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Black Public Media will present up to $230,000 in film and immersive awards at the event in Harlem this year.

Black Public Media’s flagship pitch contest, PitchBLACK Forum and Awards, takes place this month, Wednesday-Thursday, April 30-May 1, in Harlem. The annual event is a hot ticket each spring for public media leaders, documentary filmmakers and immersive media makers. It features:

BPM Trailblazer Retrospective, which this year features the virtual screening of works by award-winning film editor Lillian E. Benson, ACE. The titles included in the two-week retrospective will stream for free from the BPM website. An announcement of the slate is forthcoming. Check BPM’s website and social media for updates.

PitchBLACK Forum, where industry leaders and funders network while film and immersive makers pitch their projects before a jury and a live audience.

PitchBLACK Awards, where $230,000 in funding will go to the Forum winners and others.

Now in its 8th year, PitchBLACK has become a go-to convening for anyone aiming to stay current on projects and makers who are in the public media pipeline.

Advertising futurist Tameka Kee returns to host the PitchBLACK Forum on Wednesday, April 30. The program starts at 9 a.m. Five film teams will compete for as much as $150,000 in production and distribution awards that morning. In the afternoon, six immersive media teams will compete for up to $75,000.

Jamie Roberts — a Harlem-based actor/comedian and co-owner of the neighborhood’s first Black-owned comedy club, Comedy in Harlem — will emcee the awards program the next evening (Thursday, May 1). No stranger to bright lights, Roberts has performed at several high-profile venues across the U.S., — including the Apollo Theater, the Strand Theater in Oak Bluffs and the Laugh Factory in Hollywood —  as well as at venues in Mexico, Jamaica, Antigua, and Grenada. His extensive acting resume includes appearances on Law & Order, HBO’s Paterno, A Question of Love, No Small Talk, and BricTV’s Laffaholics.

Saluting media excellence in a storied Manhattan neighborhood

In moving PitchBLACK to the Apollo Stages at the Victoria — which is a recent addition to the legendary Apollo Theatre complex — BPM is shining its spotlight on the role of public media in Harlem’s ongoing legacy of Black creativity and innovation.  “This spectacular venue, which opened its doors last March, is the first expansion of the iconic venue’s physical footprint in its unparalleled 90-year history,” said BPM executive director Leslie Fields-Cruz.  “BPM is headquartered only a few blocks away in Harlem, so we’re thrilled to be able to bring our signature event uptown.”

The documentary film projects being pitched at PitchBLACK Forum include:

  • A Better Way: James Lawson, Architect of Non-violence, by Karen Hayes
  • Finding Your Laughter, by Arlieta Hall and Brittany Alsot
  • Unfiltered, by Chelsi Bullard and Jacqueline Olive
  • #WhileBlack, by Sidney Fussell and Jennifer Holness
  • Wood Street, by Caron Creighton

Starting at 1 p.m., an eclectic group of creative technologists will pitch immersive projects. That group includes filmmakers, a medical student, visual artists, and a game developer. Their projects include: 

  • Bed of Roses, by Rasheed Peters
  • Cütie Catcherz, by Steven Christian
  • FutureGen, by Anatola Araba
  • Rhythmic Wave II, by Aya
  • Run, by Jeremy Kamal
  • The Veil and the Artifact, by Joel Mack.      

For more information about these projects, visit the BPM website.

The awards program kicks off the next day at 7 p.m., with  Brittany Luse — host of NPR’s It’s Been a Minute — leading an Artist Chat with Trailblazer Benson. This year’s Nonso Christian Ugbode Fellow will be announced at the PitchBLACK Awards and Yansa Fatima, an actor/singer who also serves as the voice of BPM’s popular AfroPoP series, will offer a musical selection. The award show closes with the announcement of the PitchBLACK Forum winners. A lively afterparty, complete with a DJ and cocktails, will follow.

Over the years, PitchBLACK has awarded $1.8 million in funding to forum winners. Completed projects include six network broadcast placements, two webseries, four Nonso Christian Ugbode Fellows and one immersive activation. The event draws an audience of industry professionals who are eager to mingle with established and rising public media luminaries at the forefront of Black media storytelling.

PitchBLACK Forum is a free, invitation-only event. Interested members of the film or media technology industries who have not yet been invited, as well as prospective investors, art gallery hosts, distributors or curators, are welcome to submit an industry accreditation form to request an invitation. Tickets for the PitchBLACK Awards are on sale now. Reserve your spot today!

This article was written and sponsored by Black Public Media. Learn more at: blackpublicmedia.org and follow BPM on social media: @blackpublicmedia on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.