The American Black Film Festival, which has long history in Miami Beach, is relocating to Los Angeles, citing increasing hotel and production costs in South Florida. The festival, which celebrated its 30th edition this year, has been a fixture in South Florida for more than two decades.
“The event costs really escalated beyond the point where it was sustainable for us since COVID,” co-founder Jeff Friday told the Herald. “It does kind of limit people’s capacity to get there, particularly independent filmmakers, and that’s our core audience. Our specific production costs almost doubled since 2019. This really became cost prohibitive for us. It just wasn’t a sustainable model.”
The festival has long been a launch pad for Black filmmakers and storytellers and provides opportunities for master classes, networking and independent film screenings. The past festival highlighted the career of actress Regina King and spotlighted upcoming shows like the “A Different World” revival set to air on Netflix on Sept. 24…