Welcome to our 20th Annual film festival. We kick off the festival with a film dear to my heart. The Harlem Film institute celebrates its 20th anniversary, with the screening of a film i made more than 30 years ago. “No Place to Cry” stars Exonerated 5 Korey Wise, at the tender age of 12. In light of recent events, we felt this film would be the perfect way to exalt our 20 years of serving independent filmmakers.
“No Place to Cry” Directed by Melvin Best
1999 FILM FESTIVAL PROGRAM
HFI Hall of Fame
1999- Oscar Micheaux
2000- Melvin Van Peebles
2001-Gordon Parks (1912-2006)
2002 -Noble Johnson (1881-1978 )
2003-Spencer Williams (1893-1969)
2004-Ivan Dixon (1931-2009)
2005-Sidney Poitier
2006-Clarence Muse (1889-1979)
2006-Charles Burnett
2007-Kathleen Collins (1942-1988)
2007-William Greaves (1926-2014)
2008-Michael Schultz
2009-Maya Angelou (1928-2014)
2010-Spike Lee
2011-Julie Dash
2012-Robert Townsend
2013-Reggie Hudlin
2014-Steve McQueen
2015-F Gary Gray
2016-Barry Jenkins
2017-Albert Hughes
2018-Warrington Hudlin
2019-John Singleton (1968-2019)
Hi I’m Melvin Best, founder and director of the Harlem Film Institute. I am an educator, avid film lover and all around nice guy.