The second annual Tribeca Film Festival has announced its slate of special events, screenings and guests to mark the 25th anniversary of the Black Filmmaker Foundation, Variety reports.
Guests expected to attend the event include Harry Belafonte, Mos Def, and Chris Rock.
The festival will screen 10 of the most influential black films of the last 25 years, including She’s Gotta Have It, Do the Right Thing, Boyz N the Hood, Boomerang, House Party and Eve’s Bayou. The president and one of the founders of BFF, Warrington Hudlin, compiled the films.
Eve’s Bayou director Kasi Lemmons is scheduled to speak on a May 7 panel about the role and representation of black women in film, moderated by actresses Ruby Dee, Alfre Woodard and Anna Deavere Smith (The West Wing).
Filmmaker Robert Townsend, who produced, directed, wrote and starred in the 1987 comedy about the labors of an aspiring minority actor, Hollywood Shuffle, will host a cocktail party with guests and speakers to include Belafonte, Rock, Melvin Van Peebles, Michael Eric Dyson, Reginald Hudlin, Mos Def and Ben Vereen.
“The Tribeca Film Festival founders’ love of New York City and concern for the welfare of all New Yorkers gave birth to this festival and this is reflected in their ongoing commitment to inclusion and diversity,” Warrington Hudlin told Variety.
The Tribeca Film Festival was founded by Jane Rosenthal and Robert De Niro to celebrate New York City as a major filmmaking center and to contribute to the long-term recovery of lower Manhattan. Last year’s inaugural festival was attended by more than 150,000 people, generated more than $10.4 million in revenues for local Tribeca merchants, and featured several up-and-coming filmmakers.
The festival runs May 3-11.
