Rapper-filmmaker Robert Fitzgerald Diggs, aka RZA, will act as the ambassador of the upcoming Urbanworld Film Festival. Set to premiere in New York City, the festival aims to showcase features, shorts, and screenplays from minorities and give them a chance to tell their story.
RZA is set to represent the festival alongside his upcoming film A Wu-Tang Experience: Live at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, which was co-directed by Gerald Barclay. The documentary dives into the rap band Wu-Tang Clan and their iconic performance at a screening of The 36th Shaolin, backed by the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. A Wu-Tang Experience features interviews with the band members, classical music experts, and other associates as they give their background and emotions regarding the band and its martial arts inspirations.
The festival will also feature a variety of unique films, including Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction. Jeffrey Wright plays a stressed-out writer who decides to use a pen name to fight against an entertainment industry that relies on tired and offensive Black tropes. Eventually, these actions lead Wright’s character down a path of hypocrisy and insanity.
Festival director Karen McMullen praised the event in her statement detailing their goals and accomplishments. She talked about how the festival has gone on for thirty years, giving “historically excluded filmmakers” their platform.”We are excited and fortunate to be able to continue the tradition of highlighting the work of emerging and established talent in film and television,” she said.
The festival will begin on November 1st and will continue to the 5th.
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