The 2017 American Black Film Festival (ABFF) will open with the comedy Girls Trip on June 14, at the historic Olympia Theater in Miami.
The world premiere, which is in advance of its nationwide release, is presented by the Motion Picture Association of America Inc. (MPAA), courtesy of Universal.
Girls Trip arrives in theaters on July 21.
Producer Will Packer (Ride Along and Think Like a Man franchises, Almost Christmas) presents the new comedy from director-producer Malcolm D. Lee (The Best Man franchise, Barbershop: The Next Cut).
When four lifelong friends—Regina Hall (Think Like a Man, The Best Man Holiday), Tiffany Haddish (Keanu, A Christmas Wedding), with Jada Pinkett Smith (Gotham, Bad Moms) and Queen Latifah (Star, Bessie)—travel to New Orleans for the annual Essence Festival, sisterhoods are rekindled, wild sides are rediscovered, and there’s enough dancing, drinking, brawling and romancing to make the Big Easy blush.
Larenz Tate (House of Lies), Kate Walsh (Private Practice), Mike Colter (Luke Cage) and Kofi Siriboe (Queen Sugar) co-star in the comedy directed from a screenplay by Black-ish creator Kenya Barris & screenwriter Tracy Oliver (Barbershop: The Next Cut), from a story by Erica Rivinoja (Trolls) and Barris & Oliver. James Lopez, head of motion pictures for Will Packer Productions, and Preston Holmes, executive produce. Hashtag: #GirlsTrip Website: www.GirlsTripMovie.com
“The MPAA is thrilled to once again sponsor the Opening Night film for the American Black Film Festival,” said Senator Chris Dodd, Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America. “For five years, the MPAA has partnered with the ABFF to diversify the creative pipeline, and I want to commend my good friend Jeff Friday and his team on their extraordinary work in presenting a wide array of diverse stories to the Festival audience. I would like to thank our member studio Universal Pictures for partnering with us to showcase their new film Girls Trip.”
“We deeply appreciate Senator Dodd and the MPAA team’s continued support of ABFF. Both the MPAA and Universal Pictures are genuinely committed to supporting diversity in the motion-picture industry, and we are excited to premiere Girls Trip to the ABFF audience on opening night. The film is produced by ABFF alum Will Packer and starring, among others, this year’s ABFF ambassador, Regina Hall—as well as directed by longtime friend of the festival Malcolm D. Lee. We’ll also be following up the screening with a dynamic ‘ABFF First Look’ panel discussion the very next day: the perfect combination to start this year’s festival,” said ABFF Ventures CEO Founder Jeff Friday.
