The Hollywood Black Film Festival (HBFF) is an annual 6-day celebration of black cinema drawing together established filmmakers, popular film and TV stars, writers, directors, industry executives, emerging artists and new audiences from Southern California and around the world. Attracting such stars and industry insiders as Academy Award® winners Forest Whitaker and Sidney Poitier, John Singleton, Spike Lee, George Tillman, Tina Andrews, Reuben Cannon, Anthony Anderson, Blair Underwood, Sanaa Lathan, Bill Duke, Kasi Lemmons, Vondie Curtis Hall, Tisha Campbell and Nicole Ari Parker, the festival has become a hotbed for the Black Hollywood creative community.

HBFF was founded in 1998 by its executive director, Tanya Kersey, in order to enhance the careers of emerging and established black filmmakers through a public exhibition and competition program. The festival's goal is to play an integral role in discovering and launching independent films and filmmakers by bringing them to the attention of the industry, press and public.

Past festival features in the invitational program have included director John Singleton's box office blockbuster "2 Fast 2 Furious," the critically-acclaimed "The Hurricane" (starring Academy Awardâ„¢ winner Denzel Washington), director Kasi Lemmons' "The Caveman's Valentine" (starring Samuel L. Jackson), and director Reggie Rock Bythewood's "Dancing In September."