Building an Alliance to Aid Films by Blacks

Now this is what I'm talking about. Stop begging and asking the traditional powers in Hollywood to do for us and get together and do for ourselves. I wish Ava DuVernay and all working with her much success and will support their efforts. If they are able to show that black audiences will resspond to more than just comedy and Tyler Perry movies by making a profit then that benefits us all. Kudos to all involved. George Cook AAreports.com. Author of the Kindle book Let's Talk Honestly: One Black Man's Thoughts $1.50

Ava DuVernay, the filmmaker and publicist, imagines a time when black-theme pictures will flourish in places where African-American film festivals have already found eager viewers.

Salli Richardson-Whitfield and Omari Hardwick in “I Will Follow.”
Fifty such cities would be an ideal black-film circuit, Ms. DuVernay said. In March she will start with five.

“I Will Follow,” which was written and directed by Ms. DuVernay and stars Salli Richardson-Whitfield (“I Am Legend,” “Black Dynamite”) as a woman sorting through memories of a dead aunt, is set to become the first film from the newly formed African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement.

The plan is to put black-theme movies in commercial theaters, initially from the independent film program recently begun by the AMC theater chain, for a two-week run supported by social networks, mailing lists and other buzz-building services at the disposal of allied ethnic film festivals.

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