Urbanworld Announces 2012 Festival Winners

 

NEW YORK, NY (September 23, 2012) – The 16^th Annual Urbanworld Film Festival, presented by BET Networks, has announced the winners of the narrative feature, documentary feature, narrative short, screenplay, teleplay and audience award categories. The five-day festival was held September 19-23 and concluded today with an awards reception at Tribeca Grill Loft, sponsored by Warner Bros. Pictures and HBO^® and hosted by actors Stephen Hill (Barbasol) and Tracy Heggins (The Last / First Kiss, Cherry Waves). Urbanworld, which screened 49 films this year (including 17 world premieres), is the largest internationally competitive festival dedicated to the exhibition of independent cinema by and about people of color.

The 16^th Annual Urbanworld Film Festival winners are: 

Best Narrative Feature

FOUR

Directed by Joshua Sanchez

Honorable Mention:

Wolf – Directed by Ya’Ke Smith

Best Narrative Short

RECORD/PLAY

Directed by Jesse Atlas

Honorable Mention:

“Forever In Hiatus” - Directed by Andy Nguyen

Best Documentary Feature

SOUL FOOD JUNKIES

Directed by Byron Hurt

Honorable Mention:

Jake Shimabukuro:  Life on 4 Strings - Directed by Tadashi Nakamura

Best Screenplay

“AGENT 12 & THE MESSIAH STONE”

Written by Peter Lord

Honorable Mention:

Escaping Bushwick - Written by Javier Ortiz

Best Teleplay

“NALA’S HEART”

Written by Pauline Gray

Audience Award

BARBASOL – Best Short

Directed by Ralph Scott

DOIN’ IT IN THE PARK – Best Feature

Co-Directed by Kevin Couliau & Bobbito Garcia

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The 16^th Annual Urbanworld Film Festival Jurors are:

NARRATIVE FEATURES JURORS

• Dori Begley, Senior Vice President of Acquisitions, Magnolia Pictures
• Nikkole Denson-Randolph, Vice President, Specialty & Alternative Content, AMC Theatres
• Lisa Cortes, Producer, Cortes Films
• Rashaad Ernesto Green, Writer/Director, Mi Alma Films
• James Lopez, Senior Vice President, Production, Screen Gems / Sony Pictures Entertainment

NARRATIVE SHORTS JURORS

• Artel Great, Award Winning Filmmaker & Film Historian
• Nick Hall, Vice President, HBO Entertainment
• Niija Kuykendall, Vice President of Production, Warner Bros. Pictures
• Tambay Obenson, Chief Editor, Shadow & Act
• Frida Torresblanco, Producer, Braven Film

DOCUMENTARY FEATURED JURORS

• Michael Eric Dyson, Author, Professor, & Cultural Critic
• Jackie Glover, Vice President, Documentary Films, HBO
• Carleen L. Hsu, Producer, The Kitchen Sync Group, Inc.

SCREENPLAY JURORS

• Franklin Leonard, Vice President, Creative Affairs, Overbrook Entertainment
• Connie Orlando, Vice President, Original Programming, BET Networks

TELEPLAY JURORS

• Jacque Edmonds Coffer, Executive Producer, Let’s Stay Together, BET
• Jocelyn Freid, Vice President, Original Programming, BET Networks
• Erica Montolfo, Executive Producer, The Game, BET

For more information on the Urbanworld Film Festival, visit www.urbanworld.org.

ABOUT URBANWORLD

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, and short films, as well as panel discussions, live staged screenplay readings, and the Urbanworld® Digital track focused on digital and social media.  Over the last fifteen 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 roles of multicultural constituents in contemporary filmed entertainment.  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 Executive Producer & Head of Programming for the Urbanworld Film Festival.  The festival website is www.urbanworld.org.

ABOUT BET NETWORKS

BET Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), 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, a 24-hour entertainment network targeting the 25- to 54-year-old African-American audience; 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.