San Francisco Black Film Festival | San Francisco, CA

The mission of the San Francisco Black Film Festival (SFBFF) is to celebrate African American cinema and the African cultural Diaspora and to showcase a diverse collection of films – from emerging and established filmmakers. This is accomplished by presenting Black films, which reinforce positive images and dispel negative stereotypes, and providing film artists from the bay area in particular and around the world in general, a forum for their work to be viewed and discussed. SFBFF believes film can lead to a better understanding of and communication between, peoples of diverse cultures, races, and lifestyles, while simultaneously serving as a vehicle to initiate dialogue on the important issues of our times.

An early proponent of the global perspective, the festival has always been ahead of its time. “The San Francisco Black Film Festival was designed to draw international participation,” says SFBFF founder Ave Montague (See Note). “Long before popular culture paid lip service to ‘going global’, we were walking the walk, presenting global motifs and topics from filmmakers around the world”.

From its modest beginnings in 1998 with $3,000 in funding, SFBFF has grown from a one day event with an audience of 300 to an five day multiple venue cultural celebration drawing over 2,000 people. Comprised of film screenings, panel discussions, hands-on workshops, the Ueban Kidz film series, opening and closing programs, and the Melvin Van Peebles Award ceremony which recognizes an emerging filmmaker for risk taking. Under the leadership of founder Ave Montague, the San Francisco Black Film Festival is managed by a dedicated Advisory board of 15 artists, business people and film professionals. For more information, visit SFBFF’s official website.

Special Note: Ave Montague, a noted promoter of arts organizations in San Francisco and founder of the San Francisco Black Film Festival, passed away on January 30, 2009. In addition to running the annual SFBFF, Montague publicized many nonprofit groups over the years, including the Lorraine Hansberry and Oakland Ensemble theaters, the Bay Area Black Journalists Association, the Omega Boys Club and the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD). Born in East Orange, N.J., Montague moved to San Francisco in the 1980s, Montague started her own public relations firm, representing artists and nonprofit groups like the United Negro College Fund and the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame. Out of the latter came the San Francisco Black Film Festival. Montague received the Business Woman of the Year Award from the San Francisco Business and Professional Women’s Club in 1994, and, with the late Faith Fancher, was a founding member of Friends of Faith, an organization that educates women about breast cancer. Montague is survived by a son, Kali Ray, of Atlanta, and two grandchildren.