The Urbanworld Film Festival, founded in 1997 by Stacy Spikes, is the largest internationally competitive festival of its kind, hosted in New York City. The five-day festival includes narrative and documentary features, short films, web originals, spotlight screenings and conversations, and live staged screenplay readings. Since its inception, Hollywood studios, indie film distributors, and established and emerging filmmakers have consistently chosen Urbanworld® to premiere box office and award-winning hits. Urbanworld has been supported over the years by Founding Sponsor HBO, as well as other industry and brand partners.
Known as the filmmaker's festival and the people's festival, where it's all about celebrating and supporting amazing independent film, Urbanworld will host its 27th year in Manhattan, which has been a home for the festival, since inception in 1997 . Last year, Urbanworld featured filmmakers from around the world in an in-person festival, screening over 100 projects, with a special Full Circle award given to festival alum Malcolm D. Lee. Over its 27 years, Urbanworld has welcomed the likes of Chadwick Boseman, Jennifer Lopez, Halle Berry, Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Samuel L. Jackson, Kerry Washington, Kate Hudson, Viola Davis, and Rosie Perez, among so many more. Queen Latifah, Melvin & Mario Van Peebles, Justin Simien, Gina Prince Bythewood, Larenz Tate, Reginald Hudlin, Kasi Lemmons, and Jonathan Majors have all served as Festival Ambassadors.
Urbanworld Innovation provides a forum featuring case study presentations, panel and roundtable discussions, as well as immersive experiences and intensive workshops on relevant industry subject matter. Participating content creators enjoy hosted industry events by festival partners that foster community with industry peers and executives. After dark, Urbanworld let's its hair down with celebrates t DJs sharing their music with festival attendees during evening after-parties. Simply put...Premieres, Panels, Tech and Innovation is what Urbanworld delivers.
The Urbanworld Film Festival is an initiative of the Urbanworld Foundation Inc., a nonprofit organization that redefines and advances the presence and impact of the multicultural community in cinema and cross-platform media. By implementing initiatives that actively support and develop content creators of color, Urbanworld significantly contributes to the evolution of the media and entertainment landscape and the inclusion that it reflects. The festival website is www.urbanworld.org.
The Urbanworld Film Festival celebrates and honors films/filmmakers who compete across the following categories: Best Narrative Feature (US Cinema), Best Narrative Feature (World Cinema), Best Documentary Feature & Short, Best Narrative Short, Best Young Creators (Ages 18 - 25 Years Old), Best Web Original, Best Experimental Film, Best Environmental/Social Impact Film, and Best Screenplay, as well as Special Jury Awards. A category-specific jury -- comprised of studio/network/streaming executives, entertainment attorneys/managers/ agents, content creators, and other industry experts -- selects the winner (and any deserving honorable mentions) in each category. Additionally, Urbanworld festival attendees vote to select an Audience Award winner in the Best Feature and Best Short categories. Winners are announced via press release to key industry trade outlets. Each year, various award categories are sponsored by companies who provide cash and/or in-kind prizes to the winners.