Y’all may remember last year Ayinde reported back on all the happenings at UrbanWorld. Well, he just sent this tidbit in over the 2009 wire. Check it out:

URBANWORLD FILM FESTIVAL 2009 is HERE!

Pimps, Crack Whores and Thugs Numbers 1,2 & 3 — Now Is Your Time to Shine!!!

I was at my local laundrymat on Fulton in the Notorious Bed Stuy (latte or chai…we lost our do or die status quite some time ago) and I’m watching some crime drama on TNT. Not quite sure which one, let’s just call it Cold Case. Anyways the show had to do with a killing of little black boys and the villain was this black actor with a very distinct look. Said actor had a few lines before offing himself.

Fast forward to today at the Urbanworld festival and I’m waiting for my homegirl’s short film to start and “In the Wind” comes on the screen, a two man short about two brothers — one just home from Iraq and the other (my guy from Cold Case) playing the brother who stayed home in Louisiana and survived Katrina. It moves like a two man play but does not lose you at all. I liked it and it made me think about how we black folks up north have not heard that many stories other than a few mentions in Lil Wayne songs. Hmmmm….

A few other really good short films played before the NY Premiere of “The Roe Effect”. This piece was captivating from the first shot, then quickly engulfing by the riveting performance by lead actress Nia Fairweather. This is fictional reality created with just one sound bite, a couple tracks from one my favorite poet/rappers and ex-pat Saul Williams’ Niggy Tardust Album. The writer/director Kiel Adrian Scott is one to watch, he is masterful at work — no surprise that they have already secured a spot on HBO. I highly recommend that you see the shorts program and “The Roe Effect” and all the pimps thugs and crack whores you see ever so briefly on Law & Order, CSI and Cold Case act there black asses off! Other notable films are Chris Rock’s “Good Hair” “Samo: the art and influence of Jean-Michel Basquiat”, and more. Check the website and support your local actor!

Ayinde

Posted by Pete Chatmon

Addressing the UrbanWorld Crowd @ The Filmmaker’s Lounge @ MTV

Clearly we’ve been busy. The festival ended back in September and just now…as I await some holiday turkey the night before, am I getting around to posting these pics. Better late than never.

More pics after the jump!

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Posted by Double 7 World

A quick rehearsal in the hall with Nasser Metcalfe and Caitlin Cannon before the performance. Peep the interview with $FREE.99 writers Pete Chatmon & Candice Sanchez McFarlane after the jump…

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This interview was conducted right before the screenplay readings at HBO for the Urbanworld Film Festival. Pete Chatmon & Candice Sanchez McFarlane discuss the Urbanworld experience.

Big shout out to Dominga Martin over at the House of Ming and talented editor Tatille Jackson for shooting this our way.

Click away and go behind the scenes…

Posted by Pete Chatmon

Pete Chatmon & Ryan Richmond at the Urbanworld Awards Brunch

So we’re waiting on some pictures from the Screenplay Reading event. In the meantime, check out me and my homie Ryan Richmond, who just directed his first feature starring Aunjanue Ellis. It’s called “Money Matters”.

~ Pete Chatmon

THE SCREENPLAY READINGS, IN GABE’S OWN WORDS…

The 12th annual urbanworld film festival screenplay readings begin in fifteen minutes. The lobby of the HBO Theater is a chorus of conversation. Staff members briskly move across the crimson carpet spotted with gold. Against one wall, a screenwriter barks motivational phrases at his actors, such as “get in the zone” and “find your center.” Double 7 Film’s own Pete Chatmon stands coolly in the lobby center—a calm reflection of the Empire State Building that dutifully keeps guard outside the large windows. His screenplay $Free.99, which he co-wrote with Candice Sanchez McFarlane, is one of the five finalists being featured. Samrat Chakrabarti, an actor reading from Playtime with Doug, praises the Urban World festival for its diversity. It provides opportunities to break out of stereotypes, he said. Whether that is an accurate observation is about to be proven. A girl with a clipboard shouts out the names of the screenplays. Herds of actors follow the writers like a gaggle of geese into the theater.

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Posted by Double 7 World

MORE FROM AYINDE AT THE URBANWORLD FILM FESTIVAL
(and no, this pic is not from the fest)…

The thing I like about film festivals is the parties, I mean the films… no really it’s cool because it is an environment where u can see films by aspiring creative young writer directors who u know it’s only a matter of time before they are world renowned. u see films that seem to be competing for winner in the WTF?! category. U see big studio films that have not been promoted, reviewed or released yet with out all the critical hype or panning and I saw all three, wanna hear bout it? here it go…

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Posted by Double 7 World

Video from Day 3 at the 2008 UrbanWorld Film Festival. Check it out HERE and click on “Day 3 highlights”…

Posted by Double 7 World

With UrbanWorld drawing to a close this past weekend, we are Wiping the Dust Off this interview that Pete did for the documentary “761st” when it screened at the 2007 Urbanworld Film Festival.

Peep the trailer after the jump…

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Posted by Pete Chatmon

Ayinde is one of our New Wave Riders of the Month for September. A talented actor, starring in White Lies, Black Sheep, smart dude, and general overall cat I can hang with.

Ayinde and I caught up for the opening night of the Urbanworld Film Festival. As New Wave Rider of the Month, I slid him an All Access pass, a ticket to the opening night film, Steve Harvey’s “Still Trippin’”, and entry into the afterparty. Below, check out Ayinde’s thoughts on the evening. I had a pleasure reading this and learning how his night turned out. Once the runs to the Grey Goose bar separated the crew, I could only imagine what a New Wave Rider could get in to. Now I know, and you can too! Enjoy the Double 7 experience…right…about…NOW!

================= AYINDE’S BLOG #1 ==================

As I rushed into the Magic Johnson theater of Harlem, New York all the fanfare had subsided, the red carpet rolled up, and left were a couple of slightly pimpled teenagers manning the ticket counter with matching visors and I am reminded how much I hate any job that requires me to look stupid… but I digress, after arriving an hour and a half late I did a little bit of haggling, name dropping and the ever useful txt message check and it worked. I walk in to theater 10 just as a 30ft bald head of Steve Harvey is launching into his “you should save your money and go to Africa” bit.

I nod in agreement “it’s like going home to a place u have never been”… I settle in as Harvey hi-jinks ensue, his being bitch slapped by a monkey, twirling his penis in a knot because that’s what he does when he’s nervous, etc…

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Posted by Pete Chatmon

We had our second and final rehearsal today for the $FREE.99 staged screenplay reading. The 2 pics above are your exclusive look into how we rehearsed being bank hostages. There was a lot more action than how it looks! Notice bank robber Jake Braddis springing into action in the first shot

Stay tuned for feedback from the event!