Lamman Rucker
The International Black Film Festival of Nashville (IBFFN) has announced its festival slate of over 40 films, including feature-length narrative films, shorts, and long and short documentaries. In addition to the films in competition as Official Selections, the festival will screen 5 commercial films, all to be showcased at multiple local venues in Nashville, Tennessee, October 5-9, Wednesday at Belmont University, Thursday through Saturday at Opryland Hotel & Resort, and Sunday at Fisk University.
The 2016 IBFFN selection of narratives, shorts, and documentaries highlights diverse content creators. They explore a broad range of topics and genres, including music, social justice, horror, religion, LGBT, work life, science fiction, and crime. The fall slate also features a number of films on international themes and from other countries, including Iraq, the UK, Africa, and Cuba. In keeping with its mission to support local filmmakers, the slate also includes several films by Tennesseans.
“This year we were bowled over by the number of remarkable films submitted to our competition, visually stunning films that focus on well-developed stories of interest to a multicultural audience,” said Hazel Joyner Smith, IBFFN Founder. “To celebrate our longevity as a festival, we decided to expand our screenings and share this stellar filmmaking.”
Plan now to come see some of these magnificent feature films chosen as Official Selections: The Sand Box, Jennifer Palmer; Service to Man, Aaron Greer and Seth Panitch; Philosophy of the Encounter, Kendall Moore; Black Gold: America Is Still the Place, Patrick Gilles; My B.F.F, Greg Carter; Panic, Sean Spencer; 54:17, Frantzy Moreau; Destined, Quasim Basir; and One Last Sunset Redux, Kevin Richmond.
Also available are these long and short documentaries (with directors): The House on Coco Road, Damani Smith; The End of Malice, Jonah Ingram; The Last Ride: A Philadelphia Story, Lamar McPherson; Soy Cubana, Jeremy Ungar; A New Color: The Art of Being Edythe Boone, Marlene Morris; Not Black Enough, Tracy Anarella; Hidden Admiration, Roderic Putnam and Brian Welland; What of the Day, Anthony Samad; Walk with Me: The Trials of Judge Damon J. Keith, Jesse Nesser; A Chosen Vessel, Braxton Joy; Tear the Roof Off: The Untold Story of Parliament Funkadelic, Bobby J. Brown; and Major!, Annalise Ophelian.
Short Features are a big part of any festival, as witnessed by these: StarSista in the Brotherhood, Dawn Jones Redstone; Clean, Gabriel Wilson; Huey & Louis, Jonny Lee Wright; Bold, Sahand Saro; There Are Ghosts, Sherife Alabede; Marcus, Kevin Brooks; Mafietta: Rise of a Female Boss, Damon Dash; Talking Piece, K. Page Stuart Valdes; The Boots, Leah Cohen-Mays; Racing to 500, Rob Smith; Love, Marcellus Cox; American Falls, Be Garrett; The Storyteller, Alex Emmanuel; Downward Hiro, Bry Sanders; Paralysis, R. Shanea Williams; 13 Minutes, G. Travis Williams; and The Hurtin’ One, Jess Lee.
Many of the stars, directors, and producers of the films will be in attendance. To purchase festival passes, preview festival films, see screening times, purchase tickets and more see their website www.ibffevents.com
