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The ‘About Women’ Global Initiative Launches as a Panel at the 2019 American Black Film Festival

Panelists include Academy Award-winning Costume Designer Ruth E. Carter and writer/producer Tracy Oliver

Los Angeles, CA, (March 20, 2019) – The 23rd annual American Black Film Festival (ABFF), taking place in Miami June 12-16, launches ABOUT WOMEN, a global initiative dedicated to inspiring and uniting women of color in the film and television industry. The mission is to ensure that the voices of multicultural women in Hollywood are heard and their perspectives considered.

The ABOUT WOMEN panel will bring together a multigenerational group of women including filmmakers, actors, designers, and executives to discuss topics, issues, and opportunities specific to their experiences, including gendered language in the workplace, wage disparity, the #METOO movement and other inequities that adversely affect women of color in Hollywood.

Confirmed panelists include Academy Award-winning costume designer, Ruth E. Carter (Black Panther, Selma) and film/television writer and producer Tracy Oliver (Girls Trip, Little). More panelists to be confirmed. The session will be moderated by Emmy Award-winning journalist, Jemele Hill.

The panel will be held on Friday, June 14, 2019 from 2:30 pm – 4:00 pm in the Americana Ballroom 3 at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel and is sponsored by Hilton and Accenture.

“We wanted to create a platform where leading women in Hollywood could share their stories with other women around the world to help define clear pathways to success for aspiring female artists and executives in the entertainment industry,” says Nicole Friday, General Manager, ABFF Ventures.

ABFF remains committed to introducing emerging content creators of African descent to the industry at large and is recognized as one of the leading film festivals in the world. Passes are on sale at www.abff.com, and offer five (5) different levels of access to Festival events. Questions regarding registration may be directed to [email protected].

Sponsors of the 2019 American Black Film Festival are HBO® (Founding and Presenting Sponsor); BET Networks, Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau, Comcast NBCUniversal (Presenting Sponsor); Capital One, Hilton, Turner (Premier Sponsor); American Airlines, Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), Sony, TV One (Official Sponsor); and Accenture, Gentleman Jack, truTV, Warner Bros. (Supporting Partner).

ABFF Social Media Platforms:

ABOUT ABFF:
The American Black Film Festival (ABFF) is an annual event dedicated to empowering black artists and showcasing quality film and television content by and about people of African descent. Committed to the belief that diverse artists deserve the same opportunities as their mainstream counterparts, ABFF founder Jeff Friday conceived the festival in 1997 as a vehicle to strengthen the black filmmaking community by encouraging resource sharing, education and artistic collaboration. He ultimately envisioned it as a cornerstone of diversity in Hollywood. ABFF is the pre-eminent pipeline for black artists in front of and behind the camera, and has significantly expanded the range of talent working in entertainment. For more than two decades the festival has been a platform for emerging black artists — premiering the early work and showcasing the talent of many of today’s most successful actors, producers, writers, directors and stand-up comedians. As “the nation’s largest gathering of black film and television enthusiasts” the festival attracts a broad audience of A-list talent, emerging artists, upscale consumers and industry stakeholders. Approximately 7,000 to 10,000 people travel to Miami Beach each year for the event. The five-day festival opens with the premiere of an upcoming Hollywood release followed by independent film screenings, master classes, panels, celebrity talks, live entertainment, and a variety of networking and hospitality events.

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