By: Sammie Purcell
The American Black Film Festival is making a stop in Atlanta this weekend.
The ABFF Pop Up Tour will be at AMC Madison Yards 8 Nov. 8-9, according to a press release. This is a new initiative from the American Black Film Festival, which is based in Miami Beach, meant to expand the festival’s reach beyond its flagship event. Other pop ups have taken and will take place in New York, Dallas and Los Angeles.
“There was a demand for it, and the brand had national awareness and global awareness,” said festival founder Jeff Friday of the decision to do the pop up tour. “Finally, we just decided this year that enough was enough. It’s time for us to expand the footprint of the brand.”
Before founding the festival in 1997, Friday went to the Sundance Film Festival to see the film “Love Jones.” The festival scene has since evolved to become more diverse, but back then, while Friday loved the festival experience and the energy, he didn’t see as much diversity as he would have liked.
“It wasn’t diverse enough,” he said. “American audiences were more diverse than the people making decisions about these movies.”
This realization spurred Friday to start the American Black Film Festival, which has grown as the years have gone by, spotlighting Black talent from across the country. For example, Ryan Coogler, director of movies like “Black Panther” and this year’s “Sinners,” won the festival’s HBO Short Film Award in 2011 and the Rising Star Award in 2016.
