Rapper and filmmaker Robert Fitzgerald Diggs, also known as RZA, will serve as an ambassador for the Urbanworld Film Festival this year.
The festival takes place November 1-5 in New York City and includes a conversation with The wonders Director Nia DaCosta and the world premiere of A Wu-Tang Experience: Live at Red Rocks AmphitheaterCo-directed by RZA and Gerald Barclay.
Urbanworld presents narrative and documentary films, short films, web originals, music videos, spotlight screenings, conversations and live script readings. In addition to the Wu-Tang documentary, the festival will spotlight Cord Jefferson American fiction, and Galila Bekele and Armani Ortiz Maxine’s Baby: The Tyler Perry Story.
RZA’s film chronicles Wu-Tang’s legendary performance with the 60-piece Colorado Symphony Orchestra, who accompanied the group’s live score to a real-time onstage showing of a martial arts film The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, largely inspired by the Wu-Tang Clan aesthetic. The documentary also includes interviews and insights from group members and collaborators, classical musicians and concertgoers.
Jefferon’s directorial debut, American fiction, stars Jeffery Wright in the role of a frustrated novelist who is fed up with the establishment that profits from black entertainment that relies on tired and offensive tropes, the plot says. To prove his point, he writes a book under a pseudonym that drives him right to the heart of hypocrisy and madness.
Perry’s documentary, Maxine’s Baby: The Tyler Perry Story, details his rise to Hollywood fame alongside his at-times troubled personal life, including an abusive upbringing that led to an estranged relationship with his father. According to the description, the intimate portrait of his life shows his harrowing but faithful journey to the top of an industry that he didn’t always belong to.
“For nearly 30 years, Urbanworld has remained true to its mission of providing historically excluded filmmakers a platform to tell their stories,” festival director and program director Karen McMullen said in a statement. “We are excited and fortunate to be able to continue the tradition of highlighting the work of emerging and established talent in film and television.”
Source : www.hollywoodreporter.com