Black Film Festival spotlights Black storytelling with a made-in-Miami film

Miami Herald

a day ago

Kionne McGhee is a lot of things: The son of a South Dade bean picker. A former 5000 Role Models mentee. Howard University alum. Liberty City native. An attorney and a Miami-Dade commissioner.
But in his film 'The Reject,' based on his two books 'A mer[e] I Can is American' and 'Conquering Hope,' we meet a child with dyslexia and ADHD, who struggled academically and dealt with chronic absenteeism, and confronts the deaths of his father and brother.
And he's not ashamed of any of it, describing his film as one that tells the story of neurodiversity and how Black children can overcome those challenges to achieve success. 'The film tells the story of how those gifts, if taken in the right light and nurtured, can be beneficial to the person that God has given those gifts to and that person then can turn around and be of benefit to the community as a whole,' he told the Herald.
McGhee's story is one of several powerful narratives that highlight Black South Florida stories to emerge in the past few years. 'The Reject' is showing at the American Black Film Festival, a showcase of Black talent, networking event for indie filmmakers and a who's who of Black actors, directors and producers that takes place this week in Miami.
This year's festival, now in its 29th year, features an array of panels dedicated to Black storytelling, full-length films, documentaries and shorts films. Saturday's premier event, 'Remembering Love Jones' highlights the significance of the '90s film 'Love Jones' and features a conversation with co-stars and ABFF ambassadors Nia Long and Larenz Tate. There is also ABFF Community Day on Sunday which will include a screening of 'The Reject.'
While McGhee's film is the only one set in South Florida featured in this year's lineup, it is the latest in a string of films set in the Miami area that center on Black stories to be produced in the last several years. Other films include 'Mountains' by Monica Sorelle, the Regina King-directed 'One Night in Miami,' the now-canceled HBO series 'Rap Sh!t,' and of course Academy-award winning movie 'Moonlight.'
Creating films that focus on Black Miami comes at a crucial moment: Efforts to suppress Black history and literature in classrooms and libraries have been at a fever pitch in Florida and nationally, even as local activists, educators and historians push back against those attempts.
Tate said it's important to normalize telling Black stories with an authentic, truthful voice and in unapologetic ways.
'We have a history of other groups telling our stories, shaping up the narrative from the prism of non- Blacks and that being the standard, and it was normalized,' Tate told the Herald. 'That's what needed to change. And when we are able to tell our stories in the most truthful, honest way, the most creative way, you know, the impact is everlasting, and that's what we need.'
Tate said Black people need transition from being consumers of entertainment to being producers. 'We as a group, we support entertainment, we consume it,' he said. 'So it's important for us to balance the things out by not only being consumers, but also producers, and that's why I think it's really important for us to tell our stories.'
The 'Moonlight' effect
Tate said ABFF plays a crucial role in ensuring the success of Black artists such as Ryan Coogler and Liberty City native Barry Jenkins, whose first film, 'Medicine for Melancholy,' debuted at the festival.
'It is a place where we all can come in, have that synergy, to network and whatever experiences that we have over that week, we take that with us.'
South Florida-based filmmaker Rachelle Salnave credits South Florida and ABFF with the start of her filmmaking career, even after having her first film, 'Harlem's Mart 125: The American Dream,' rejected for a screening at the festival years ago.
At the time, Salnave had just received a hefty severance package after being laid off from a job.
'I got a pass to come to ABFF, and I was like, you know what? I'm not going to let their rejection stop me. I'm going to make everybody in this festival think that my film is in that festival,' she told the Herald. 'I did and it worked.'
Salnave said she took a trip to the 2010 ABFF where she connected with a film professor and pitched Robert Townsend a short. 'I raised my hand real quick, and I got up there, and I was able to pitch to him live in front of 500 people,' she recalled.
Salnave said the growth in Black Miami films is in part due to the success of 'Moonlight.' University of Miami film professor Terri Francis echoed that sentiment, noting that those who worked on that set, such as director Faren Humes, have gone on to have thriving careers in film. This year her friend's daughter, Ruby Rose Collins, has a short film about her late grandmother and filmmaker Kathleen Collins called, 'all the love i could handle' screening at the festival.
'The expertise that we're seeing in current independent films in the city, and also the legibility of their films does come from the work experience, and, of course, the accolades from that film,' Francis said, who has had Jenkins speak to one of her previous classes.
'Their films are all super different. People are not making 'Moonlight' over and over.'
'It's encouraging'
Apart from the success of 'Moonlight,' South Florida documentary filmmaker Cathleen Dean, noted there are grants that have helped fuel the influx of Black films set or based in Miami. Still, she noted that even with that filmmakers aren't simply waiting for the funds to trickle in before they pick up a camera.
'It's encouraging that we have a lot of young filmmakers who are ambitious, who are not sitting around waiting for grants, and they're just getting out there, and they're doing their thing, and they're utilizing these new tools of social media and inexpensive cameras to get their stories told,' she said.
Al Martin, chair of the University of Miami's Cinematic Arts department, said platforms such as Tubi have also diversified where independent filmmakers can post their movies. 'We have so many platforms on which stories can be told. For all of the discursive shade that gets thrown on Tubi, the fact is, is that it is giving a number of young Black filmmakers the opportunity to have their work shown on Tubi, and that is not unimportant,' he said.
For as many Black stories that come out of South Florida, Dean hopes more are told and that the kinds of stories told are diversified. 'They need to be amplified, and not just sit in Miami-Dade at art house theaters, but show that these stories are important to the nation,' she said.
She noted that McGhee's story is a step in encouraging diverse Black stories out of South Florida.
'It's inspiring, and it's encouraging to other people, to other young Black boys and girls,' she said. 'They know that they can come out of the projects and end up sitting in a seat of power up in Tallahassee.-
Tate echoed those sentiments, saying ABFF is in many ways necessary to celebrate success for Black filmmakers and create opportunities for budding filmmakers.
'It's really important for us to have these types of festivals and these types of spaces [and] that we can look to each other, to celebrate each other and work with each other, and not look for permission from anyone else outside of what we're doing,' he said.
'Creatives from the entire diaspora that are coming together to celebrate and recognize one another.'
If you go:
What: American Black Film Festival
When: June 11-15
Where: Miami Beach Convention Center, O Cinema, Lyric Theatre, New World Center - Performance Hall,
Cost: Screenings range from free to $16; Remaining festival passes are as low as $680; Community Day is free
Info: https://www.abff.com/miami/