The Black Hollywood Education and Resource Center (BHERC) is now accepting submissions for the 2nd Annual BHERC Faith-Based & Inspirational Film Festival (FBIFF).
The Festival is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 18 through Sunday, Sept. 26, and will be a hybrid in-person and online event following all public health regulations active. BHERC will share details about the Festival’s venue footprint and in-person event structure in the future. The organization aims to produce a safe and accessible film festival that meets COVID safety guidelines.
The deadline for submissions is August 15, 2021. Log on to https://filmfreeway.com/BHERCFaithBasedandInspirational or from the BHERC.org website to submit your film.
BHERC founded the FBIFF in 2019, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival was postponed until this year. The objective of the FBIFF is to build an audience for and promote and encourage the awareness, appreciation, and understanding of faith-based and inspirational films. BHERC seeks to identify and spotlight the filmmakers of the genre while encouraging others to add their stories to the big screen.
“There is an important audience out there waiting to support faith-based and inspirational films. BHERC wants to connect that audience with those films and filmmakers,” said Sandra Evers-Manly, BHERC president and founder.
Films are selected based on quality and originality that promote and or have a faith-based inspirational or family narrative on the Black perspective. The festival also encourages partnerships between secular and sacred professionals and institutions to develop cinematic tools for better living for the community.
What makes the BHERC FBIFF unique is the partnership with sacred and faith-based partners that share a common interest in promoting films to uplift the communities they serve.
“We have the opportunity to encourage filmmakers who create and tell stories about faith and family, and that helps us do our work,” said the Rev. William D. Smart, president/CEO of SCLC-SC and co-pastor of Christ Liberation Ministries. Los Angeles. “This year will be a compelling occasion with the extended dates and the growing need for hope and inspiration of every form.”
Other partners include Pastor John Cager of Ward AME, Pastor Walter Contreras of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition, Pastor James K. McKnight of Church of Christian Fellowship, the Rev. Jonathan Moseley of National Action Network, Western Region, Rev. Kelvin Sauls, community organizer, Pastor Najuma Smith Pollard of Word of Encouragement Community Church, Pastor Thembekela Smart of Christ Liberation Ministries and Pastor W. K. Tulloss of Weller St. Baptist Church and president of the Baptist Ministers Conference.
