September
brought another Urban World Film Festival. This
annual film festival brings together many
filmmakers, actors, directors and film fans out to
34 St and 8th Avenue in Manhattan to network and
watch the newest films created by minorities. This
year the fest opened with a screening of “ Being
Mary Jane” starring Gabrielle Union and Tika
Sumpter. Both attended the opening for photos and
talk about the new flick coming to BET. The
producer, Mara Brock Akil who also produced The
Game was in attendance. Opening night brought a lot
of excitement, attendance and energy, then cooled
down a little Friday but the energy went back up by
Saturday, which was closing night. The fest is
filled with many new stars; and the next big movie
makers and directors is also in the building. That
title went this year to Ava DuVernay who has
generated lots of headlines and also closed the
show with her movie “Middle of Nowhere” starring
Emayatzy Corinealdi. The showing of “Middle of
Nowhere” filled the theater and had garnered great
interest since day one. It was a great flick to
close the show.
Filmmaking is big business and the goal of the fest
is to make people aware of films created for the
urban audience. In the past the UWFF has been able
to that. We wait and see what impact this year’s
crop of films will have but to round it up UWFF
2012 was a successful event.