American Black Film Festival News

Tony-Award nominated actress Sanaa Lathan, who was most recently seen in the Tyler Perry film, "The Family That Preys," has been named President of the Film Life 2009 American Black Film Festival's Grand Jury (ABFF). Lathan, who succeeds last year's Jury President Antoine Fuqua, can be seen starring alongside Matthew Broderick in the upcoming film, "Wonderful World" and lends her voice to FOX's "The Cleveland Show," a spin-off of the acclaimed series, "Family Guy." "I'm thrilled and honored to serve as the jury president for the 2009 ABFF. I've had the pleasure of attending the festival over the years, and have been so impressed by the work they do to nurture and encourage our up and coming filmmakers. The world of independent film is key to pushing the boundaries of our industry, and I find lately the films that excite me the most are coming out of the film festivals. I look forward to helping discover and showcase the future artists of Hollywood," Lathan said.Click here for more.

The following are the 2009 official selections by category.

· BLUE written by Don Wallace & directed by Ryan Miningham
· 4 MINUTES co-written by Charles Saunders and Dwayne Boyd, directed by Dwayne Boyd
· A KISS OF CHAOS written & directed by Ricardo Thompson
· MISSISSIPPI DAMNED written & directed by Tina Mabry

Click here for more.

This 2009 ABFF will feature a Writers Workshop "Screenwriting 101" in associaion with The Writers Guild of America West (WGAW). A one-day workshop focused on the core elements of story design - structure, plot and character building. At the conclusion of this workshop, you wil have gained fresh insight on how to approach writing your screenplay from the viewpoint of an accomplished screenwriter, Gregory Allen Howard (Remember the Titans, story to Ali). Register for master classes now at abff.com 

John Singleton shares his knowledge about the art of directing feature length motion-pictures. Household name, John Singleton, attended the Filmic Writing Program at USC after graduating from high school in 1986. While studying there, he won three writing awards from the university, which lead to a contract with Creative Artists Agency during his sophomore year. Columbia Pictures bought his script for Boyz n the Hood (1991) which became his directorial debut. Singleton has gone on to become one of the most successful filmmakers in the motion picture industry. Visit abff.com to register.