American Black Film Festival
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If you somehow needed any more convincing that Dallas is quickly becoming an in-demand destination for the film industry, let this weekend be the curtain call.
The American Black Film Festival (ABFF), an annual showcase that often features some of the biggest names in the industry, is coming to Big D. Next year marks the festival’s 30th anniversary, and organizers are already commencing the celebrations by taking the show on the road with four-city pop-up that includes Dallas, New York, Atlanta and Los Angeles.
While the official festival is held in Miami every year, the pop-up tour stops in cities known as movie hubs — that now includes Dallas.
ABFF president and co-founder, Nicole Friday, says the city earned its spot due to high demands requesting Dallas.
“Dallas is a strong market. There are a lot of creatives that come out of Dallas,” Friday says. “We know that Dallas is gonna come out strong. We’re looking forward to seeing all of the folks come and enjoy this pop-up.”
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The two-day event will be held at the AMC NorthPark 15 on Nov. 15-16. Saturday’s events include a wide slate of panels and workshops. If you’re an actor looking to sharpen your skills, the “Break It Down: How to Bring A Script to Life” workshop will be led by actor Gerrard James.
“He’s going to take the students, the audience, the customers through different ways of how to break down, how to bring a script, how to take a script from words on a paper to actual words in a scene,” Friday tells us.
She also offers festivalgoers advice for the day’s scheduled networking events: “Stay ready so you don’t have to get ready. Be ready to seize an opportunity that is in front of you, whatever that looks like.”
Houston native and WNBA star Sydney Colson is hosting the “Creative Storytelling and Business of Sports and Content” event alongside her fellow WNBA alum and podcast co-host Theresa Plaisance. Friday says the city’s love for sports (including a rapidly growing interest in the Dallas Wings) led them to focus on more sports-related content.
“It just made sense, and I I think that people are really interested in understanding the business of sports as well as how that transfers or translates into content,” she says. “Because there’s a lot of people who are in the sports industry or sports field who want to be in film and television — there are cross-cultural intersections.”
Attendees can also catch a glimpse of the 29th ABFF finalists with The 2025 HBO Short Film showcase, which allows audiences a chance to view five short films selected from thousands of filmmakers from across the country.
Meanwhile, Sunday is dedicated to film screenings of The Fisherman, which earned the 2025 ABFF awards for Best Narrative Feature and Best Director. Other standouts set to be screened include Fatherless No More and the narrative feature, The Late Night Creep.
Tickets for the American Black Film Festival pop-up are available now.
