AMERICAN BLACK FILM FESTIVAL 2005 WINNERS
July 17th, 2005
 
 
MIAMI -- Charles Randolph-Wright's directorial debut, "On the One," swept the feature film prizes at the ninth annual American Black Film Festival, which focuses on independent black cinema. Event closed Sunday.

"On the One" was one of five features eligible for the grand jury prize, which comes with $20,000 in film stock from Kodak.

Fest auds, allowed to choose from a wider pool of pics, also named "One," about twin brothers one a preacher and the other a rapper whose lives take distinct paths, best film. The Blockbuster Audience award carries a cash prize of $20,000.

Lead Biloah Greene drew the nod for performance by an actor or actress. The win marks the second win in three years for the films producer Roger M. Bobb who also produced the film “The Riff” which won the grand jury prize in 2002.
Cle Sloan's "Bastards of the Party," about gang life in Los Angeles, took the docu award and its $10,000 cash prize. Docu was produced by Antoine Fuqua.

In the HBO-sponsored short film competition, Jonathan Levine's "Shards," about a DJ/graffiti artist trying to break free of crystal meth addiction, won the short film award and its $20,000 in cash.

Awards were issued at Saturday night ceremony. Fest honored Mario Van Peebles as director of the year and recognized producer Warrington Hudlin with its Melvin Van Peebles Trailblazer Award.

For the second year, Fox Searchlight Pictures' director of production Zola Mashariki held a three-day "Filmmaker Workshop 101" for 100 novice filmmakers. Mashariki used Fox's September release "Roll Bounce" as a case study, with the participation of pic's writer-helmer Malcolm Lee and producer Bob Teitel. Spike Lee also took part.