Get cozy and watch a movie — or 100 — at this year’s Charlotte Black Film Festival
Film buffs, here’s your chance to soak in 100 movies nearly back-to-back — plus other events — all from the comfort of your own home.
The Charlotte Black Film Festival is an 11-day virtual event that kicks off June 15, highlighting independent filmmakers of color. It is sponsored by the IOCTV streaming platform, the Arts & Science Council and the North Carolina Arts Council.
The event was founded in 2010 by Tommy Nichols, CEO of Glorified Media, which manages the festival along with PowerUp USA, a youth STEAM technology company. Nichols, who moved to Charlotte from Dayton, Ohio, in 2009, is also the brains behind IOCTV, which he created to stream trailers and other information about the films. This year, the films will stream on that platform, as well.
The festival’s theme is creative awakening, meant to inspire filmmakers and other artistic types to push through the obstacles COVID-19 put up and to collaborate moving forward. “The whole thing is just kind of a charge to media artists to say it’s a creative awakening — it’s time to go, time to create,” Nichols said.
In its 11th year, the festival offers events each day of the week, including short films and feature films, panel discussions and question-and-answer sessions.
Usually, the festival screens about 50 films, but this year it’s ramped up to 100. And organizers plan to make that the standard moving forward. “Once we go somewhere like this, we don’t go back,” Nichols said.
More films by Black women
In all, close to 400 films from across the country were submitted for the festival.
“I actually screened all 400 films so when I meet up with filmmakers, I can talk to them in more detail because I’m a filmmaker, as well,” Nichols said. “The least I can do is watch what they submitted.”
This year, Nichols saw growth in the number of international films submitted, along with those made by Black women.
Among those women included in the Charlotte Black Film Festival offerings is Tony Award-winner Tonya Pinkins, who has starred in nine Broadway shows and had featured roles on TV shows like “Gotham,” “Madam Secretary,” “Fear the Walking Dead” and the upcoming ABC limited series “Women of the Movement.”
Her first feature film as a writer and director, “Red Pill,” is a sociopolitical horror film that takes place the weekend before the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Viewers can catch it in Block 9 of the programming, screening June 23-24.
Pinkins even has a Charlotte connection outside the festival: She filmed “An Act of Terror” by Ashley Brim in the Queen City in 2017.
The festival wraps up June 25 at 7 p.m., with the annual Red Carpet Vision Awards streaming online to award the winner of each category, including student films, short films, international films, Black women in film, feature films, documentaries and more.
If that’s still not enough, Nichols suggests Charlotteans also check out the Carolina Black Film Collective.
The monthly meetup engages content producers of color throughout the year. Group members produce and create films together, offer summer boot camps and hold training sessions and networking events.
Charlotte Black Film Festival
When: June 15-25
Where: Online
Cost: A day pass is $15. A VIP festival pass is $50 and includes access to all panel discussions and workshops with industry experts.
Tickets: http://charlotteblackfilmfestival.com/box-office/
More arts coverage
Want to see more stories like this? You can join our Facebook group, “Inside Charlotte Arts,” at https://www.facebook.com/groups/insidecharlottearts/
