Don Cheadle, Regina King and Ryan Coogler Join Diahann Carroll and
Will Packer as Honorees for an Evening Celebrating Excellence in
Entertainment
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Today, ABFF Ventures and BET Networks announced their partnership to
produce the "ABFF Awards: A Celebration of Hollywood," hosted by actor
and comedian Mike Epps and premiering on BET and Centric Tuesday,
February 23rd at 8 p.m. ET/PT. The Awards celebrates Black
culture and recognizes individuals, movies and television shows of the
past year that have had a significant impact on American entertainment,
as well as the people who have been proponents in championing diversity
and inclusion in Hollywood. This year's event will be taped on Sunday,
February 21st at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles.
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In addition to recognizing the top television shows and films of the
year, the "ABFF Awards: Celebration of Hollywood" will pay tribute to
film legends along with today's creative forces, who together inspire
the filmmakers and entrepreneurs of tomorrow. Iconic actress, Diahann
Carroll, will be presented with the Hollywood Legacy
Award, and television and film producer Will Packer will
receive the Distinguished ABFF Alumni Award at the 2016 ABFF
Awards: A Celebration of Hollywood.
Joining our illustrious list of honorees, we are excited to reveal the Excellence
in the Arts Award (male and female), to Actors/Directors Don
Cheadle and Regina King. Our Rising Star Award honoree
is Director Ryan Coogler.
"Twenty years ago, I created the American Black Film Festival to
spotlight the rich diversity of talent and achievement. It was born out
of my love for film and desire to ensure that Black people gained
opportunity and equity in every arena of Hollywood. I am truly honored
to partner with BET to showcase the work of our most talented artists."
- Jeff Friday, ABFF Founder and CEO
"It's clear that there's a need for this show. BET is very excited to
partner with Jeff and ABFF to present A Celebration of Hollywood. We
will unabashedly acknowledge performances and achievements of
African-Americans on screen from this past year and give special honor
and recognition to artists that have thrilled us during their
highly-acclaimed careers. 2015 was ripe with tremendous and inspiring
performances by African-Americans and we are beyond thrilled to be the
ones to recognize them with class and admiration." - Stephen Hill,
President of Programming, BET Networks
With a resume that's as varied and expansive as it is rich in depth of
the characters he brings to life, Academy Award nominee Don Cheadle
is, without question, one of the most highly sought after and premier
actors of his generation. Turning in consistently powerful performances,
Don has not only taken on challenging roles, but put his talents into
producing projects he believes in as well.
Don currently stars as ‘Marty Kaan' on the critically acclaimed Showtime
series House of Lies. House of Lies has earned multiple
nominations for the series and Don himself, including four Emmy
Nominations, a Golden Globe® Award and two additional Golden
Globe® nominations and a SAG Award nomination. Recently Don
directed his first feature film, Miles Ahead, which he also
co-wrote and produced. Don also stars in the film, based on the life of
legendary jazz artist, Miles Davis, along with Ewan McGregor.
Don is well known for his passionate performances on stage and screen,
stemming from his breakout performance opposite Denzel Washington in Devil
in A Blue Dress, where he was named Best Supporting Actor by the Los
Angeles Film Critics. In 2012, Cheadle garnered critical acclaim for his
role in Robert Zemeckis' Flight. Additional film credits include Talk
To Me; the 2006 Oscar® winning Best Picture, Crash,
which Cheadle also produced; Hotel Rwanda, for which his
performance garnered Academy Award®, Golden Globe®,
Broadcast Film Critics Award and Screen Actors Guild® Award
nominations for Best Actor; Ocean's Eleven, Ocean's Twelve and Ocean's
Thirteen, Boogie Nights, Bulworth, Swordfish, Mission To Mars
and Rosewood, for which Cheadle earned an NAACP Image Award
nomination.
Regina King's distinguished talents have not gone unnoticed by
Hollywood. She has recently been seen in recurring roles on CBS's hit
show The Big Bang Theory, Showtime's critically acclaimed series Shameless
and FX's thriller The Strain. The skilled actress wrapped the
fifth and final season of TNT's drama Southland in 2013. In
addition to directing episodic television for ABC's Scandal and
BET's Being Mary Jane, King also helmed the teleplay adaptation
of the best-selling book, Let the Church Say Amen, for BET
Networks. Regina is currently a series regular on two critically-hailed
television dramas including HBO's "The Leftovers," as well as the John
Ridley ABC anthology American Crime, which has garnered her very
first Emmy Award Nomination, as well as her first Golden Globe
Nomination for "Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a
Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television." Regina
also starred opposite Sandra Bullock in the comedy Miss Congeniality
2: Armed and Fabulous, as well as voiceovers for the animated film, Ant
Bully and the hit television show, The Boondocks. Her
appearance in the Oscar-nominated film Ray, opposite Jamie Foxx,
garnered King critically-acclaimed praise, as well as her role as Cuba
Gooding Jr.'s wife Marci, in the blockbuster film, Jerry Maguire.
Regina made her television debut on the hit sitcom "227." After five
seasons, King made the leap to the silver screen with a role in John
Singleton's powerful directorial debut, Boys N the Hood. She
would soon collaborate with Singleton again in Poetic Justice and Higher
Learning. This committed actress has always been consistent
in showing her dynamic range, bouncing effortlessly from dramatic
material to comedic performances, like in the hit film Friday
with Ice Cube and in A Thin Line Between Love and Hate,
opposite Martin Lawrence.
American Black Film Festival alum, Ryan Coogler, was born in
Oakland, CA and always harbored a talent for
storytelling. Ryan discovered his own passion for filmmaking as a
college freshman, and began shooting shorts with his teammates and
friends. After being admitted into the USC School of Cinematic Arts, he
went on to create his award winning shorts Locks, Fig and Gap.
After receiving his M.F.A., he began to work as a juvenile hall
counselor before creating a short film, which won the HBO Short Film
Competition at the American Black Film Festival in 2011 and then
directed his first feature film, Fruitvale Station, which debuted
at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. Ryan has received much success with
his recent feature, Creed, and has recently been tapped to direct
Marvel Comics' Black Panther.
"The ABFF Awards: A Celebration of Hollywood," presented by the American
Black Film Festival and BET Networks, will be one of the highlights of
the Hollywood Awards season and Black History Month. The event is an
ABFF Ventures production and is executive produced by show creator Jeff
Friday, Debra Lee, Stephen Hill, Jesse Collins, Suzanne de Passe and
Connie Orlando. Sponsors are Cadillac (Presenting Sponsor), Hilton
Worldwide, Moet Hennessy, and Prudential Inc. (Gold Sponsors), and
Morgan Stanley and Verizon (Silver Sponsors).
For more information on the American Black Film Festival and the ABFF
Awards: A Celebration of Hollywood, go to www.ABFF.com,
www.ABFF.com/ABFFAwards,
www.BET.com
and BET.com/ACelebrationOfHollywood.
Join the conversation on social media by logging on to ABFF and BET's
multiple social media platforms:
• On Twitter by using hashtag: #BETCelebratesHollywood; follow us @BET
and @ABFF
• On Facebook by liking the fan page at facebook.com/BET and at
facebook.com/American-Black-Film-Festival
•On Instagram by liking the fan page at Instagram.com/BET and
Instagram.com/AmericanBlackFilmFestival
ABOUT ABFF:
The American Black Film Festival (ABFF), founded in 1997, is an annual
event dedicated to showcasing quality film and television content by and
about people of African descent. The festival is committed to the belief
that Black artists and content creators deserve the same opportunities
as their mainstream counterparts. ABFF founder Jeff Friday, conceived
the festival in 1997 as a vehicle to promote diversity in the motion
picture industry, and strengthen the Black filmmaking community through
resource sharing, education, artistic collaboration and career
development. Today, the ABFF is recognized as the preeminent pipeline to
new Black talent, both in front of and behind the camera, and is
regarded as one of the leading film festivals in the world. The ABFF is
a property of ABFF Ventures LLC., which is a partnership between Film
Life, Inc. and Black Enterprise. Celebrating its 20th year,
the 2016 ABFF will take place June 15-19, 2016 in Miami, Florida.
ABOUT BET NETWORKS:
BET Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB), 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, the first network dedicated to Black women; BET
Digital Networks - BET Soul, BET Jams and BET Gospel, 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.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160208006108/en/
For ABFF Ventures:
Strategic Heights Media
Michelle Huff
Elliott; Simone Smalls
212-634-7176
info@strategicheights.com
or
For
BET Networks:
Sonia Koo
310-481-3732
Sonia.Koo@bet.net
Source: BET Networks
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