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Arts & Entertainment

AFFRM Black Film Collaborative Premiering "I Will Follow" Friday In Atlanta, 4 Other Cities

Black film festivals across the country uniting this weekend to promote urban film; Actress Salli Richardson-Whitfield in exclusive interview with Cascade Patch correspondent Stan Washington.

If it works, March 11 could become one of the most important dates in the history of black film. There are black filmmakers in the Atlanta area and all across the country who have their fingers crossed that this novel idea will set a precedent for distributing independent black made films.

This bold novel idea is called AFFRM (pronounced as affirm), the African American Film Festival Releasing Movement. AFFRM is a collaboration between some of the nation's top black film festivals whose purpose is to not only release the film the same day in their respective cities, but also to drum up publicity and support for the film being distributed through the collaborative. 

Independent black films have never before had a simultaneous release date in several  cities. The first film to have that honor is “I Will Follow,” written and directed by Ava DuVernay, a co-founder of AFFRM. The film was released today in Los Angeles, Seattle, Philadelphia, New York and Atlanta.  

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“We are releasing 'I Will Follow' just like the major studios,” said DuVernay who is making her directorial debut. “It is really a landmark concept in the sense of can these organizations come together and release a film simultaneously? Hollywood is curious and is watching closely.”

When it came to selecting cities to show the film, Atlanta was chosen because of its large affluent African American community, its well-established black filmmaking community which includes Rain Forest Films and Tyler Perry Studios, and after attending the Bronze Lens Film Festival, DuVernay said.

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Sheryl Gripper, the founder and director of the Bronze Lens Film Festival  said during an interview that the time for AFFRM is now. 

“If  'I Will Follow' is a success the next black independent film has a chance to be a success through the African American Film Releasing Movement,” Gripper said. “The distribution is no longer there. We are in a recession not just for business but for African American films.”

“I Will Follow” which stars Salli Richardson-Whitfield (I Am Legend), Omari Hardwick (For Colored Girls) and Blair Underwood (NBC's The Event) will open this weekend at Phipps Plaza theaters.

The film is about a woman (Whitfield) who puts her career on hold to move across country to California to take care of her aunt who was dying of cancer. The film focuses on the 12 visitors who try and help her move on with her life after her aunt dies.

“I thought it was a beautiful script and I knew I wanted to do it,” Whitfield said. It's a very heartfelt film. It's different from a lot of the black films that you are seeing right now which is fine because diversity in black films is what we all should be pushing for.”

The co-star of the Sci-fi show “Eureka” said it is critical to black filmmakers that the African American community supports the efforts of AFFRM.

“For the film business it's that first two days that so important,” Whitfield said. “If we can sell out every single show this week then it will move on to the other cities and stay in the theaters longer and Hollywood will have to start paying attention to it and hopefully start making films that we want to see.” 

AFFRM plans to start off releasing two films a year backed up with intensive community marketing. In  each city AFFRM will target black professional organizations, nonprofits, community groups and churches. It will also have a strong social media campaign via the Internet. 

“We need to sell out particularly, the matinees because they are the hardest to sell out,” said Gripper “and we need to sell out every single day, March 11-17. If we do that they (Phipps) are going to keep the movie running.”

In the new economy of Hollywood, independent black filmmakers aren't the only ones who aren't seeing their films made by the major studios. Even well-known stars and actors are taking the independent route to get certain films made. If the films test well at certain film festivals then the studios will bid to offer a distribution deal.

Halle Berry recently received the Best Actress Image Award from the NAACP for the independent feature that she produced. The acclaimed film “Black Swan” which garner Natalie Portman an Oscar for Best Actress had to go the film festival circuit before it was picked up for major distribution. 

Despite movie ticket revenues being down for the third consecutive year and the movie hitting right as the nation is experiencing another round of higher gasoline prices, DuVernay remains optimistic that AFFRM is the future of black film distribution. “We just have to make it work,” she said. 

Editor's Note: See the attached video for Cascade Patch correspondent Stan Washington's exclusive interview with Salli Richardson-Whitfield earlier this month.

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