The ABFF is proud to announce award-winning film producer and Black Filmmaker Foundation (BFF) founder, Warrington Hudlin, as the recipient of the Melvin Van Peebles Trailblazer Award at this year's ABFF Awards Ceremony.

The Melvin Van Peebles Trailblazer Award was created to honor legendary Black filmmakers whose cinematic accomplishments have contributed to the evolution of Black film and helped build inroads for Blacks in the motion picture industry.

The ABFF Awards Ceremony will be held on Saturday, July 16, at the Lincoln Theater.

Click here for more details

The ABFF “companion pass” discount has been extended through to April 8. Purchase a Gold festival pass for $575 and your companion can attend for $500. This also applies to our combo pass at the rate of $775 with a companion combo pass of $700.

Both passes must be purchased at the same time.

For more information about the companion pass discount and other ABFF discounts, please call (212) 966-2411 ext. 400.

For additional registration details, please visit http://www.abff.com/.

Join the Nickelodeon Productions Writing Fellowship Program at ABFF for a one-day symposium served up as only Nickelodeon can deliver. It promises to be a fun-filled afternoon, chock-full of great information, creativity and even Nickelodeon's version of "speed dating.” Yes, attendees will have a 3-minute opportunity to “speed pitch” their own original idea with a chance to flesh it out and return the next day to re-pitch and win a blind script deal worth $3000.00 for animation and $5,000.00 for live action. So come learn how to write for the job.

Seats are filling up, so don't forget to sign up for the Actor's Boot Camp and Filmmaker Workshop.

Click here for more details

Submit your narrative feature, short or documentary in the following categories and win cash prizes:

HBO® Short Film Competition (Short films)
HBO® Short Film Award $20,000

Main Section (Narrative feature films with no previous screening history)
Blockbuster Audience Award for Best Film, $20,000
Jury Prize for Best Film, presented by Kodak
Best Performance by an Actor
Best Performance by an Actress

World Showcase (Narrative feature films)
Non-competitive

Documentary Section
Non-competitive

Click here for eligibility criteria and competition details

HBO
Whoopi: Back to Broadway - The 20th Anniversary premieres Saturday, April 9 at 10:00p.m. ET/PT.

Smart, savvy and sassy, Whoopi Goldberg exploded onto the show biz scene in 1985, when her one-woman Broadway show wowed audiences. Now, two decades after the unforgettable Broadway debut that launched her meteoric career, Whoopi Goldberg returns to the Lyceum Theater in New York City for her first solo HBO® special in over 13 years: Whoopi: Back to Broadway, revisiting some of her most memorable characters and creating a new one in an unforgettable evening of cutting-edge comedy.

Visit http://www.hbo.com/ for more information.

Lincoln Mercury
We invite you to experience the luxury of our Lincoln vehicles throughout the festival through our “Travel Well With Lincoln” shuttle service, vehicle displays and other onsite activities. Lincoln Mercury is proud to sponsor the 2005 American Black Film Festival for the sixth consecutive year. In our continued commitment to honoring the art of filmmaking, we are also proud to present the new ABFF Filmmaker Trophy, a tribute presented to a filmmaker in recognition of their critical and/or commercial success over the past year. For more information on Lincoln vehicles, visit our Web site at http://www.lincoln.com/default_prefs.asp.