The 13th Urbanworld Film Festival Announces 2009 Winners

The 13th Urbanworld Film Festival Announces 2009 Winners

Winners Celebrated at Festival's Closing Awards Brunch on September 27 Festival Sponsors Include BET Networks, HBO, Stella Artois, ESPN Films, MoxiePictures, ESSENCE, Uptown, Giant, Black Enterprise, HoneyMag.com, BlackPlanet.com, MiGente.com, KISS FM, Hot 97, Directors Guild of America, urbanAdserve, and Palisades Media Group

NEW YORK, Sept. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- The 13th Annual Urbanworld Film Festival, presented by BET Networks, today announced the winners for feature, documentary, short film, screenplay and audience award categories. The five-day festival was held September 23-27 in New York City; wrapping up on September 27 with a closing awards brunch to congratulate the competition's winners. Urbanworld, which screened 68 films this year, is the largest internationally competitive festival dedicated to the exhibition of independent cinema by and about people of color.

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The 13th Annual Urbanworld Film Festival winners are:

Best Narrative Feature Film
MISSISSIPPI DAMNED
Written & Directed By Tina Mabry; Produced By Morgan Stiff

Best Documentary Feature Film
STILL BILL
Written & Directed By Alex Vlack & Damani Baker; Produced By Alex Vlack,
Damani Baker, Jon Fine, & Andrew Zuckerman

Documentary Feature Honorable Mention
THE VISITORS
Directed By Melis Birder

Best Documentary Short Film
A SONG FOR OURSELVES
Written & Directed By Tadashi Nakamura; Produced By Karen Ishizuka &
Robert Nakamura

Best Narrative Short Film
THE ROE EFFECT
Written & Directed By Kiel Adrian Scott; Produced By Kiel Adrian Scott,
Noelle K. Barnes, & Kiara Jones

Narrative Short Honorable Mention
LIFE ON EARTH
Written By Courtney Stephens; Directed By Jeffrey Keith, Produced By R.
Kiplin Pastor

Best Screenplay
145th STREET
Written By Charles Burnett
Awarded $5,000 cash prize by HBO

Audience Award Winner
STILL BILL
Written & Directed By Alex Vlack & Damani Baker; Produced By Alex Vlack,
Damani Baker, Jon Fine, & Andrew Zuckerman

Audience Award Honorable Mention
P-STAR RISING
Directed By Gabriel Noble; Produced By Marjan Tehrani

"On behalf of the Urbanworld Film Festival and our Presenting Sponsor BET Networks, I proudly congratulate the exceptional winners of the Festival's 13th annual competition," said Stacy Spikes, founder of Urbanworld. "As Urbanworld consistently recognizes and celebrates excellence in films by and about people of color, we are honored to present such a diverse slate of filmmakers and content, both represented in the overall festival and in the 2009 roster of winners.

Highlights of the 13th annual Urbanworld Film Festival included a special closing night screening of Good Hair, directed by Jeff Stilson, produced by Nelson George and Chris Rock, and starring Chris Rock.

Bolstered by a three-year partnership with BET networks, Urbanworld is re-defining the competitive film festival landscape with its important and critical approach to exposing the voices of multicultural filmmakers.

ABOUT THE 2009 URBANWORLD FILM FESTIVAL:

Beginning this year, BET Networks has signed on for a three-year strategic partnership to present the Urbanworld Film Festival. The unique partnership, strengthened by BET's position as the leading media and entertainment provider for African Americans and consumers of Black culture, will further establish the festival as one of the world's largest competitive film festivals designed to redefine and enhance the roles of multicultural constituents in contemporary cinema.

ABOUT BET NETWORKS:

BET Networks, a division of Viacom Inc. (NYSE:VIA)(NYSE:VIA.B), is the nation's leading provider of quality entertainment, music, news and public affairs television programming for the African-American audience. The primary BET channel reaches more than 98 million households and can be seen in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom and sub-Saharan Africa. BET is the dominant African-American consumer brand with a diverse group of businesses extensions: BET.com, a leading Internet destination for Black entertainment, music, culture, and news; CENTRIC, a 24-hour entertainment network targeting the 25- to 54-year-old African-American audience; BET Digital Networks - BET Gospel and BET Hip Hop, attractive alternatives for cutting-edge entertainment tastes; BET Home Entertainment, a collection of BET-branded offerings for the home environment including DVDs and video-on-demand; BET Event Productions, a full-scale event management and production company with festivals and live events spanning the globe; BET Mobile, which provides ringtones, games and video content for wireless devices; and BET International, which operates BET in the United Kingdom and oversees the extension of BET network programming for global distribution.

ABOUT URBANWORLD FILM FESTIVAL:

Urbanworld launched in August 1997 and was founded by former executive at Miramax Stacy Spikes. Over the past eleven years, Urbanworld has presented approximately 800 features, shorts and documentaries, with estimated attendance reaching 15,000+. Now in its thirteenth year, the Urbanworld Film Festival is the largest internationally competitive festival of its kind. Urbanworld re-defines the competitive film festival landscape with its fresh and necessary approach to spreading the voices of a multicultural world. The Urbanworld Film Festival is an initiative produced by the Urbanworld Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to implementing programs and events that support the development and success of the urban filmmaking community. Stacy Spikes serves as chairman emeritus. Gabrielle Glore serves as executive producer.

www.urbanworld.org

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Source: BET Networks

CONTACT: Theresa O'Neal for Urbanworld, +1-917-445-7495,
theresaponeal@aol.com; or Danielle Spigner, +1-212-205-3028,
danielle.spigner@bet.net, or Tricia Newell, +1-212-205-3156,
tricia.newell@bet.net, both of BET Networks

Web Site: http://www.bet.com/

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