Urbanworld Film Festival Takes Over NYC

The 22nd Annual Urbanworld Film Festival presented by AT&T's The Humanity of Connection along with founding partner HBO kicks off in NYC on September 19th at AMC Empire 25 on 234 West 42nd Street. Founded in 1997, the Urbanworld Film Festival is a five-day event that promotes diversity and inclusion in the film industry. Minority films that feature minority casts are still highly underrepresented in Hollywood and the Urbanworld Film festival seeks to change that by showcasing films by Black, Latino, and Asian film makers.

The event which showcases documentaries, screenplay readings, narratives and short films by emerging talent will feature 69 official selections and 7 spotlight selections representing inclusion beyond ethnicity including Night School with Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish and The Hate You Give which features the likes of Issa Rae, Amandla Stenberg, and Common.

As the largest event of its kind, Urbanworld plays a pivotal role in shaping the future of multicultural individuals being represented in the media. As stated on its website:

[Urbanworld] is one of the largest internationally competitive festivals of its kind. Each year, we curate a slate of films representing the broadest lens of diversity across stories, characters, themes, and cultures. We fight tirelessly to expand the definition of “urban” beyond ethnicity to include sensibility, culture, and proximity.

With estimated attendance reaching over 15,000, the five-day festival anchored in film, showcases narrative features, documentaries, short films, spotlight screenings and live staged screenplay readings; the Urbanworld Digital track focuses on digital panels and workshops; and the Urbanworld Music franchise highlights emerging talent in live performances during festival events. For over two decades, Hollywood studios and indie film distributors, as well as established and emerging filmmakers, have consistently chosen Urbanworld to premiere box office and award-winning hits.

This year I will be covering the red carpet for The Empowerment Hour and really look forward to chatting with the filmmakers and actors about the importance of festivals such as this one that continues to bring diverse stories to an equally diverse audience . For more information on this year’s film festival selections or to purchase tickets and event passes visit www.urbanworld.org. Also, make sure you’re subscribed to The Empowerment Hour and following us on social to see all of the festival coverage!

Click on the link to see all of the films: https://www.urbanworld.org/films/

Click on the link to see all of the digital panels: https://www.urbanworld.org/digital-2018/

Click on the link to see all of the music events: https://www.urbanworld.org/music-2018-page/

No later than Monday, September 24 at 10amET, a press release with the full list of the festival winners will be posted here under 2018 Press Releases: http://urbanworld.org/press

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