Atlanta, August 22, 2007—In The Life Atlanta, Inc. announces two new additions to its 2007 See Us In The Life Film Festival set for Saturday, September 1st at the Sheraton Atlanta Hotel. The film festival is a sanctioned event of ITLA’s 11th Annual Atlanta Black Gay Pride celebration.
To commemorate the legacy of pioneering black gay filmmaker Marlon Riggs, this year’s film festival debuts the Marlon Riggs Speaker Series featuring acclaimed writer/director Maurice Jamal (Dirty Laundry, Ski Trip, Noah’s Arc) and author James Earl Hardy. Both scribes will discuss their efforts to transform Hardy’s breakthrough novel “B-Boy Blues” from the printed page to the silver screen.
Jamal’s most recent feature, “Dirty Laundry,” stars Loretta Devine (Grey’s Anatomy, Dreamgirls), Rockmund Dunbar (Prison Break, Soulfood) and Jennifer Lewis (Whose Your Caddy?, Madea’s Family Reunion). The film, which took top honors at the American Black Film Festival (Blockbuster Award for Best U.S. Feature, Best Actor – Loretta Devine) will open be in theaters nationwide early 2008.
The here! Network series DL Chronicles also makes a return to this year’s See Us In The Life Film Festival. Series creators Quincy LeNear and Deondray Gossett screened the television show at ITLA’s popular film festival last year, capturing a win for Best Short. Chronicles tells the stories of men of color who by consequence and by choice, live sexually duplicitous and secret lifestyles..
“The addition of DL Chronicles marks a full circle moment for the See Us In The Life Film Festival,” says Kenneth T. Jones, president of ITLA’s Board of Directors. “We are so proud of these gifted gentlemen and of ITLA’s efforts to create vehicles that showcase the work of emerging black LGBT filmmakers.”
In the Life Atlanta, Inc. serves to promote unity, pride, self-empowerment, and positive visibility within Atlanta's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender community of African descent through education, advocacy, and coalition building programs.
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