WILMINGTON — For 21 years, the North Carolina Black Film Festival (NCBFF) has celebrated Black creatives in a variety of events, such as screenings, fashion shows, history tours and awards. The 2024 festival will include 30 films out of over 200 submissions, including documentaries, shorts, and features.
Annually, 1,000 people or more attend various programming efforts.
Charlon Turner Everett, director of the NCBFF, said the festival was initially just a screening of Black films, but has grown to include special guests and large-scale events.
“I think it’s important that we tell our own stories of oftentimes you have people that produce the direct projects, and they’re telling the story for Black people, and that’s fine, but I think it’s important that we tell our own stories and have a platform in order to do that,” she said.
The festival kicks off with the documentary, “A Wu-Tang Experience: Live at Red Rocks Amphitheatre,” and a guest appearance by Wu-Tang Clan member, Cappadonna. It screens Thursday, May 16, 7 p.m., at Cape Fear Community College Union Station Auditorium. Beforehand will be an opening-night mixer to welcome attendees.
“No other place in the South has this film,” said Christopher Everett, NCBFF committee member and husband of Charlon Everett. “Not Atlanta, not D.C., not Charlotte; Wilmington has an actual exclusive screening of the southeast premiere of this film.”
The documentary depicts the August 2021 Wu-Tang Clan performance with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra at Colorado’s most revered outdoor concert venue.
Following the screening, the director of the documentary, Gerald Barclay, who also wrote a book about Wu-Tang Clan will be in attendance, along with clan member Cappadonna. Bothwill participate in a question-and-answer session with the audience, moderated by DJ Bigg B from Coast 97.3 FM.
Christopher said that the NCBFF is an integral part of the Wilmington culture and arts community, as the festival brings people of all interests together.
“Regardless of race, age, gender, everyone loves Wu-Tang Clan,” he said. “All ages come to a lot of these screenings because the content, the themes, is very universal.”
Christopher Everett— a director and producer with more than 10 years of experience in documentary work — is also being featured at this year’s event. He will be the recipient of the NCBFF 2024 Trailblazer Award, which recognizes his long-term career in film. The awardee is decided upon by the Black Arts Alliance board and will be presented at Thursday’s kickoff.
The Durham-based filmmaker is best known locally for “Wilmington on Fire,” a 2015 documentary about the Wilmington Massacre of 1898, and the upcoming martial arts documentary, “Grandmaster,” about Vic Moore. He is also making a second installment of “Wilmington on Fire,” set to be released this year and has been the artistic director of the Southern Documentary Fund, involved in distributing almost a half-million dollars in grants to filmmakers.
Another Black filmmaker awarded this year is BK Fulton, recipient of the NCBFF Renaissance Award. It recognizes his diverse accomplishments both within and outside of the film industry.
“We felt like he was a Renaissance Man because he’s done so much,” Everett said. He’s also come from corporate America. He was vice president of Verizon, and then he left [the] corporate world to get into the film and creative space.”
Fulton is the founding chairman and CEO of Soulidifly Productions in Richmond, Virginia. His 2023 film, “The Kill Room,” starring Uma Thurman and Samuel L. Jackson, will be screened in Jengo’s Playhouse on Saturday at 6 p.m. A fireside chat with Fulton will follow and his award will be presented at the end of the festival on Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Cameron Art Museum.
Other festival awards include first, second and third places for each film category, with prizes for each.
The festival not only screens local work, but also pieces from across the globe — United Kingdom, Africa and Texas, included.
This year will include work from a Dallas director, known mononymously as Jirard. “Mosiah” will screen Friday at 5 p.m. at Jengo’s Playhouse and follows Jamaican-born political activist Marcus Mosiah Garvey. Garvey is known for creating the country’s red, green and black flag still used today to represent all descendents of Africa, and began the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League.
Jirard first discovered Garvey through another documentary project he was working on. When he was sent a script based on the perjurious mail fraud trial of Garvey in 1923, written by the film’s lead actor Samuel Lee Fudge, he decided to take on the project as his directorial debut.
“Unfortunately, it’s a forgotten part of our American history,” Jirard said. “There are circles of Black people that are still teaching his message, his organization is still around, and there are still people that aren’t even necessarily in the organization that recognize themselves as Garveyites and follow his principles. But on a wide scale level, he’s not taught.”
Like Jirard’s work — which has been screened in Europe — Charlon Everett said the festival is an opportunity to bridge Wilmington and outside film scenes. It provides an opportunity for filmmakers to learn from one another and to meet other creators they may not otherwise be exposed to.
“How were they able to do that? What sparked that interest? What have they learned? What are some of the obstacles they had to face? What has worked well for them? I think that’s really important for our filmmakers to see,” Charlon said.
One of the most important groups benefiting from this exposure are the students whose work will be featured.
Ricki Nelson, who is on the volunteering committee for the NCBFF and also Miss Black North Carolina USA, helped curate the student films in partnership with Black Girl Film Camp, based out of Charlotte, North Carolina. They bring together 10 high school students nationwide to create a short film that will be premiered at the festival.
Also featured is Navigational Studios, a Wilmington nonprofit focused on helping youth produce content.
The festival will screen multiple films from young filmmakers and touch on a variety of topics. For instance, “The Ninja Chronicles” is centered around colorism —discrimination against people with darker skin-tones — and focuses on siblings who have to save their kidnapped parents.
“I’m really excited to see a lot of first time filmmakers showcasing their work, a lot of the collaborations that come out of a festival like this, as well as watching some really poignant films that are talking about a lot of important things that are going on in society and pop culture,” Charlon said about the festival overall.
Tickets for the festival are available online on the Black Arts Alliance Inc. for $150; more than 500 tickets have already been purchased, according to Charlon. The festival will run from May 16-19 in locations across the city such as Thalian Hall and Boseman’s Shoes.
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