Chef Roblé Ali from BRAVO TV and Project Runway model Shaya Ali attend the 19th Annual Urbanworld Film Festival.In the film business, a red carpet is akin to fashion industry runways, as big names and up-and-coming talent come out and strut their moneymakers. It’s more about substance over style for those appearing in support of movies that have people within the big and small screen arena talking. For audiences at the 19th Annual Urbanworld Film Festival taking place this weekend at AMC Empire 25 on 42nd street, Muhammad Ali: The People's Champ featuring stars such as rapper T.I. and actor Jaleel White stand among them.
On opening night Wednesday, the red carpet was also lit with surprises and fun times spearheaded by personalities who made their presence known.
During his hosting activities as 2015 Festival Ambassador, actor-singer Tyrese Gibson took a moment to plug the premiere of Shame, a short film set in the 1960s. Tyrese plays an abusive husband struggling with addiction in the pursuit of his musical dreams in this narrative drama playing Saturday at 6:30pm. Produced by Oscar winner Denzel Washington, the movie also stars Academy Award winning actress Jennifer Hudson and serves as the lead-in to Urbanworld's highly anticipated closing night documentary A Ballerina’s Tale about ballet dancer Misty Copeland. Latino writer Victor Cruz and Chinese filmmaker Trevor Zhou were also on hand to make sure their screenings get that extra push -- a necessity for the 80 titles competing for audiences, distribution, press reviews and awards at this year's Urbanworld film festival, presented by BET networks with founding sponsor, HBO.
Cruz is the writer behind The Stockroom, a narrative feature about a stockroom supervisor who, upon approaching his 10-year anniversary on the job, must choose between remaining there or pursuing dreams of being a stand-up comic. The Stockroom, which is also Cruz’s directorial debut, plays at 5:00pm today. Zhou’s short film The Waltz is about an immigrant mother who, in the midst of a crumbling marriage and hoarding compulsion, tries to reclaim her life when she stumbles upon dancing lessons. The Waltz plays in the festival’s 12pm noon “Shorts Program 3” lineup on Saturday.
Urbanworld Film Festival founder Stacy Spikes takes selfies with the red carpet crowd on opening night.Contrary to what it may seem, Urbanworld is much more than business, as shown by leaders who had a good time walking the red carpet including hip-hop music artist David Banner and Urbanworld Film Festival founder Stacy Spikes; both captured selfies with an eager crowd of men and women at the front lines of all the lights, cameras and Time Square action.
"19 YEARS!!!," yelled a cheerful Spikes -- one of several well-known figures unleashing a kind of energy in the air that let everyone watching know that a lot of the smiles on this runway are there for real, not for show.
Urbanworld’s long history is an example of what can be done when you make a commitment to providing opportunities for diverse stories about the African-American experience -- and universal tales involving people of color -- to get their time in the spotlight. 19 years of fulfilled dreams. 19 years of careers launched. 19 years of blood, sweat equity and tears to provide a home where creatives have a chance to share their vision with the rest of the world. It took 19 years to build a place that gives women, LGBT, black, yellow and brown communities ample representation in front of the camera just as well as behind the lens. That’s one of the reasons why attending film festivals and supporting the kind of films we want to see in the theater (and on television) helps to prove to the industry and narrow-minded members of society that all lives, stories and experiences do matter…including ours.