THE URBANWORLD® FILM FESTIVAL PRESENTED BY BET NETWORKS WITH FOUNDING SPONSOR HBO ANNOUNCES 2015 FESTIVAL SLATE FESTIVAL
SEPTEMBER 23-27 IN NEW YORK Muhammad Ali: The People’s Champ and Misty Copeland’s A Ballerina’s Tale to be featured
NEW YORK, NY (August 27, 2015) – The 19th Annual Urbanworld Film Festival (www.urbanworld.org), presented by BET Networks (BET) with founding sponsor HBO, today announced all of the films that will be showcased. The nation’s largest competitive multicultural film festival will screen over 80 films and will take place September 23-27, 2015 at Manhattan’s AMC Empire 25 on 234 West 42nd Street. BET’s Muhammad Ali: The People’s Champ will serve as the opening night film at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, September 23. The biographical tribute to the former heavyweight champion, directed and executive produced by Clarence “Coodie” Simmons and Chike Ozah, will connect the fighter’s boxing prowess as well as his social media activism, to the millennial audience to reveal Ali’s meaning in the world today. Premiering on BET Wednesday, September 23 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT, the special features exclusive interviews with family, friends and admirers including Muhammad Ali’s daughter and niece Laila Ali and Shaya Ali, LL Cool J, Ludacris, T.I., Nas, Mike Tyson, Sugar Ray Leonard, Ray Lewis, Tyrese, Rosie Perez, David Banner, Michael Eric Dyson, Billie Jean King, Walt Frazier, Jim Brown, Ronnie Essett, Sway Calloway, Wood Harris, Jeffrey T. Sammons, Godfrey C. Danchimah, Richard Sherman, J. Ivy and Common. A Q&A with filmmakers will follow. “BET is honored to return as presenting sponsor of the 2015 Urbanworld Film Festival, an important platform for diverse content makers and film lovers alike,” said Constance Orlando, Senior Vice President of Music, Specials and News for BET Networks. “We are also excited to launch BET’s original news documentary series with the film, “Muhammad Ali: The People’s Champ,” during the festival’s opening night. A Ballerina’s Tale will close the festival on Saturday, September 26 at 8:30pm. The film is an intimate look at a crucial period in the career of principal dancer Misty Copeland of American Ballet Theatre (ABT). It follows Misty from her triumphant lead performance in Igor Stravinsky’s Firebird at New York’s Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center through her painful injury and recovery that followed, to her return to ABT and subsequent pop cultural icon status. The documentary, directed by Nelson George, also examines issues of race and body image in the elite ballet world. Sundance Selects will release the film theatrically and on VOD on October 14. After the screening, there will be a Q&A with Copeland and George. “With BET and HBO as our returning partners for the festival, we continue to highlight important stories that the world needs to see,” said Gabrielle Glore, Festival Director for Urbanworld Film Festival. “This year’s festival slate features a diverse collection of films representing culture from across the globe, allowing us to deliver Urbanworld’s most internationally curated content to date. We are proud that Urbanworld continues to be ‘THE’ destination for both filmmakers, studios and networks to connect with multicultural audiences.” 2 In addition to BET Networks and HBO, the festival proudly partners with brands who are committed to Urbanworld’s mission. Comcast NBC Universal Telemundo and Time Warner serve as Premiere sponsors. Industry Circle sponsors include Fox Audience Strategy, Fox Global Directors Initiative, Interactive One, VH1, UMC, The Swirl Group, MoviePass, The Directors Guild of America, and AMC. Uptown, Hello Beautiful, Global Grind, NewsOne, TheUrbanDaily and Power 105 are media sponsors. For additional announcements in September, go to www.urbanworld.org. URBANWORLD 2015 FILM SLATE *As of 08.31.15* OPENING NIGHT FILM Muhammad Ali: The People’s Champ – Directed by Clarence “Coodie” Simmons & Chike Ozah (USA) – Presented by BET Networks CLOSING NIGHT FILM A Ballerina’s Tale – Directed by Nelson George (USA) – Presented by Sundance Selects SPOTLIGHT FILMS 3 ½ Minutes, Ten Bullets – Directed by Marc Silver (USA) – Presented by HBO Stretch and Bobbito: Radio That Changed Lives – Directed by Bobbito Garcia (USA) The Man In 3B – Directed by Trey Haley (USA) – East Coast Premiere
Caribbean & International Filmmaker Highlights
Dubois – Directed by Kaz Ové (Trinidad & Tobago) – New York Premiere
Riding 79 – Directed by Karola Hawk Gonzalez (Puerto Rico) – New York Premiere
Primero De Enero (January 1st) – Directed by Erika Bagnarello (Dominican Republic) – New York Premiere
The Two Of Us – Directed by Ernest Nkosi (South Africa) – New York Premiere
Anatomy of a Dress – Directed by Flora Pérez-Garay (Puerto Rico) – New York Premiere
The Call – Directed by Zamo Mkhwanazi (South Africa) – New York Premiere
Ackee & Saltfish – Directed by Cecile Meke (UK)
ABOUT URBANWORLD® FILM FESTIVAL ABOUT URBANWORLD® FILM FESTIVA The Urbanworld® Film Festival, founded in 1997 by Stacy Spikes, is the largest internationally competitive festival of its kind. The five-day festival includes narrative features, documentaries, short films, spotlight screenings, events, live staged screenplay readings, the Urbanworld® Digital track focused on digital and social media panels and workshops and Urbanworld Music, which highlights emerging talent in live performances during after party events. Over the last 19 years, Hollywood studios, indie film distributors, and established and emerging filmmakers have consistently chosen Urbanworld® to premiere box office and award-winning hits. Urbanworld® has also provided a platform for some of today’s leading brands seeking to reach key influencers across the industry and within the consumer marketplace. The Urbanworld® Film Festival is an initiative of the Urbanworld® Foundation Inc., a nonprofit organization that endeavors to consistently manifest its mission of redefining and advancing the presence and impact of the multicultural community in cinema and cross-platform media. By implementing initiatives that actively support and develop content creators of color, Urbanworld significantly contributes to the evolution of the media and entertainment landscape and the diversity that it reflects. Gabrielle Glore serves as Festival Director for the Urbanworld Film Festival. The festival website is www.urganworld.org.
ABOUT BET NETWORKS BET Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB), is the nation’s leading provider of quality entertainment, music, news and public affairs television programming for the African-American audience. The primary BET channel reaches more than 90 million households and can be seen in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom and sub-Saharan Africa. BET is the dominant African-American consumer brand with a diverse group of business extensions: BET.com, a leading Internet destination for Black entertainment, music, culture, and news; Centric, the first network dedicated to Black women; BET Digital Networks – BET Gospel and BET Hip Hop, attractive alternatives for cutting-edge entertainment tastes; BET Home Entertainment, a collection of BET-branded offerings for the home environment including DVDs and video-on-demand; BET Event Productions, a full-scale event management and production company with festivals and live events spanning the globe; BET Mobile, which provides ringtones, games and video content for wireless devices; and BET International, which operates BET in the United Kingdom and oversees the extension of BET network programming for global distribution. ###
