Submissions Open For 2020 American Black Film Festival's HBO Short Film Competition

Film submissions are now open for the American Black Film Festival (ABFF)'s 23rd Annual HBO Short Film Competition. The five filmmakers selected as finalists will receive a trip to the festival in Miami Beach, Florida (including airfare and hotel accommodations), which runs from June 17-21, 2020. The winning prize for the ABFF's HBO Short Film Award is $10,000 and each finalist will receive $5,000. In addition, all five films will be made available to stream on HBO.

The HBO Short Film Competition is regarded as one of the most prestigious short film showcases in the country. Prior winners include Ryan Coogler ("Black Panther"), Steven Caple Jr ("Creed II"), Kiel Adrian Scott ("The Bobby Brown Story"), Saladin K. Patterson ("The Big Bang Theory") and Ben Watkins ("Burn Notice").

HBO has been a presenting sponsor of ABFF since its inception in 1997 and is dedicated to furthering ABFF's mission to showcase quality film and television content by and about people of African descent. Last year's five finalists included "Cap," written and directed by Marshall Tyler, "Wednesday," written by Jessica D. Shields and directed by Daniel Willis, "Fisherman," written and directed by Zoey Martinson, "Evelyn x Evelyn," written and directed by Eric Pumphrey and "Flight," written by Kia Moses and codirected by Kia Moses and Adrian McDonald.

Hosted by Bevy Smith ("Page Six TV"), the competition will be held in the New World Center Performance Hall on Friday, June 19, at 4:30 p.m. The winner will be announced during the Best of the ABFF Awards Presentation on Saturday, June 20 at 9:30 p.m.

For complete submission criteria and eligibility visit www.abff.com/submissions. Submission deadline is February 15, 2020 at 11:59 PT.