soulhead Presents: The Music Lover’s Guide to the 2015 Urbanworld Film Festival [TRAILER VIDEOS] @UWFilmFest

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Celebrating its 19th consecutive year, this week’s Urbanworld® Film Festival in New York City promises to be the place to be for film, music, and entertainment fans and professionals alike.

Running from Wednesday, September 23rd through Sunday, September 27th, the nation’s largest competitive multicultural film festival offers a jam-packed lineup of feature films, documentaries, short films, and spotlight screenings, plus live music performances, parties, and Urbanworld Digital panel discussions and workshops. Gabrielle Glore, Festival Director for Urbanworld Film Festival, explains that this year’s event showcases “a diverse collection of films representing culture from across the globe, allowing us to deliver Urbanworld’s most internationally curated content to date.”

The soulhead team is thrilled to be an official partner of the 19th Annual Urbanworld Film Festival and we can’t wait to enjoy the impressive slate of films and live music to be showcased. In particular, the festival boasts several films that are sure to tickle the fancies and stroke the imaginations of our fellow music aficionados. Below, we’ve compiled an informative guide to these films, as well as the live music performances on tap, and we hope to see many of you at the event here in NYC later this week. For more information, to view the full slate of scheduled film screenings, and to purchase passes, visit urbanworld.org.

The soulhead Music Lover’s Guide to the 2015 Urbanworld Film Festival


Quest for Cuba: Questlove Brings the Funk to Havana

Visiting Havana on a goodwill mission aimed to win the hearts and feet of the Cuban people, Questlove (band leader of The Roots and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon), provides two nights of music to a packed house of young Cubans who came to hear him DJ at La Fabrica de Arte Cubano in April, 2015 – just a few days after President Barack Obama and Raul Castro sat down for their historic meeting at The Summit of the Americas in Panama. In the process, Questlove establishes himself as a (unofficial) US Ambassador of Music and Culture to Cuba. Screening Details


Stretch and Bobbito: Radio That Changed Lives

Stretch and Bobbito explores the social impact of what The Source Magazine voted “The Best Hip Hop Radio Show of All-Time.” The film is a story of quirky friends who became unlikely legends by engaging their listeners and breaking the biggest rap artists ever. Screening Details


Muhammad Ali: The People’s Champ

[Opening Night Feature Film] Muhammad Ali: The People’s Champ honors the boxing legend in a way that goes beyond a simple portrayal of historic events. The directors have used a unique mix of memorable interviews – including discussions with hip-hop stalwarts Common, LL Cool J, Ludacris, and Nas – and evocative and rarely seen archival images to illustrate his significant impact on culture. His influence can be immediately recognized in hip-hop as he has been referenced numerous times by the genre’s leading voices. The film highlights more than Muhammad Ali’s brilliance in the ring and shines a light on both his legacy as a social activist who has never wavered from fighting against injustice and his infamous charm that still wins over hearts around the world today. Screening Details


We Like It Like That

Latin boogaloo is New York City. It is a product of the melting pot, a colorful expression of 1960s Latino soul, straight from the streets of El Barrio, the South Bronx and Brooklyn. Starring Latin boogaloo legends like Joe Bataan, Johnny Colon and Pete Rodriguez, We Like It Like That explores this lesser-known, but pivotal moment in Latin music history, through original interviews, music recordings, live performances, dancing and rare archival footage and images. From its origins to its recent resurgence in popularity, We Like It Like That tells the story of a sound that redefined a generation and was too funky to keep down. Screening Details


Shame

[Spotlight Film / World Premiere] It’s Detroit 1968, and an up-and-coming soul singer Lionel Jacobs (Urbanworld Film Festival Ambassador Tyrese Gibson) is working the nightclub scene, trying to climb to the top of the charts. He is married to his background singer Bobbi Ann (Academy Award winner Jennifer Hudson) and wants to do right by her and their children. But his struggle with drugs and alcohol test the strength of his fidelity and their relationship. Screening Details


A Ballerina’s Tale

[Closing Night Feature Film] A feature documentary on African American ballerina Misty Copeland that examines her prodigious rise, her potentially career ending injury alongside themes of race and body image in the elite ballet world. Directed by acclaimed author and music journalist Nelson GeorgeScreening Details


Tap World

The documentary film TAP WORLD looks at the lives of tap dancers and the contemporary styles of the American art form known as tap dance as practiced around the world. The improvisational spirit of the artists profiled in the film exemplifies how they continue to evolve the art form of tap dance by expressing the powerful energy and emotion in their souls. TAP WORLD travels the world painting a portrait of the global tap community. No matter where they reside, tap dancers reveal their burning desire to dance – often despite economic and social obstacles. Tap heals their souls. Screening Details


Forgiving Chris Brown

Forgiving Chris Brown is a dark comedy short that follows the follies of “Rihanna”, “Halle” and “Tina”. These stylish girlfriends hope to heal their battered hearts through the old-fashioned way – Revenge. The emotional baggage they carry ties them together and makes for some unorthodox fun. Add these three heartsick ladies plus one bound & unrepentant man to the hot desert and watch them sizzle on screen. Things take a gut-wrenching turn when Rihanna must decide once and for all what to do with her “Chris.” Screening Details


Breaking Through

When Casey (national talent search winner Sophie Aguiar), a dancer who is discovered on YouTube, gets thrust into the modern world of internet celebrity and culture, she must find a way to balance her true identity with her online persona, or risk losing everything she cares about. Executive produced by 9-time Grammy®-winner John Legend, BREAKING THROUGH features dazzling dance numbers from some of today’s hottest YouTube dance stars. Screening Details


Taking Chance

Chance, a young aspiring artist from Brooklyn, wants nothing more but to achieve his dreams of making it big. He looks forward to creating music that speaks to a loving and peaceful world. However, in today’s’ society, such ambitions can prove difficult especially in a community where the mantra ‘do or die’ still has a strong hold on those around him. With the state of social media and a culture that follows your every move, Chance faces overwhelming pressure from his alpha brother and peers alike, to face a bully he would rather reason with or ignore. If only someone else was on his side. Screening Details

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Live Music Events


DJ SETS BY STRETCH, BOBBITO, LORD SEAR & SUCE (SUCIO SMASH) + SURPRISE GUEST

THURSDAY / SEPT 24 / CIELO

18 Little West 12th Street (btw 9th Ave. & Washington St.)
Doors Open 9:00PM
$5 with Festival Pass / $10 Everyone Else
Official Urbanworld After Party

EVERYDAY PEOPLE’S DJ MOMA — URBANWORLD EDITION
FRIDAY / SEPT 25 / GINNY’S SUPPER CLUB @ RED ROOSTER
310 Malcolm X Blvd (btw 125th & 126th St.)
Doors Open 10:00PM (Free Before Midnight / $10 After)
Live Performance by Jessica Betts

E.Z. MO BREEZY OF SATURDAY MORNING CARTOONS — URBANWORLD EDITION
SATURDAY / SEPT 26 / HK LOUNGE
405 West 39th Street (btw 9th & 10th Aves.)
Doors Open 10:00PM
Official Urbanworld After Party

More info at urbanworld.org/music

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