miss the film by last year’s TV One Screenplay Competition winner Tim Folsome, Down for Whatever – This film follows a young successful doctor that learns that her newly-found biological sisters are ruthless cop killers that her detective husband is hunting down. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the film’s writer/director, Tim Folsome, actors LeToya Luckett, Hosea Chanchez, Bre-Z, and Imani Hakim, and producer Eric Tomosunas of Swirl Films.

Moderated by Jubba Seyyid

THE FIRST PURGE

Courtesy of Universal Pictures

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THU 6/14 | 8:00 PM | REGAL CINEMA THEATER 17

To push the crime rate below one percent for the rest of the year, the New Founding Fathers of America (NFFA) test a sociological theory that vents aggression for one night in one isolated community. But when the violence of oppressors meets the rage of the marginalized, the contagion will explode from the trial-city borders and spread across the nation. Screening followed by Q&A with cast members Y’lan Noel and Lex Scott Davis

Directed by: Gerard McMurray

LOL FILMMAKER FELLOWSHIP SHOWCASE & RECEPTION

Presented by LOL Network

FRI 6/15 | 11:00 AM | REGAL CINEMA THEATER 18

The ABFF and Kevin Hart’s Laugh Out Loud Filmmaker Fellowship launched to showcase exciting new comedic creative voices, specifically writers and directors with a talent for comedic narrative film. The three finalists will premiere their films during this session.

Enjoy breakfast and mimosas, and an opportunity to network with development and production executives from Laugh Out Loud and Codeblack Films before the premiere of the fellowship films!

CLIPS & CONVERSATION:
THE BOBBY BROWN STORY

Presented by BET

FRI 6/15 | 6:00 PM | COLONY THEATRE

The Bobby Brown Story will pick up where The New Edition Story mini-series left off and chronicle the talented but troubled singer’s exit from the popular ’80s boy band through his solo success, his affair with Janet Jackson and tabloid-fodder marriage to pop icon Whitney Houston.

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  Spanning 30 years of Brown’s life, the new project follows his story from the hard streets of Roxbury, where he turned to a life of drug dealing before being given the chance to prove himself as a solo artist. The Bobby Brown Story also will be a story about redemption. Through sobriety, the singer learns to be a better man, husband and father — finding love again and remarrying in 2012. Clips from the film will be followed by a Q&A with Bobby Brown, Woody McClain, Laz Alonso and Executive Producer Jesse Collins moderated by Essence magazine Entertainment Editor Cori Murray.

DINNER FOR TWO

Presented by TV One

SAT 6/16 | 10:30 AM | COLONY THEATRE

Broken-hearted, Chris breaks bread with the love of his life, Angela, yearning to mend the pieces of his shattered life. TV One’s Dinner for Two stars Tristan “Mack” Wilds and Chaley Rose who will follow the screening with a Q&A along with director Orlando Bishop and producers Nicole Dow and Eric Tomosunas.

G-FUNK

Sponsored by YouTube

SAT 6/16 | 2:05 PM | REGAL CINEMA THEATER 18

Almost 25 years after the release of Regulate, Warren G details his rise in the industry and G-Funk’s influence on the culture. Chronicling the 1990s to today, G-Funk features archived footage and revealing interviews from the likes of Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, Big Boy and more, as they explore the origins of the most essential trend in West Coast rap that changed the face of music and culture forever.

Remarks by director Karam Gill

BLINDSPOTTING

Courtesy of Lionsgate, Sponsored by Codeblack

SAT 6/16 | 8:30 PM | REGAL CINEMA THEATER 18

Lifelong friends Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal co-wrote and star in this timely and wildly entertaining story about the intersection of race and class set against the backdrop of a rapidly gentrifying Oakland.