About - Urbanworld

Legacy + Innovation

Where Storytelling, Technology

and Culture Converge

Urbanworld is a five-day festival, based in New York City, showcasing narrative and documentary features, short films, web originals, music videos, spotlight screenings and conversations, and live staged screenplay readings.

Our Urbanworld Innovation Summit convenes industry experts sharing insights on the evolving landscape of content creation, financing, distribution, and marketing, all through the lens of Technology and Storytelling with an eye towards the future via a Web3 experience.

Urbanworld Nightlife rounds out the festival, powering premiere and cultural events with a mix of curated DJs and live performances.

Our Legacy

The Urbanworld Film Festival, founded in 1997 by Stacy Spikes, is one of the largest internationally competitive festivals of its kind. Since inception, Hollywood studios, indie film distributors, and established and emerging filmmakers have consistently chosen Urbanworld to premiere box office and award-winning hits.

The Urbanworld Film Festival is an initiative of the Urbanworld Foundation Inc., a nonprofit organization that redefines and advances the presence and impact of the multicultural community in cinema and cross-platform media.

Who We Are

stacy spikes

Stacy Spikes

Festival Founder

Karen McMullen

Karen McMullen

Festival Director | Head of Programming

Sharese Bullock-Bailey

Sharese Bullock-Bailey

Chief Innovation Officer

Jessica Chong

Jessica Chong

Communications Coordinator | Producer

Albert Chow

Albert Chow

Festival Producer

Samantha Debicki

Screenwriting Program Producer

Joelle Griffith

Events Producer | Partnerships Coordinator

Eric Iverson

Webmaster

Candace Jones

Theater Operations Lead

mabasa mathrope

Mabasa Mathope

Technical Operations Producer

ashley mui

Ashley Mui

Filmmaker Liaison | Programmer

Tony Murphy

Tony Murphy

Technical Operations Lead

Tambay Obenson

Lead Film Curator

sandy cabada valenzuela

Sandy Cabada Valenzuela

Community Partnerships Liaison | Programmer

Founding Partner

hbo

Industry Partners 2022

nyc media and entertainment mpa writers guild of america east
neutrogena studios DGA

Community Partners

asian american collective cinema tropical nywift black film space jill newman productions
latino public broadcasting film fatales bric
Imagination Tide Film Festival ACV black house l21 consulting cinema sofa nyc parks
black tv and film collective nyc media and entertainment programmers of colour collective DCTV bgfs
soulhead true colors united a-doc black public media cast and crew of color.org
filmaid mifilm
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