Jay Ellis News

Today, the American Black Film Festival (ABFF) continues its 22-year legacy of providing a platform for diverse storytelling and emerging filmmakers, by announcing the 2018 official selections in all screening categories. The festival returns to Miami Beach, FL from June 13-17. 

BALLERS and INSECURE Both Return to HBO This August

The hit comedy series BALLERS and INSECURE will kick off their new seasons back-to-back SUNDAY, AUG. 12 on HBO.

The 17th annual Tribeca Film Festival, presented by AT&T, revealed its feature film lineup championing the discovery of emerging voices and celebrating new work from established filmmaking talent. To close the Festival, Tribeca will World Premiere The Fourth Estate, from Oscar®-nominated director Liz Garbus, which follows The New York Times' coverage of the Trump administration's first year. The Centerpiece Gala will be the World Premiere of Drake Doremus' sci-fi romance Zoe starring Ewan McGregor, Lea Seydoux, Rashida Jones, and Theo James. The 2018 Tribeca Film Festival takes place April 18-29.

The 17th annual Tribeca Film Festival, presented by AT&T, revealed its feature film lineup championing the discovery of emerging voices and celebrating new work from established filmmaking talent. To close the Festival, Tribeca will World Premiere The Fourth Estate, from Oscar®-nominated director Liz Garbus, which follows The New York Times' coverage of the Trump administration's first year. The Centerpiece Gala will be the World Premiere of Drake Doremus' sci-fi romance Zoe starring Ewan McGregor, Lea Seydoux, Rashida Jones, and Theo James. The 2018 Tribeca Film Festival takes place April 18-29.

A star-studded host committee, Academy Awards nominees and presenters, along with some of the most powerful industry influencers came together on March 3 rd, 2018 for the 16 th annual 'Night Before' party to benefit MPTF. Funds raised during the legendary evening will be used to support MPTF in providing social services and financial assistance to the entertainment community, as well as it's renowned retirement community and innovative programs for seniors and those who care for them. The organization impacts thousands of people each year who have committed their lives to a career in entertainment. The annual event raised $5 million last night, totaling just over $80 million in the event's history.

Kicking off Women's History Month; ESSENCE turned the spotlight on four remarkable women, during Oscar week, with its popular “BLACK WOMEN IN HOLLYWOOD AWARDS,” held Thursday, March 1, 2018 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA. Returning to its traditional daytime luncheon, the ESSENCE “BLACK WOMEN IN HOLLYWOOD AWARDS” was hosted by actress Yvonne Orji.  This year's program honored actress and comedian Tiffany Haddish; actress Danai Gurira; Emmy-Award winning writer and director Lena Waithe and actress and activist Tessa Thompson.  For the fourth consecutive year, the ESSENCE“BLACK WOMEN IN HOLLYWOOD AWARDS” will air as a primetime special on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network on March 3, 2018 at 10 pm ET/PT.

Day 2 at the MACRO Lodge presented by Shea Moisture went out with a bang! Mistaken multiple times for TAO by passersby due to the overwhelming crowd waiting to get in, Midnight MACRO hosted by Charles and Stacey King, at the MACRO Lodge on Main St was Saturday night's best party. The overcapacity event brought in not only the cast of MACRO's Sorry to Bother You (Tessa Thompson, Lakeith Stanfield, Steven Yeun, Director Boots Riley) which had its Sundance premiere earlier in the evening, but also saw a number of the festival's other attendees including Black-ish creator Kenya Barris, Omari Hardwick, Anthony Ramos (She's Gotta Have It), Coleman Domingo, Lena Waithe, Danai Gurira, John Legend, Issa Rae and Insecure co-star Jay Ellis, Gabby Sidobe, and Chris Hardwick.

The winners of the 49th NAACP Image Awards in the non-televised categories were announced during a gala dinner celebration that took Sunday, January 14, 2018, at the Pasadena Conference Center the event was hosted by The Real's Adrienne Houghton, Loni Love, Jeannie Mai and Tamera Mowry-Housley.

On Tuesday, January 9th the Hosts of The Real makes a special announcement the ladies will be hosting the non-televised NAACP Image Awards, Sunday January 14th!

The 22nd annual American Black Film Festival (ABFF) returns to Miami from June 13-17, 2018 and continues to showcase quality film and television content by and about people of African descent.

Neil Brown Jr. (Insecure, SEAL Team) has built up an impressive acting resume over his career. He took time out of his busy filming schedule to discuss his current shows, acting process, and love for Hamilton.

Sundance Institute showcases bold, independent storytelling at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, beginning with today's announcement of feature films selected across all categories. The Festival hosts screenings in Park City, Salt Lake City and at Sundance Mountain Resort, from January 18 28.

The 22nd annual American Black Film Festival (ABFF) returns to Miami from June 13-17, 2018 and continues to showcase quality film and television content by and about people of African descent. ABFF founder Jeff Friday, created the festival in 1997 as a means to channel diverse talent directly into Hollywood, inspired by the belief that Black artists and content creators deserve the same opportunities as their mainstream counterparts. HBO is the founding sponsor of the festival.

The 22nd American Black Film Festival (ABFF) returns to Miami, June 13-17, 2018 with an exciting lineup of film screenings, events and innovative programming. This year, the week's schedule will include several new experiences, classes and networking opportunities for festival attendees.

With both series seeing record viewership this season, HBO has renewed the comedy series BALLERS for a fourth season and INSECURE for a third season, it was announced today by Amy Gravitt, executive vice president, HBO Programming.

Starting Sunday, July 23 at 6:00 a.m. ET/3:00 a.m. PT, all eight episodes of the first season of HBO comedy series INSECURE will be available to stream for free for 24 hours at youtube.com/HBO and HBO.com. All eight episodes will also be available to non-HBO subscribers on participating television and streaming partners' platforms and free on demand channels.

In celebration of their hot summer comedies INSECURE and BALLERS, HBO has partnered with TRAP Karaoke, a user-generated entertainment company putting guests at the center of the show.

In celebration of their hot summer comedies INSECURE and BALLERS, HBO has partnered with TRAP Karaoke, a user-generated entertainment company putting guests at the center of the show. Fans in Cincinnati, Charlotte and Houston will join cast members from both series for an advance double feature screening of the shows' season premieres and get on stage with TRAP Karaoke's host Low Key and DJ Austin Millz.