GIANTlife.com & The 17th Annual American Black Film Festival (ABFF) Announce Semi-Finalists In The ABFF Webisode Challenge

GIANTlife.com & The 17th Annual American Black Film Festival (ABFF) Announce Semi-Finalists In The ABFF Webisode Challenge

ONLINE VOTING IN THE WORLD'S LARGEST URBAN DIGITAL NETWORK OPEN AS SEMI-FINALISTS COMPETE TO SCREEN AT THE ABFF IN JUNE

NEW YORK, May 21, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- GIANTlife.com Interactive One's definitive urban lifestyle brand for next generation tastemakers and Film Life's 17(th) Annual American Black Film Festival (ABFF) announced the selection of 8 semi-finalist filmmakers. Each of the young creatives competed for the opportunity to showcase their work to the Interactive One audience, who will review and cast their vote for a winner. The ABFF Webisode Challenge Presented by GIANTlife will profile each filmmaker and feature their webisode on the GIANTlife platform. Three finalists will be selected through online voting by the GIANTlife audience and have the opportunity to screen their webisode during ABFF, taking place June 19 - 23, 2013, in South Beach, Florida.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20111109/PH03195LOGO )

Film enthusiasts can visit GIANTlife.com to screen webisodes, submit their review, and cast their votes in the GIANT TV section of the website. Online voting for the ABFF Webisode Challenge will be available until midnight on May 23, 2013. The winner will be announced on June 22 at the festival's Awards Ceremony, where a cash grand prize will be presented.

The content creators participating in this inaugural contest represent the next generation of talent, while the webisodes exemplify the diversity of stories that need to be shared. The complete list of semi-finalists for the 2013 ABFF Webisode Challenge include:

<blockquote>
Deadstar, created by Brandon WrightDowntown Girls, created and produced by Emebeit Beyene, Crystal Boyd, Chivonne Michelle and Chandra RussellHello Cupid, created by Ashley Blaine Featherson and Lena Waithe, directed by Dennis DortchJackson & Lewis, created and directed by Pierre M. ColemanQ's One Night Stand, created and directed by Terrence L. MooreRomieLoverFriends, created by Dennis Dortch and Numa PerrierThe Couple: Moo Moo, created by Jeanine Daniels and Dennis DortchThe Unwritten Rules, created by Kim Williams and directed by Natasha Tash Gray
</blockquote>

"The American Black Film Festival's ongoing mission is to illuminate the work of emerging artists in front of and behind the camera. We couldn't be more pleased to be partnering with Interactive One and GIANTlife.com to provide an alternative distribution platform for this group of talented short form content creators," says Jeff Friday, ABFF Founder & CEO, Film Life, Inc.

"GIANTlife has always provided a platform for introducing and nurturing the current innovators across entertainment. This partnership with ABFF plays directly into our sweet spot of launching whose next and giving our audience an opportunity to engage with these new players in compelling ways. We're excited to support the next vanguard of content creators in their quest to share their work with the masses," says Smokey Fontaine, Chief Content Officer, Interactive One.

About Interactive One
Interactive One is one of the fastest growing digital companies reaching millions of Black and Latino Americans each month. With approximately 3 billion annual page views on its suite of sites, the company has become the definitive online resource for the urban community through its suite of social, local radio and content offerings such as HelloBeautiful (www.HelloBeautiful.com), the fastest growing lifestyle resource for today's Black woman; NewsOne (www.NewsOne.com), which provides up to the minute, comprehensive coverage of newsworthy events relevant to Black Americans across the country and the world; TheUrbanDaily (www.TheUrbanDaily.com), the eyes and ears for the urban community looking for what's hot online, on the airwaves, in theaters, and on the street; GIANTlife (www.GiantLife.com), the definitive urban lifestyle brand for Next Generation tastemakers and icons; Elev8 (www.Elev8.com) a site devoted to elevating the mind, body and spirit, ZONA de Sabor (www.Zonadesabor.com), the new online destination for today's urban Latino who wants to stay current on entertainment and celebrity news in the Latino community and our social platform anchored by the iconic BlackPlanet (www.BlackPlanet.com), the newly launched BlackPlanetNEXT (www.BlackPlanetNEXT.com), and the new BlackPlanet RADIO (www.BlackPlanetRadio.com), the digital industry's first social radio website created for the African American community.

Interactive One was launched by Radio One, Inc. in 2008 to complement Radio One's existing portfolio of media companies targeting Black Americans. Since its launch, Interactive One has quickly become the #1 online platform for the African American and urban community.

About The American Black Film Festival (ABFF)
The American Black Film Festival (ABFF) is a five-day retreat and international film market dedicated to strengthening the Black filmmaking community. Established in 1997, the core mission of the ABFF is to promote cultural diversity within the motion picture industry. Through its film showcases and special contests, it annually introduces the top echelon of emerging artists to the film and television industry. For more information visit www.abff.com

SOURCE Interactive One

Photo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20111109/PH03195LOGO
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Interactive One

CONTACT: Natarsha Gilliard, Ngilliard@interactiveone.com, 646.695.3814


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