In a nod to generational Black storytelling, dozens of creatives, college students, alumni and supporters of traditionally Black schools and universities (HBCUs) gathered at The Howard Theatre on Thursday, Nov. 6 for Café Mocha Radio’s fifteenth annual Salute THEM Awards, a momentous kickoff to the HBCU First Look Movie Competition (HFLFF) hosted in Northwest, D.C., Nov. 7-8.
The extremely attended occasion, which additionally acknowledged 15 years of the women-led radio present, introduced Hollywood’s A-listers and Washington’s activists to the stomping grounds of creativity and neighborhood, all pushed in a mission to protect African American tales in media.
“A movie pageant the place filmmakers are being amplified by college students [is] so necessary as a result of there’s a lot activism in storytelling,” mentioned actress, Howard College alumna, and Salute THEM Award recipient Lynn Whitfield on Nov. 6. “It’s an incredible place to be a warrior, it’s an incredible place to be a thinker, an entertainer, a comic, all of these issues. However via all of it, we have now a risk to serve humanity via storytelling – and perhaps make some huge cash from it.”
With visitors donning glitz and glamour, Nov. 6 set the tone for a weekend rooted in Black excellence.
Of the eight honorees awarded on Thursday included: award-winning actresses Marsai Martin and Whitfield; Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Kenny Lattimore; Edna Kane Williams, government vp and chief variety officer at AARP; Ben’s Chilli Bowl co-founder Virginia Ali; D.C. “Spice Lady” and entrepreneur Angel Gregorio; and award-winning author, producer and director Ryan Coogler, who took dwelling the I Aspire International Affect Award.
Extra influencers touted within the movie pageant lineup included actors Lauren E. Banks, Keith D. Robinson, and Morehouse Faculty alumni Dasan Frazier, all of whom celebrated the worth of Black areas and the ancestral prowess of resistance in storytelling.
“In a really particular time on this nation the place Black tales are being oppressed, suppressed and ignored, I feel it’s actually necessary that we put money into ourselves, and HBCU First Look is doing that,” Banks, a 2013 graduate of Howard College, advised The Informer. “I’m very a lot trying ahead to seeing what the undergrad filmmakers are as much as… what these tales are that come from the imaginations of those that will not be so jaded by society.”
For Martin, who served as inventive ambassador of the HFLFF, the celebratory weekend was about greater than a second of honor, however a motion in direction of a greater future with the information on methods to obtain it.
“We rise increased after we rise collectively. Utilizing your connections, your voice, your presents to assist one another, that’s the actual work,” Martin advised the room throughout her acceptance speech. “To everybody dreaming, creating, hustling and looking for their place in all of this: Construct your neighborhood, lean in your folks…don’t be afraid to stroll the trail God is laying out for you…and I’m so excited for each path we’re about to create collectively.”
Actors, Honorees Discuss Reinvesting in Black Creatives
Hosted at Howard College, the HBCU First Look Movie Competition delivered a main exploration of the following class of Black creatives.
Notable actions a part of the two-day occasion included a Banks-led appearing masterclass, profession and craft conversations, movie screenings and fireplace chats, and the HBCU Pleasure Awards, hosted by Café Mocha’s personal Loni Love, to call just a few.
Past interactive and academic periods, lots of the celebrities donning the streets of Northwest have been armed with phrases of encouragement and instruments of the commerce, a lot of which begins immediately in Black communities, mentioned Banks.
“The preservation is in our dedication and recommitment yearly to our neighborhood,” the “Lawmen: Bass Reeves” actor defined. “It’s necessary as an alum to return again to be right here with us…with anyone that’s in D.C.”
A 3rd-generation Howard graduate, Whitfield echoed her fellow Bison as she lauded the previously identified “Chocolate Metropolis” as a pivotal platform to forge Black management and changemaking.
The Emmy Award winner famous the legacies of Roberta Flack, Debbie Allen, and Phylicia Rashad, who additionally beforehand served as Dean of Howard College’s Faculty of Nice Arts, in a case for her alma mater’s deep roots in barrier-breaking, set in a metropolis “that Black folks constructed.”
“We’re proper right here, the place…you simply see the majesty and complexity of Black folks, the place we have now established ourselves as a spot of schooling and a spot of excellence,” Whitfield mentioned throughout Thursday’s purple carpet. “For [the festival] to be right here…you simply really feel an power of innovation and a hope for the long run–the long run that we are going to come out of.”
In keeping with Frazier and BET producer Chris Bivins, paving that future means Black creatives taking duty to drive the neighborhood ahead.
Whereas the Morehouse graduate plans to leverage his personal profession to positively “domesticate the tradition,” Bivins mentioned a part of his function is to easily present up in assist of up-and-coming producers and administrators – together with via moments just like the HFLFF.
“It’s not concerning the glitz and the glam— it’s actually about simply [being] right here and [being] a useful resource,” Bivins advised The Informer. “We’re seeing so many younger filmmakers, from Howard, from Morehouse, from all of the HBCUs. It’s all about collaboration… and in the event you’re not collaborating, you’re lacking out.”
In the meantime, within the closing remarks of her acceptance speech, “Spice Lady” Gregorio provided a motivational tip to all youth trying to make their mark on the earth.
“There are different younger folks within the area who really feel such as you’re working actually, actually laborious and it doesn’t appear to be it’s going to repay,” mentioned Gregorio, a Howard College alumna. “I promise you that there’s a chance for one thing lovely on the opposite facet of that.”
