More photos plus winners of the 15th Urbanworld Film Festival |

The 15th Annual Urbanworld Film Festival closed its 15th film festival with the New York City premiere of Sundance World Cinema Audience Award film Kinyarwanda, directed by Alrick Brown and starring Cassandra Freeman. The packed theater gave the film a standing ovation, followed by a Q&A with Brown, Freeman and producer Darren Dean, which was moderated by journalist Lola Ogunnaike.

Actress Zoe Kravitz was also in attendance to promote her role in the film Yelling to the Sky, directed by Victoria Mahoney and starring Gabourey Sidibe, Yolonda Ross and Sonequa Martin.

Additional screenings included Life Love Soul, directed by Noel Calloway and starring Jamie Hector, Terri J. Vaughn, Chad Coleman, Egypt Sherrod, Tamara Fay, Allen West and Robbie Tate-Brickle; Make a Movie Like Spike, directed by and starring Jamil Walker Smith; The Start of Dreams, directed by the Horne Brothers and starring Kenny Leon, Samuel L. Jackson and Denzel Washington; and Vh1 Rock Docs’ Planet Rock: The Story of Hip Hop and the Crack Generation, narrated and executive produced by Ice-T.

Urbanworld announced the winners of the main categories for this year’s event on Sunday. The five-day festival ended with an awards reception at Tribeca Grill Loft. The festival, which screened 59 films this year, including 17 world premieres, is the largest internationally competitive festival dedicated to the exhibition of independent cinema by and about people of color.

The 15th Annual Urbanworld Film Festival winners are:

Best Narrative Feature
MAMITAS
Written and Directed by Nicholas Ozeki; Produced by Adam Renehan, Andrew Daniel Wells

Honorable Mention:
Make a Movie Like Spike (Written and Directed by Jamil Walker Smith)
Restless City (for Cinematography – Bradford Young; Directed by Andrew Dosunmu)

Best Narrative Short
WAKE
Written and Directed by Bree Newsome; Produced by Valerie Champagne, Bree Newsome

Honorable Mention:
Counterfeit (Written and Directed by Geoff Bailey)
The Man in the Glass Case (Written and Directed by Maxwell Addae)

Best Documentary Feature
ZERO PERCENT
Written and Directed by Tom Skousen; Produced by Robert Fernandez, Tom Skousen

Best Documentary Short
LOVE LOCKDOWN
Directed by Nadia Hallgren; Produced by Jamie-James Medina

Honorable Mention:
Common Ground (for cinematography – Eduard Jakaj, Stephen Dwight; Directed by Hollie Fifer)

Best Screenplay
AFTER THE STORM
Written by Cole Wiley

Honorable Mention:
Blackbird (Written by David Polk)
The Divide (Written by Rashmi Singh)

Best Teleplay
WHITEHALL
Written by Dawn M. Green and Aliza Pearl Kennerly

Audience Award
LIFE LOVE SOUL
Written and Directed by Noel Calloway; Produced by Allen J. West, Benny Pough, Dedra N. Tate

Honorable Mention:
Brooklyn Boheme (Directed by Diane Paragas and Nelson George)

The 15th Annual Urbanworld Film Festival Jurors were:

Narrative Shorts Jurors
Alyce Myatt – Director of Media Arts, NEA (National Endowment for the Arts)
Tambay Obenson – Filmmaker, Film Critic and Creator, Shadow & Act
Effie T. Brown – Producer (Rocket Science)

Narrative Features Jurors
Lauren Craniotes – VP of Productions, Sony Pictures
Barry Jenkins – Writer & Director (Medicine for Melancholy)
Stephanie Allain – Producer (Hustle & Flow)
Dori Begley – Head of Acquisitions, Magnolia Pictures
Roger Bobb – President, Bobbcat Films (House Of Payne)

Documentary Shorts & Features Jurors
Jeff Zimbalist – Writer & Director (Favela Rising)
Jackie Glover – VP of Documentary Films, HBO
Valerie Watts Meraz – VP of Content Acquisitions, Showtime Networks

Screenplays Jurors
Moikgantsi Kgama – Founder, ImageNation
Jae Kim – Senior Director of Original Programming, BET Networks
Glendon Palmer – VP of Development, Our Stories Films
Paul Hall – CEO/Founder, Paul Hall Productions (For Colored Girls)
Ava DuVernay – Writer, Director, & Producer (I Will Follow)

Teleplay Jurors
Jae Kim – Senior Director, Original Programming, BET Networks
Tamara Gregory – Senior Director, Original Programming, BET Networks
Rickey Austyn Biggers – Senior Director, Development, BET Networks

Check out photos from days 2 and 3 of the Festival below or CLICK HERE for images from opening night. See our entire set of images from the 15th Annual Urbanworld Film Festival on my photo blog at photos.byhandmedia.com.