A necessary ONLINE Festival for our times – Innovative, Strong, Diverse and Bold programming – Amplifying even more Black Voices from March 25-28, 2021
Full Program & All Access Passes at www.OttawaBlackFilm.com
Ottawa, March 10, 2021 – The 1st Ottawa Black Film Festival #OBFF21, founded by the Fabienne Colas Foundation and supported by Canadian Heritage, is thrilled to announce the official online program and events lineup, running March 25 – 28, 2021.
#OBFF21 promises to inspire through a strong, diverse, and bold programming, available entirely ONLINE across Canada and around the World. Through 30 films and various panels, this inaugural Online edition highlights the tales and events that have challenged conventions, left a distinctive mark on our times, and changed how we see the world.
The Festival will open on Thursday, March 25 at 7pm EST with Ignacio Márquez’s THE SPECIAL. Then, as of 10pm EST all the films will be accessible online. The Festival will close with Mia Donovan’s DOPE IS DEATH. This year’s highlights include Sonia Lowman’s BLACK BOYS, produced by NFL New Orleans Saints’ safety Malcolm Jenkins, and the Fabienne Colas Foundation’s BEING BLACK IN CANADA short film series.
The OBFF Black Market – an industry series where renowned industry professionals share real-world experience on today’s most critical filmmaking and social issues – will present an exciting blend of cutting-edge thinking panel discussion.
The #OBFF21 All Access Pass is available for only $29 and gives access to all films. Passes can be purchased on the Festival’s website.
“We feel privileged to be able to bring this great event to our Nation’s capital, the third largest Black community in Canada, at such an important time in our history. OBFF is more than a film festival. It’s a movement! It’s the necessary platform for our local Black artists who, otherwise, would remain invisible,” – stated Fabienne Colas, President and Founder of the Black Film Festivals in Montreal, Toronto, Halifax & Ottawa. “Our focus is to go beyond awareness with concrete actions to foster the inclusion of diversity off and on camera. In connecting authentic Black stories with viewers of all colours and ethnic origins, we recognize the differences that make us unique and we celebrate the shared values that bring us together.”
Fabienne Colas Foundation’s BEING BLACK IN CANADA
Presented by NETFLIX, in collaboration with the National Bank, and supported by Telefilm Canada, Canada Media Fund, the Canada Council for the Arts and various local partners.
20 Canadian short films from the 2020 cohort will be presented at #OBFF21! The FCF’s Being Black in Canada supported 20 Black Canadian Filmmakers, 18 to 30 years old, in Montreal, Toronto and Halifax in the creation of 20 documentary short films (8 to 10 minutes). The filmmakers received professional coaching for each stage of the audiovisual production process then made a short documentary film under the tutelage of industry professionals. A unique project that ensures inspiring emerging artists from culturally diverse backgrounds.
Call for Applications for the 2021 edition runs until March 30 HERE.
OBFF BLACK MARKET
Presented by Canadian Heritage
The OBFF BLACK MARKET space is dedicated to the cinema industry and raising awareness of today’s social climate with some powerful & FREE panel discussions:
- The Show Must Go On! Filming in a Time of Covid
- Breaking the Silence: Overcoming Mental Illness in the Black Community
- Getting to know the 2020 Filmmakers: the 2020 Cohort of the Fabienne Colas Foundation’s BEING BLACK IN CANADA Program
- Meet the 2019 Francophone Filmmakers Cohort of the Fabienne Colas Foundation’s BEING BLACK IN CANADA Program and Fabienne Colas, founder of the program and the Festival (French Panel)
- Black Wealth Matters: How Black Businesses have Navigated the Covid-19 Pandemic (French Panel)
The inaugural Ottawa Black Film Festival, founded by the Fabienne Colas Foundation and supported by Canadian Heritage will run from March 25 to 28, 2021.
For full #OBFF21 programming and events, visit www.OttawaBlackFilm.com
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About the Ottawa Black Film Festival – #OBFF21
The Ottawa Black Film Festival (OBFF) is about discovery and Inclusion. A not-for-profit organisation created by the Fabienne Colas Foundation, OBFF wants to amplify more Black voices and showcase the most relevant Black films from here and abroad while creating a space to debate major cultural, social, and socio-economic issues. The Ottawa Black Film Festival is dedicated to giving unique voices in cinema the opportunity to present audiences with new ways of looking at the world. OBFF’s ambition is to encourage the development of the independent film industry and to promote more films on the reality of Black people from around the Globe.
About the Fabienne Colas Foundation
The Fabienne Colas Foundation is Canada’s largest Black cultural organization. Created in 2005, the FCF is a not-for-profit artistic organization dedicated to promoting Diversity and inclusion in Cinema, Art and Culture in Canada and abroad. Along with Zaza production, the Fabienne Colas Foundation is also the creator of 10 Festivals: the highly successful Montreal Black Film Festival, the hugely popular Toronto Black Film Festival, the Halifax Black Film Festival as well as the several other successful Festivals in Canada, the USA, Haiti and Brazil. The Foundation is also the creator of the FCF’s Being Black in Canada program, Canada’s largest incubator dedicated to Black Filmmakers.