NEW YORK, NY, October 02, 2024 /24-7PressRelease/ -- 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, is our Mistress of Ceremonies. Letitia Guillory, a renowned theater and film leader, will present our trailblazer award to Huriyyah.

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. Remote Paradise produced and directed by Sheronna Shakara Osbourne will screen at our awards ceremony.

Chocolate With Sprinkles will be the featured film for an evening of inspiration and celebration!

"Reel Sisters is extremely honored to give our Trailblazer award to Huriyyah. We cannot think of a better cinematic artist to reflect the spirit of award," says Carolyn A. Butts, founder of Reel Sisters. "She is a dynamic leader in the film industry who has opened doors for countless women of color. Huriyyah is a real sister!"

The awards ceremony will be held at Riverside Theater, 91 Claremont Ave. on 121 Street in Harlem. Tickets: $45 ($35 for Bring A Pal Tickets - purchase 2+).

Reel Sisters Awards Tickets:
https://www.universe.com/events/reel-sisters-awards-2024-tickets-MB2873

A portion of the ticket sales will support Reel Sisters Micro Budget Film Fellowship Program, an annual script-to-screen initiative that supports the creation of short films and web series. Reel Sisters is supported, in part, by the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, West Harlem Development Corporation, Council members Crystal Hudson and Farah Louis.

For more information visit www.reelsisters.org.

REEL SISTERS TRAILBLAZER HONOREE 2024 BIO

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.

WORLD PREMIERE FILMS & REEL SISTERS FELLOWS

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.

FELLOW INTERVIEW: Candace Patrick.

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.

FELLOW INTERVIEW: Vivienne Shaw.

AWARDS PRESENTER

LETITIA GUILLORY is a multi-hyphenate creative working in theatre, film and television. Her episodic series, gATES, and feature film, HOUND DOG are part of OneFifty, a brand within Warner Bros Discovery. Her work has been presented at Lincoln Center, Harlem Stage, Project Row Houses, BRIC Media Arts, National Black Theatre Festival and more. Letitia's other writing credits include: 8:42 (Austin Film Festival Second Rounder), Hound Dog (Essence Film Festival 2024 Jury Prize Best Script, Oaxaca Film Festival Global Script Competition Finalist, Tribeca All Access Grant), gATES (Official Selection Essence Film Festival, Austin Film Festival Second Rounder, Semifinalist Screencraft TV Pilot Launch).

Letitia produced the award-winning short comedy, Pas Honteux (REVOLT TV), and the powerful LGBTQ narrative short Winston. These films were official selections at the Hip Hop Film Festival, Blackstar Film Festival, American Black Film Festival, TIDE Film Festival, Martha's Vineyard African American Film Festival, Bronze Lens Film Festival and more. Her recent project, LETTRE LA has received numerous screenings in the US and abroad, including Essence Film Festival, Micheaux Film Festival, Chelsea International Film Festival, Barbados International Black Film Festival among others.

Letitia produces events for NYC Parks and curates Movies Under the Stars for Brooklyn. She has served on the board of the Black TV & Film Collective. She is a member of the Harlem Dramatic Writers Workshop, NYWIFT, Dramatists Guild and is a proud alum of the University of Texas (BFA, Drama), New York University (MA, Performance Studies), O'Neill Playwrights Conference and a Blackhouse Foundation Multicultural Producers Lab Fellow.

About Reel Sisters
Reel Sisters is the nation's first Oscar-qualifying film festival dedicated to women filmmakers and the first Brooklyn-based festival devoted to supporting films produced, directed, and written by women of color. Since 1997, the festival has been enriching the city with over 4,000 films by women of African, Caribbean, Latino, Asian, Indian, and Native American descent and contributed more than $50,000 in cash awards to filmmakers. Reel Sisters attracts 2,271 film lovers from across the nation and globe, including California, Chicago, and Florida, to as far away as Britain. Reel Sisters is presented by African Voices magazine.

Our 2023 Trailblazer honoree Sabrina Schmidt Gordon won the 2024 Emmy Award for outstanding research for her documentary Victim/Suspect. Past Reel Sisters award recipients include Cathy Hughes, the founder/owner of TV One/Radio One; award-winning actress Naturi Naughton star of the hit Starz drama series POWER; Tamara Tunie from the NBC hit drama series Law & Order; Nicole Beharie, Jessica Williams, Ebony Joann, Issa Rae, Shola Lynch, Moikgantsi Kgama, Julie Dash, Neema Barnette, Mable Haddock and Lonette McKee.

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