Urbanworld Film Festival Opens This Week

The 14th Annual Urbanworld film festival opens tomorrow in New York City.  Presented by BET Networks, the legendary film festival highlights independent African-American filmmakers.  This year, Kerry Washington is the ambassador with her film, Night Catches Us , as the opening night film.  I Will Follow , directed by Ava DuVernay , is the closing night film.

Urbanworld is open to the public and I encourage everyone to support Black films by purchasing a ticket.  There are over 70 films to choose from -- below are my recommendations.

* HBO’s Boardwalk Empire , a 1920s-era drama set in Atlantic City at the dawn of Prohibition (series premiere) from Terence Winter, Emmy Award-winning writer of The Sopranos and Academy Award-winning director Martin Scorsese

* BET’s My Mic Sounds Nice , a documentary exploring the role of female rappers in hip-hop (directed by Ava DuVernay and featuring interviews by Missy Elliott, EVE, Trina, Rah Digga, MC Lyte, Yo Yo and more)

* One Night in Vegas , part of ESPN’s “30 for 30? documentary series, this film details the evening of 1996 when Tupac Shakur was shot (directed by Reggie Rock Bythewood; starring Mike Tyson)

* Kid Capri Presents: The Lionz Den , a short film about an underground rap battle in Harlem (directed by Kid Capri and Loaded Lux, starring Big Daddy Kane, KRS-One, and Rakim)

* Sus , a based-on-a-true-story drama centering on the controversial British “sus” laws and their inherent racism (directed by Robert Heath; starring Ralph Brown, Clint Dyer)

* Africa Rising , a documentary portraying the grassroots movement to end female genital mutilation (directed by Paula Heredia)

Click here for more info on Urbanworld .