The year was 1997 and Love Jones was a small independent film being screened at Sundance that only the cool kids knew about.
Of that ilk was 29-year-old advertising exec Jeff Friday, who watched the breezy romantic comedy at the festival and was inspired by what he saw. The scene crawled with idealistic creatives and the gatekeepers with enough money and connections to make dreams come true. The fest had everything Friday loved to see—everything but Black people, that is.
“I had an incredible time, but what I did not see a lot of was diversity,” Friday tells ESSENCE. “There were very few people of color and very few women at that time. It was primarily white males.”
He said he had a bird’s eye view of how big entertainment business deals happened, but he wanted to bring his community into the fold. Just four months later, he along with his former boss and primary investor, advertising titan Byron E. Lewis, and filmmaker Warrington Hudlin launched the first-ever Acapulco Black Film Festival in Mexico. It was created to help Black Hollywood meet, connect, and celebrate Black cinema. To Friday’s delight, about 600 people came.
“I knew we had something, and decided to nurture it.”
The fruit of his spoils are now abundant.
27 years later, The Acapulco Black Film Festival evolved into the Black Film Festival, a premiere multi-day event that more than 9,000 people look forward to all year. It’s been held in Miami Beach for the past 18 years, and has become a major economic stimulant for the area. In fact, on June 18, 2023, the city of Miami declared the date ABFF day as a way of recognizing the event’s valuable role there.
The film festival drew hundreds of thousands last month, and was supported by nearly every major entertainment company and a slew of sponsors, including Ally Financial, Walmart and UPS among many others. But no matter how big it gets, the mission will always remain humble.
“It’s just about the people,” Nicole Friday, Jeff’s wife and co-leader of ABFF Ventures, now The Nice Crowd, the company the two formed to power the fest along with its many other spin-offs.
“We are amplifying self-empowerment which is the superpower that drives creatives but can sometimes wane in such a tough industry,” she continued.
Both Fridays agree that one of the best confidence boosters for creators is…simply put…money.
“We’re sitting at an interesting intersection right now in entertainment,” Jeff says in reference to the rampant cancellations and erasure of projects that were once housed on major streaming platforms. This disinvestment prompted a large-scale writers strike, which has been roaring on since May 2, 2023. Subsequently unequal pay amid writers, actors and high-salaried film studio execs has drawn the ire of onlookers.
The Fridays said they’ve taken note and decided to take a keep your friends close and enemies (note: this term is being used very loosely) closer approach to achieve real change.
“If you look at our sponsors, most of them are these studios that we criticize because we’re bringing in them to be a part of solution,” Jeff tells ESSENCE. “I don’t think this is some racist conspiracy. I just think that they all kind of operate the way they operate. And I think that what we do is we bring them into the fold and give them a platform to speak to their commitment to a diversity. And those who don’t show up, we can conclude it ain’t that important to them.”
The festival includes the advanced screening of major productions like They Cloned Tyrone starring Academy-Award winning actor Jamie Foxx, John Boyega, Teyonah Parris and Kiefer Sutherland. But it also offers up and coming film makers the opportunity to showcase their work and get the backing they so deserve, but hadn’t manage to secure yet.
“Here’s the thing—you can be talented and hardworking, but you just haven’t been seen by the right people,” Jeff says. “When you’re talented but really dedicated, we won’t support you if you ain’t working hard enough, right? But if you’re talented and you just need that push or introduction, that’s kind of where Nicole and I have always saw our role in this. We take joy as being facilitators of other people’s success.”
The couple wants to creative understand that there’s more to success than just meeting the right people, the couple implores.
“Will Packer premiered one of his first projects here. Issa Rae screened her first web series here. Those are just two of many success stories and the through line there is their ownership of the work. You have to make sure your business is in order.”
He continues: “Really focus on being more business-minded and a little bit less focused just solely on the creative. Because the creative is not really what drives this industry. This is driven by ownership, IP and distribution. The wealth comes from those three things. The person whose idea it was the first time to create hip hop music isn’t getting paid like the ones who mastered licensing. You think the people whose idea was are the richest ones?”
Nicole adds: “Don’t let that go over your head—ownership is really important. And whatever it is that you can own, however you can own it, whether that’s IP or the masters or whatever industry that you’re in, I would say make sure that you own it from the start and figure out how to make whatever it is work for you. And always be genuine and authentic.”
With that, Nicole said she understands how daunting business matters can seem when creators live in a different space, but she encourages them not to worry.
“We live in a world of social media, an incredibly useful tool, so use it. And I always tell people, even filmmakers that come to the festival, I say, don’t just come to the festival and do your film. Leverage the opportunities right in front of you.”
Although the onus falls on creatives to help themselves be helped, Jeff says he’s happy to push financial resources in the right direction.
“I encourage these corporations to lean in—don’t be afraid to give Black people money. We multiply everything we’re given. Especially when our imagination is behind it.”