TV One will REPRESENT the best in Black culture and entertainment at this year’s 20th Annual Black Film Festival (Miami, June 15-19), with its second annual TV One Screenplay Competition winner announcement, Celebrity Scene Stealers event, and debut of two original movies – Bad Dad Rehab written by last year’s ABFF TV One Screenplay Competition winner Keronda “Kiki” McKnight and writer/director Russ Parr’s Ringside. On Wednesday, June 15, TV One President Brad Siegel will kick-off the network’s participation at the festival with opening remarks at ABFF’s Opening Night Film Premiere of Warner Bros. Pictures’ Central Intelligence, an action comedy starring Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Amy Ryan, Aaron Paul and TV One’s Born Again Virgin’s leading actress Danielle Nicolet.
“TV One represents the best in Black entertainment and is committed to elevating new voices in the Black creative community,” said Siegel. “As the nation’s largest gathering of Black film and TV enthusiasts, the American Black Film Festival is the perfect platform to deliver on this brand promise, which includes our annual TV One Screenplay Competition and Celebrity Scene Stealers events, as well as screenings of our original films Bad Dad Rehab, Ringside and Love Under New Management: The Miki Howard Story, ”
On the second day of the festival (Thursday, June 16 at 12 p.m. ET), Roland S. Martin, host and managing editor of TV One’s News One Now, the only daily news program dedicated to Black viewers, is serving as the moderator of “A Conversation with Common,” a dynamic discussion with this year’s ABFF Ambassador – Oscar-winning recording artist, multi-Grammy winner and actor Common (Barbershop, Selma).
This year’s previously announced TV One Screenplay Competition finalists – N’Zuri Za Austin (“Tale of a Script”), Cherhonda Gunn & Traci Rooks (“The Fandom”), and Michelle McKissic (“Downsized”) will set up and direct a scene from their script performed by actors Robert Ri’chard, Rob Riley, Wesley Jonathan, Jackie Long, and Raney Branch in front of a live audience during TV One’s “Celebrity Scene Stealers” event (Friday, June 17, 5 p.m. ET). Actor Keith Robinson (Get On Up, This Christmas, Dreamgirls) will serve as host of the event.
Launched last year, the TV One Screenplay Competition was created to encourage and promote the production of creative, contemporary, engaging and relatable screenplays. This year’s winner will be announced at “The Best of ABFF” Awards Ceremony on Saturday, June 18. The winner will earn a $5000 cash prize and a chance to have their screenplay produced into an original, made-for-TV movie, which will debut in 2017 on TV One and at the 21st ABFF.
Screenwriter and TV One’s 2015 ABFF Screenplay Competition winner Keronda “Kiki” McKnight will also debut her original film Bad Dad Rehab, directed by Carl Seaton, at this year’s festival with a Spotlight Screening at The Colony Theatre on Saturday, June 18 at 2 p.m. ET and a Community Day Screening on Sunday, June 19 at 11 a.m. ET at the Lyric Theater. In Bad Dad Rehab, four men in denial of their poor parenting skills, attend a rehab for deadbeat dads that uses unusual methods to help them become true fathers and real men. The film will premiere Sunday, July 3 at 7 p.m. ET/PT (encore presentation at 9 p.m. ET) on TV One.
Ringside, a TV One original movie written and directed by nationally syndicated radio host Russ Parr, is also debuting its very own Spotlight Screening at the Regal South Beach on Saturday, June 18 at 5 p.m. ET. The film stars Tyler Lepley (Have and Have Nots) as Jaxon Holley, a boxer who amidst his family travails and the distractions of the world of gambling and groupies manages to fall in love with a freelance photographer who may not be who she claims to be. TV One will also premiere the redemptive drama in the fall on Sunday, Sept. 4 at 7 p.m. ET and 9 p.m. ET (encore).
Closing out the festival, TV One’s first-ever Unsung-inspired feature film Love Under New Management: The Miki Howard Story will participate in ABFF’s Community Day Screening at the Lyric Theater on Sunday, June 19 at 4:30 p.m. ET. Starring Teyonah Parris (Chi-Raq, Survivor’s Remorse, Mad Men) in the title role, Love Under New Management: The Miki Howard Story is paved with abuse, betrayal, heartache and a desperate search for love – a search that ultimately ends in a triumphant victory that is both incredible and inspiring. The film originally premiered on TV One on June 12 to record breaking ratings becoming the network’s #1 original movie ever among key demos and a combined reach of 2 million unique viewers 2+. Viewers may also tune in to encore presentation on Wednesday, June 15 at 9 p.m. ET, Saturday, June 18 at 10 p.m. ET and Sunday, June 19 at 6 p.m. ET. (Ratings Source: Nielsen TV Toolbox (L+SD). Further qualifications are available upon request.)
ABFF’s Deco and Sobe pass holders are also encouraged to stop by TV One’s Cool Out Lounge (Ritz Carlton, Fl. 3) to enter for a chance to win a TV One REPRESENT swag bag and cool off from the heat with light refreshments. The TV One Cool Out Lounge will be available to Deco and Sobe pass holders on Friday, June 17 (1:30-4:30 p.m. ET) and Saturday, June 18 (10 a.m. – 1 p.m. ET).
