Dubbed “one of the most exciting black films of the year,” festival-circuit darling Burning Cane will be screened at this year’s 23rd Urbanworld Film Festival, which will take place in New York City from Sept. 18-22.
The much-buzzed-about film stars Wendell Pierce as a Louisiana preacher in a film that examines the impact religion has over one rural community. The lyrical debut, shot by director Phillip Youmans when he was just 17-year-old (he’s now 19), stunned audiences and judges at the Tribeca Film Festival, where it won the Founders Award for best U.S. narrative feature. Pierce also received the top actor category for his role in the film.
As Variety reported at the time, Youmans was both the youngest director to have a feature screen at Tribeca, and the first African-American director to receive the Founder’s Award. He also won an award for cinematography.
Producer and production designer Ojo Akinlana will be on hand for a Q&A after the Urbanworld screening on Saturday, Sept. 21. (The Root is a media sponsor of Urbanworld.)
Urbanworld also announced another musical guest to its lineup Thursday: famed singer, songwriter, and bassist Meshell Ndegeocello, who will perform at the festival’s opening night. The living legend adds heft to a musical lineup stacked with must-see, international up-and-comers, including Baltimore’s Temi Oni, New York-based DJ mOma, Chilean pop singer Princess Alba, R&B singer Devin Tracy, and Cuban producer DJ Jigüe.
You can check out more who are attending—and playing—Urbanworld at its site.