For the second consecutive year, the African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement is uniting more than 40 black feature filmmakers to interact with film lovers and raise awareness for AFFRM’s 2015 “rebel” membership drive. Using the #Array hashtag, filmmakers will tweet in a 12-hour conversation starting at 10 a.m. EDT today to further and foster varied voices and visions in cinema.
This unprecedented online gathering of filmmakers of color is being hosted by AFFRM founder and filmmaker Ava DuVernay, the award-winning director of Selma.
Below is the list of other participating filmmakers:
Salim Akil (Sparkle)
Debbie Allen (Stompin’ at the Savoy)
Neema Barnette (Woman Thou Art Loosed)
Reggie Bythewood (Biker Boyz)
Sheldon Candis (LUV)
Pete Chatmon (Premium)
Ayoka Chenzira (Alma’s Rainbow)
Matthew Cherry (The Last Fall)
Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station)
Marta Cunningham (Valentine Road)
Julie Dash (Daughters of the Dust)
DeMane Davis (Lift)
Rick Famuyiwa (Dope)
Kent Faulcon (Sister’s Keeper)
Haile Gerima (Sankofa)
Rashaad Ernesto Green (Gun Hill Road)
Tanya Hamilton (Night Catches Us)
Anthony Hemingway (Red Tails)
Nailah Jefferson (Vanishing Pearls)
Barry Jenkins (Medicine for Melancholy)
Shaka King (Newlyweeds)
Malcolm D. Lee (The Best Man)
Kasi Lemmons (Eve’s Bayou)
Tina Mabry (Mississippi Damned)
Victoria Mahoney (Yelling to the Sky)
Charles Murray (Things Never Said)
Terence Nance (An Oversimplification of Her Beauty)
Euzhan Palcy (A Dry White Season)
Russ Parr (35 and Ticking)
Tyler Perry (For Colored Girls)
Patrik-Ian Polk (Punks)
Dawn Porter (Gideon’s Army)
Gina Prince-Bythewood (Beyond the Lights)
Storm Saulter (Better Mus’ Come)
Justin Simien (Dear White People)
John Singleton (Boyz N the Hood)
Tim Story (Fantastic Four)
Christine Swanson (All About Us)
George Tillman Jr. (Soul Food)
Roger Ross Williams (God Loves Uganda)
Since 2011, AFFRM’s Array Releasing has distributed eight feature films by underrepresented filmmakers in theaters and on digital platforms. The membership drive to help sustain those efforts began May 4 and will continue through June 5.