American Black Film Festival Honors will return to the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles on Sunday, February 25, 2018, with actor and comedian Cedric the Entertainer as host. The awards show, created by American Black Film Festival founder Jeff Friday, celebrates individuals of African descent who have made distinguished contributions to American culture through their work, and salutes the year’s best movies and television shows.
In addition to recognizing the top television shows and films of the year, director and producer Ava DuVernay will be presented with the 2018 ABFF Honors Industry Visionary Award.
Winner of four Emmys, the Peabody Award and the BAFTA for Best Documentary, Ava DuVernay’s Academy Award nominated “13th” was one of the most critically-acclaimed films of 2016. Previously, DuVernay directed the award-winning historical drama, “Selma,” which garnered four Golden Globe nominations and two Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. Her current directorial work includes the ratings sensation “Queen Sugar” and the upcoming Disney fantasy epic, “A Wrinkle in Time.”
In 2017, she was named one of Fortune Magazine’s 50 Greatest World Leaders. A graduate of UCLA, DuVernay is the founder of ARRAY, a grassroots distribution and advocacy collective dedicated to the amplification of films by people of color and women, which was named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies.
Ava DuVernay will join an illustrious list of past ABFF Honors celebrants, including actors Denzel Washington, Regina King, Don Cheadle, Diahann Carroll, Queen Latifah, Issa Rae, Terrence Howard and filmmakers and producers Ryan Coogler, F. Gary Gray and Will Packer.
“I am thrilled to honor Ava DuVernay. She is the embodiment of the importance of inclusion in Hollywood and deserves recognition as a creative force, as well as a forward-thinking leader in our industry. I’m equally excited to have the incomparable Cedric the Entertainer at the helm of what will be an enlightening and entertaining show,” says Jeff Friday, ABFF Ventures CEO.