Hollywood Black Film Festival

The Hollywood Black Film Festival (HBFF), dubbed “The Black Sundance,” is an annual celebration of black cinema drawing together established and rising filmmakers, popular film and television stars, writers, industry executives, emerging artists and diverse audiences from Southern California and around the world. Attracting such stars and industry insiders as Academy Award® winners Sidney Poitier and Forest Whitaker, John Singleton, Tim Story, Malcolm Lee, Bill Duke, Devon Franklin, George Tillman, Ice-T, Blair Underwood, Sanaa Lathan, Loretta Devine, Debra Martin Chase, and Antwone Fisher, the festival has become a hotbed for the Black Hollywood community. HBFF was founded in 1998 by its executive director, Tanya Kersey, with a mission focused on fostering and developing the vision of independent filmmakers by bringing their films to the attention of the industry, media and public through a public exhibition and competition program. To date, the festival has screened over 1,000 films from the U.S., Canada and 25 countries around the world. The festival’s adjunct Infotainment Conference features 20+ panels and workshops and 100+ speakers, and covers a broad range of entertainment industry topics. Over 40,000 people have attended and enjoyed the diversity of Black cinema through the festival. In keeping with it's commitment to support the creative community, in addition to the annual film festival, HBFF has created complementary platforms to showcase and develop filmmakers' projects -- the HBFF Cinema Lounge and HBFF Film Finance & Distribution Summit. The HBFF Cinema Lounge is a casual monthly networking and screening program that screens 4 to 5 short films followed by audience feedback and Q&A with the filmmakers. The annual HBFF Film Finance & Distribution Summit boasts a senior roster of seasoned industry professionals offering their insights on a broad range of film finance and distribution topics.