Reel Sisters Awards 2024

REEL SISTERS HONORS HURIYYAH MUHAMMAD & PREMIERES TWO SHORTS BY MICROBUDGET FELLOWS

On Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, Reel Sisters will honor award-winning filmmaker and founder of the Black TV & Film Collective Huriyyah Muhammad with our Reel Sisters Trailblazer Award for her outstanding contributions to film. The celebration will include a world premiere for two shorts by Reel Sisters Micro Budget Fellows Candace D. Patrick, writer/director of Finding JaMia's Spirit and Vivienne Shaw, writer/director 29 Hour Famine. Huriyyah's latest short Chocolate With Sprinkles and Remote Paradise directed by Sheronna Shakara Osbourne will screen at our celebration followed by a talk with the directors. Join us for an evening of inspiration and fun! The celebration will be held at Riverside Theater, 91 Claremont Ave. on 121 Street in Harlem. Tickets: $45 ($35 for Bring A Pal Tickets - purchase 2+). Special guests to be announced shortly.

A portion of the ticket sales will support a script-to-screen initiative that supports the creation of short films and web series.

About Reel Sisters

Reel Sisters is the nation's first Oscar qualifying film festival dedicated to women filmmakers and the first Brooklyn-based festival devoted to supporting films produced, directed and written by women of color. Since 1997, the festival has been enriching the city with over 4,000 films by women of African, Caribbean, Latino, Asian, Indian and Native American descent and contributed more than $75,000 in cash awards to filmmakers. Reel Sisters attracts 2,271 film lovers from across the nation and globe including California, Chicago, Florida to as far away as Britain. Reel Sisters is presented by African Voices magazine. For information visit www.reelsisters.org.

Past Reel Sisters award recipients include Sabrina Schmidt Gordon, director of To the End, Dawn Porter, Director of Gideon’s Army, Cathy Hughes, the founder/owner of TV One/Radio One; award-winning actress Naturi Naughton star of the hit Starz drama series POWER; Tamara Tunie from the NBC hit drama series Law & Order; Nicole Beharie, Jessica Williams, Ebony Joann, Issa Rae, Shola Lynch, Moikgantsi Kgama, Julie Dash, Neema Barnette, Mable Haddockand Lonette McKee.

REEL SISTERS TRAILBLAZER HONOREE 2024

Huriyyah Muhammad is an award-winning director, writer and producer whose projects have been invited to the Sundance Film Festival, Tribeca Film Institute, Outfest, Newfest, AFI, Austin Film Festival, New Voices in Black Cinema, American Black Film Festival and selected by The Criterion Collection. Huriyyah is the 2024 HBO Short Film Competition Winner, a 2024 SeriesFest Winner, a Sundance Creative Producing Award Winner, and an alum of the prestigious AFI Directing Workshop for Women (DWW) and the Film Independent Episodic Directing Intensive.

Huriyyah’s directing projects often explore those forces both seen and unseen that guide us in our lives. Her work invites audiences to take the journey with her as she tackles tough subjects - death, divorce, eviction - with humor and heart. Huriyyah’s sci-fi digital series, KELOID, has become a cult favorite - winning at multiple festivals. Her fantasy shorts, OUTGROWN and WONDERS, both toured extensively domestically and internationally, winning multiple Best Short and Best Cinematography Awards.

Her Excellence in Storytelling Award, at SeriesFest 2024 for her intergenerational short NANI’S BIRYANI, was the first of its kind. Her most recent directorial project, CHOCOLATE WITH SPRINKLES, the 2024 HBO Short Film Competition winner starring Reno Wilson, is a heartwarming, life-affirming tale inspired by memories growing up in her family's Cleveland, Ohio donut bakery. As busy as Huriyyah is as an artist, she believes strongly in community and put that belief into action by co-founding The Black TV & Film Collective, a 1400 member, non-profit arts organization supporting filmmakers of Black and African descent. Huriyyah holds a BS in Computer Science from Spelman College and an MBA from NYU. Last but not least, she is a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community and does her best work as a loving wife and mother.
CHOCOLATE WITH SPRINKLES

narrative, 19:05 min.

PRODUCERS: Okema T. Moore, Cole Sanchez and Yha Mourhia Wright DIRECTOR/WRITER: Huriyyah Muhammad

On their 25th wedding anniversary, a bickering couple is given one day to do something they haven't done in 25 years — work on their marriage.

Finding JaMia’s Spirit

narrative, 14:43 min.

PRODUCERS: Candace Patrick, Musau Onwubiko DIRECTOR/WRITER: Candace Patrick

A little girl looks for her dad’s ancestor spirit.

Remote Paradise

Writers: Tazia Harris, Troy Crossfield Producer/Director: Sheronna Shakara Osbourne

narrative, 14 min.narrarive, 14:20 min.

After 6 months of working remotely from a tropical location Denise gets word from her Ai manager Mark that she must return to the office immediately. Disgruntled and unprepared, Denise is willing to do anything to keep her slice of Paradise.

Host or Publisher African Voices Magazine