Reel Sisters 27th Anniversary Awards Ceremony 2024!
On Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, 6:30 pm, Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival & Lecture Series will present its annual Trailblazer award to Huriyyah Muhammad, the award-winning director of Chocolate With Sprinkles and co-founder of the Black TV & Film Collective (BTFC), for her outstanding contributions to cinema. Sheila Kay Davis, the founder of the New Professional Theatre, will return as our Mistress of Ceremonies!
The celebration will include the world premiere of two shorts by Reel Sisters Micro Budget Fellows Candace D. Patrick, writer/director of Finding JaMia’s Spirit; and Vivienne Shaw, writer/director of 29 Hour Famine.
Chocolate With Sprinkles will be the featured film for an evening of inspiration and celebration!
The awards ceremony will be held at Riverside Theater, 91 Claremont Ave. on 121 Street in Harlem. Tickets: $45 ($35 for Bring A Pal Discount).
Reel Sisters Trailblazer Honoree 2024
Huriyyah Muhammad
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 Series Fest 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.
Feature Film - 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.
Mistress of Ceremonies
Sheila Kay Davis
Sheila Kay Davis, founder/artistic director of New Professional Theatre, is a lifelong theatre professional. After graduating from Spelman College in Atlanta, Ga. with a degree in theatre, Sheila headed to New York City. She was immediately cast in the hit show “Little Shop of Horrors”, now a classic, in which Sheila originated the role of Ronette. She is featured on the cast album and played the role for five years. She hit the ground running racking up success in television commercials, regional theatres, and daytime dramas.
However, she noticed very few minorities having real sustainable success in the theatre world. Her thorough experience as an actress gave her insight into both the joys and frustrations of minority artists. She used this insight as her drive to found the New Professional Theatre (NPT). Armed with passion and desire, Ms. Davis set out to form a theatre company that would develop African American playwrights, a sorely underrepresented group.
Since its inception, NPT has served over 1000 playwrights with productions, cash grants, dramaturgy, business seminars and providing access to agents and producers. New Professional Theatre is the only African American theatre company located in the Broadway theatre district. NPT writers have been featured in regional theatre, television, and film. Sheila is the daughter of Carrie Meek, the first African American elected to the US Congress in the state of Florida since Reconstruction. Sheila understands developing constituencies and community mobilization. She serves her community through the NPT Education Program a program that provides mentoring, homework assistance, college prep, volunteerism and Broadway outings to New York City Public School Students. She also chairs the Arts Ministry at Antioch Baptist Church. She has received the Spelman College Alumnae Achievement Award for Arts & Media and the Arts Leadership Award from the Coalition of 100 Black/Asian/Latino women at the World of Women Leaders.
Awards Presenter
Letitia Guillory
World Wide Premier for Reel Sisters Microbudget Fellows
Candace D. Patrick
Candace D. Patrick is a writer, director, and producer who was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. She first became passionate about screenwriting in high school after her drama teacher encouraged her to apply to the Scriptwriters Network High School Fellowship Program, of which she was accepted. Participating in that fellowship led her to earn a Screenwriting degree from Loyola Marymount University, where she developed her voice focusing on stories that authentically displayed human journeys. Having had the opportunity to travel to 25+ countries while working as a marketing director for Semester at Sea, a study abroad program, Candace learned that the feeling of joy is universal, but the path to joy and healing are uniquely traveled and often include laughter. Her writing often explores grief & healing, mental health and finding joy, and debunking the Strong Black Woman concept. She earned semifinalist rankings for her first feature, “Glow,” in the 2010 StoryPros contest, and the 2017 Screencraft Film Fund for her short script, “Cycle.” In 2019, she wrote, directed, and produced the short film, “The 5th Room,” which received awards and nominations for Best Short, Best Writer, and Best Director. Since then she has worked on several independent film and web projects. Her 1-hour family drama pilot, “Harrington’s Crossing,” advanced to the finalist round of the Spring 2021 WeScreenplay Diverse Voices competition. When not writing, Candace loves to travel, and fight with her cat, Nougat, for the most comfortable seat in her apartment.
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.
Vivian Shaw
Vivienne Shaw is a Taiwanese-American screenwriter and director currently pursuing her MFA in screenwriting from Columbia University. She works primarily in comedy and horror with particular interest in Asian-American, queer, and female-centered stories. Vivienne is the recent recipient of an Alfred P. Sloan Screenplay Grant and a current Sloan Grand Jury Prize nominee for her psychological thriller feature script KILLING JAR. In addition to her own projects she has worked in development at multiple production companies, including ViacomCBS, Cinetic Media and Gamechanger Films, and has also served as a script reader for the former Sundance Asian-American Fellowship. Outside of film Vivienne also works in video art and projection design for theater, pursuing her continued interest in interactive storytelling. She received her BA from Wellesley College in computer science and cinema and media studies.
29 Hour Famine narrative, 16:28 min.
PRODUCERS: Gorby Mufan Shih; DIRECTOR/WRITER: Vivienne Shaw (Etzu Shaw)
When a devout teenager discovers evidence of someone eating at her church youth group’s annual fasting event, she goes to absurd lengths to catch the culprit.
Dear Reel Sisters of the Diaspora – Team,
thank you so much for the wonderful news about our film’s selection.
I sincerely apologize for only just now seeing the emails. I noticed that the deadline to submit the film was last week, and we have not yet released it for download. I’m a bit unsure about the current status—are we still set to screen at the festival, or has this disqualified us?
Additionally, could you kindly clarify the distinction between the online and live screenings? I was looking forward to attending the festival in person and booking a ticket.
I greatly appreciate your time and all the effort you’ve put into organizing this event.
Warm regards,
Koku
(The Thoughts of our Ancestors)