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San Francisco Black Film Festival XX, June 14-17, 2018 Just the Facts
June 12, 2018

Posted Courtesy of Wright Enterprises~~~

San Francisco Black Film Festival XX Fact Sheet

The San Francisco Black Film Festival XX kicks off a yearlong celebration and will be held at various venues in San Francisco, June 14-17, 2018.  Catch the 20/20 Vision!  Venues including the AMC 1000 Theaters, Commonwealth Club, The African American Arts and Cultural Center, The Fillmore Heritage Center (The Old Yoshi's) and The Emporium give festival attendees "A Tour of San Francisco."

Celebrating twenty years, The San Francisco Black Film Festival visualizes"20 Years Forward/20 Years Backward."  Just like the symbolic Sankofa bird of Ghana, one must look back while moving ahead.  The 20th Anniversary festival kickoff will launch a year-long celebration through 2019 with quarterly events in 2018 for additional enlightenment as The San Francisco Black Festival is "Healing the World One Film at a time" and acknowledgement of sponsors.

The San Francisco Black Film Festival is the brainchild of the late arts impresario Ave Montague.  It is a rare Black legacy organization as Kali O'Ray and Katerra Crossley, Montague's son and daughter-in-law, now direct the festival.  Annually more than 50 films are screened at various venues in San Francisco giving both the independent filmmaker and Hollywood actors and filmmakers an opportunity to interact and exchange ideas as the festival is a platform for thought provoking panels, parties and film showcases.  As part of the retrospective, films from "Sony Classic Pictures" will be screened.

The family-friendly priced tickets will be on sale in early June.  They can be found at the festival website: www.sfbff.org.  The San Francisco Black Film Festival is open to everyone.  It's an opportunity for all multicultural Bay Area residents and visitors to San Francisco see the worldwide African Diaspora from an affirming perspective. The San Francisco Film Festival films and venues can be found at www.sfbff.org.  Family friendly priced tickets are $10-$50 (All Access Festival Pass).

Congratulate the San Francisco Black Film Festival With Your Social Media /Twitter Handle @SFBFF: Samples: "June 14-17, 2018 @SFBFF 20/20! Congrats Kali and Katerra;" "Congratulations San Francisco Black Film Festival! @SFBFF 20 Years and Counting!" "Congratulations @SFBFF San Francisco Black Film Festival for 20 Great Years!" "We Love You @SFBFF, June 14-17!" "@SFBFF June 14-17, 2018 Keep Up The Good Work!" "@SFBFF 20/20 Vision June 14-17, 2018 in San Francisco!" (Create Your Own Message! Thank You!)

For Current Films Click This Link:
http://sfbff.org/wordpress/official-selections-2018-2
SPECIAL EVENTS

Opening Night/Special Event, June 14th-AMC 1000 "The Broken Rose" will be screened to a sold out audience. Rose is a young girl who has grown up in foster care. Desperate to escape an abusive situation, she is saved by an older man named Shaka, but at what price? Film by Matthew McClelland shows the human relationships in the midst of human sex trafficking based in Oakland.  Red Carpet photo opportunities with sponsors and filmmakers to highlight their contributions as they meet with special guests, politicians, entertainers and festival organizers.

Friday Night Special Event/ Independent Filmmaker Peres Owino's "Bound" & Hollywood's Don Cheadle's "Miles Ahead" at the Commonwealth Club, June 15th. "Bound" examines the little talked about tension between Africans and African Americans.  Special thanks to Sony Pictures Classics for "Miles Ahead" that is a look at legendary musician Miles Davis, a perfect film for the festival's retrospective during June "Black Music Month."  Evening kicksoff with Wine & Bites.  The event special to the San Francisco Black Film Festival thanks to Sony Pictures Classics  (New York) and  friends Robin Bates and Constance Bryan of Maison Noire Américaine will kick off with a glass of cheer thanks to new Black owned-winery Wachira Wines, founded by CEO Dr. Chris Wachira.  Find out more about Wachira at https://www.wachirawines.com/.

"Bound" Trailer

Arts Collaboration Special Event/ Juney Smith's "King of Stage," a look at legendary stage producer, Woodie King Jr. will be screened in collaboration with arts friends, the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre (www.lhtsf.org) and Afro Solo Theater (www.afrosolo.org). 

As a note of interest, The Lorraine Hansberry Theatre participating in the nationwide fundraiser Project One Voice, will have a staged reading of Pearl Cleage's "Flyin West" directed by Aldo Billinslea, the day after the San Francisco Black Film Festival on Monday, June 18th.  Cleage is one of the many Black playwrights including Lorraine Hansberry who has worked with King. 

My Dad is My Hero Contest

The San Francisco Black Film Festival includes "My Dad Is My Hero Contest." Entries from people of all ages with an essay (500-words or less) or two minutes or less video will be accepted through the month of June with winner announced after the festival.  Entries should be sent to the San Francisco Film Festival P.O. Box  15490, San Francisco, CA  94115 or emailed to mydadismyherosfbff@gmail.com. For more details visit www.sfbff.org.  Top prize for Dad is a two-day weekend stay at one of San Francisco's top hotels.

For Current Films Click This Link:
http://sfbff.org/wordpress/official-selections-2018-2

About San Francisco Black Film Festival

Ave Montague (1945-2009), arts impresario, fashion industry executive, publicist, founded the San Francisco Black Film Festival in 1998.   Montague created the San Francisco Black Film Festival, a 501c3 nonprofit, with the artistic vision to provide a platform for Black filmmakers, screenwriters, and actors to present their art. As a competitive film festival, SFBFF identifies filmmakers, screenwriters, and actors that are emerging as talents and established artists who are contributing to the cinematic legacy of African Americans. SFBFF conscientiously expands the notions of "Black film-making" to a global perspective. The organization is multicultural and inclusive of all in the expression of the African Diaspora experience.   The San Francisco Black Film Festival has screened more than 10,000 films from around the world.  Kali O'Ray (son of Ave Montague) and his wife Katera Crossley, both formerly of Atlanta, Georgia are co-directors of The San Francisco Black Film Festival.

The Mission of the San Francisco Black Film Festival is to celebrate African American cinema and the African Cultural Diaspora and to showcase a diverse collection of films – from emerging and established filmmakers. This is accomplished by presenting Black films, which reinforce positive images and dispel negative stereotypes, and providing film artists from the Bay Area in particular and around the world in general, a forum for their work to be viewed and discussed.  

The San Francisco Black Film Festival believes film can lead to a better understanding of and communication between, peoples of diverse cultures, races, and lifestyles, while simultaneously serving as a vehicle to initiate dialogue on the important issues of our times.  For more information about the San Francisco Black Film Festival visit www.sfbff.org.

@SFBFF Retro Look:

An Intimate Evening with Danny Glover Opening Night 2017

http://sfbff.org/wordpress/intimate-opening-night-danny-glover

VETERANS TRIBUTE

http://sfbff.org/wordpress/veterans-tribute

SFBFF @SF STATE UNIVERSITY 2016

http://www.wrightnow.biz/articles_view.asp?articleid=82246&columnid=2898

KPIX Interview with Mayor Willie Brown & Kevin Epps 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jDd9GUWhSU

SF Chronicle-SF BFF Not Just for One Race 2015

http://www.sfgate.com/movies/article/SF-Black-Film-directors-keep-up-Montague-s-6309426.php

SF Black Film Festival Media Conference 2015-"America's Still the Place"

http://www.wrightnow.biz/apps/articles/web/articleid/81567/columnid//default.asp

SF Black Film Festival 2014 at Dolby Laboratories- Oscar Winner Cuba Gooding Jr. & Dennis Haysbert https://www.prlog.org/12333880

NFL's DeSean Jackson's Film/SF Black Film Festival 2013 Media Briefing at Dolby Laboratories  https://www.prlog.org/12154613

Boxing Champ Karim Mayfield & Hollywood Star Robert Townsend 2012

bayview.com/2012/06/champion-karim-mayfield-and-director-robert-townsend-bring-knockout-power-and-star-power-to-san-francisco-black-film-festival/

Mario Van Peebles Films at SF Black Film Festival 2011
http://archives.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/strong-second-act/Content?oid=2181850


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