Hollywood Black Film Festival's photostream

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. The festival was founded in 1999 by its executive director, Tanya Kersey, in order to enhance the careers of emerging and established black filmmakers through a public exhibition and competition program. The festival’s goal is to play an integral role in discovering and launching independent films and filmmakers by bringing them to the attention of the industry, media and public. Since its inception in 1999, HBFF has screened a total of 721 independent films. In addition to screening feature, short, student, documentary, animation and music video film projects, HBFF’s Infotainment Conference features dozens of informational seminars, panels and workshops covering a wide variety of topics and featuring more than 100 "industry insiders" participating in the talk-show style panels, roundtable discussions and workshops. The Storyteller Competitions Live Staged Reading showcases the work of the 3 finalist scripts in the festival's storyteller competition.