When Max’s “The Gilded Age” first shot at the Palace Theatre, Kevin Johnson, the theater’s executive director, saw an opportunity for a new film festival.
“It made me realize that everyone’s coming in from other places to produce events here, produce films here,” Johnson said. “We needed to begin to take some ownership for ourselves and put together something that will allow us to not only focus on the local filmmakers, but also to shed light on the area for filmmakers outside of the area.”
Renaissance Black Film Festival
- When: June 22-25, 2023; up-to-date schedule is available online at www.blackfilmfestny.com
- Where: The Palace Theatre, 19 Clinton Ave., Albany and the Renaissance Albany Hotel Ballroom, 144 State St., Albany
- Tickets: $50 for a single-venue day pass, $90 for exclusive feature and panel/talkback pass, $100 for all-day pass to both venues and $250 for all-access festival pass. Tickets are available online at www.blackfilmfestny.com.
A few miles over in Troy, Patrick Harris, co-founder and president of Collectiveffort, and his team at the creative agency had a similar thought. So when Johnson called Harris with his proposal for a new event, Renaissance Black Film Festival, debuting June 22-25 in downtown Albany, was born.
The Renaissance Black Film Festival will celebrate the work of local, national and international Black film artists. Throughout the weekend, short and feature-length films selected by the festival’s curatorial committee from around 100 submissions from seven countries will screen at Albany’s Renaissance Hotel Ballroom and Palace Theatre, respectively.
When choosing films, the panel balanced story, technique and resources.
“(We were) trying to make space for the fact that being a Black or brown or otherwise filmmaker that you might not have the same resources as your white counterpart,” Harris said.”It was how much do we make space for that versus the strength of the story that they’re telling.”
Each day will also include industry panels featuring festival ambassador Morris Chestnut (“The Best Man,” “Nurse Jackie”), Gail Bean (“Snowfall,” “P-Valley”), Jamal Hill (“Brotherly Love”), producer Attika J. Torrence and casting director Erica Hart and networking events, including after parties on June 23 and 24. Johnson tapped into his own network built over years of event planning to connect with and book the special guests.
“I wanted to make sure that people were able to interact with the talent that we’re bringing in here firsthand on the ups and downs, the good, the bad, the ugly, in terms of how they were able to navigate the industry whether or not it’s from an artist’s perspective, a producer’s perspective, a director’s perspective or writer’s perspective,” he said.
The festival concludes Sunday with a highlighted feature film at 10 a.m. at the Renaissance and the awards ceremony, which will include cash prizes, at the Palace at 11 a.m.
Supporting local creatives was also important to the festival, Harris said. He made the decision to stay in Troy after graduating from RPI a decade ago because he saw the creative potential in a region that let him take risks.
“We have an opportunity to show who is here and what is here as well. Local filmmakers … are really doing well,” said Harris, citing the success of Youth FX artists as just one example. “Being able to spotlight local folks and really just kind of inspire local folks … it’s really about bridging the gaps and showing people what’s really possible here.”
The Renaissance Black Film Festival is an opportunity to support and expand the Capital Region’s burgeoning film industry, Harris and Johnson said.
“There’s a lot of things that (the state is) doing, but there’s also quite a few things that they’re not doing,” Johnson said. “So we want to pick up the slack and move the needle forward in terms of just making it effective for everybody.”
While the bulk of the festival planning occurred over the last three months — leaning into Collectiveffort’s brand ethos of “Do something” and the Palace’s motto of “Make it happen” — Johnson and Harris see longevity in the Renaissance Black Film Festival, thanks in part to its sponsors, which include the Renaissance Albany Hotel, the Palace, Collectiveffort, Film Albany, Business for Good, Blak Mar Farms, Market 32, the New York State Writers’ Institute and CDTA, and board pulling from Collectiveffort, 518 Film Network and local and national creatives.
“We knew that we could draw it out and wait until the fall or wait until next year, but at some point, you just got to make a decision to just jump on and do it,” Johnson said. “We are prepared to build it out over the next three to five years, so what better time than now to start?”
Festivalgoers can purchase day passes for the Palace, Renaissance Hotel or both venues, which exclude any networking events or afterparties; exclusive feature and panel or talk-back passes; and an all-access festival pass online. Individual tickets for each film will also be available. Up-to-date schedules are available online.