2025 Festival Recap
UW 2025 Recap
Urbanworld welcomes RZA as our 2023 Festival Ambassador
“There aren’t a lot of film festivals that intentionally shine light on the works of Black men and women in our industry. Our growing number of directors and producers need more outlets. Urbanworld gets it, and the opportunity to serve as ambassador to this years festival is an honor and a privilege.”
-RZA, Member of the Wu-Tang Clan and Director of A Wu-Tang Experience: Live at Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Day 1 – Innovation Summit Recap
Day 1 – Thursday, October 30
Day 2 – Friday, October 31
Day 3 – Saturday, November 1
Urbanworld Awards Brunch
2025 Urbanworld Winners
2025 NYWIFT Award for Excellence in Narrative Feature Film Directing Winner – Jackie Quinones – Miles Away
2025 NYWIFT Award for Excellence in Documentary Feature Film Directing Winner – Lisa Cunningham – Me Period
2025 Cultural Visionary Award – Emmai Alaquiva – The Ebony Canal: A Story on Black Infant Mortality
2025 AUDIENCE AWARD Winner – Can You Stand the Rain – Eden Marryshow
2025 AUDIENCE AWARD (2nd Place) – Route 187 – Tyler Perry – Mark E. Swinton
2025 AUDIENCE AWARD (3rd Place) – The Ebony Canal: A Story on Black Infant Mortality – Emmai Alaquiva
Best Screenplay Winner – Amerigirl – Samina Saifee
Best Screenplay Honorable Mention – Lucid Summer – Khaled Ridgeway & Noah Cooper
Best Narrative Experimental Winner – Ruya – Nicole Mairose Dizon
Best Narrative Experimental Honorable Mention – boju weyín – Bimpè Fageyinbo
Best Short Documentary (Young Creators) Winner – Handwoven – Dasha Levin, Mason Cazalet, Matthew Wisdom, Mihika Das
Best Short Documentary (Young Creator) Honorable Mention – Shirley Park – Mason Brown
Best Documentary Short Winner – The Hardest Working Man – Aaron Cassara
Best Documentary Short Honorable Mention – Interception: Jayne Kennedy – American Sportscaster – Safiya Songhai
Best Documentary Feature Winner – Fatherless No More – Kayla Johnson
Best Documentary Feature Honorable Mention – Treasure of the Rice Terraces – Kent Donguines
Best Episodic Winner – Route 187 – Tyler Perry & Mark E. Swinton
Best Episodic Honorable Mention – Spar – Anthony Vander
Best Short Narrative (Young Creators) Winner – Glide: All the People I’ll Never Be – Li Anne Liew
Best Short Narrative (Young Creators) Honorable Mention – Ice Cream, Ice Queen – Jeremy Chi
Best Short Narrative Winner – Superman Doesn’t Steal – Tamika Lamison
Best Short Narrative Honorable Mention – A Beauty Supply in Queens – Princess Adenine
Best Narrative Feature Winner – No, Gracias, Ya No Fumo – Diego Toussaint
Best Narrative Feature Honorable Mention – Miles Away – Jackie Quinones
2025 Urbanworld Jury
Lamonia Brown Producer and Film Festival Wizard
Pamela French Senior Content Producer, The Hip Hop Museum – Lead Instructor, MCIMW
Ron Worthy Media and Community Partner for Urbanworld
Chinisha Scott Emmy-nominated, Award-winning, Multi-hyphenate Creator
Shuran Huang Photojournalist
Derrick Goss Founder, Chief Brand and Transformation Architect at Pearl Brand Studio
Seth Rosenfeld Screenwriter
Nicole Tsien Producer
Rahman Ali Bugg Award Winning Executive Producer and Director
Shauna Seresin Co-founder of Minerva TV
Rachael Galpern Founder of NextFoundArtist
CR Capers Founder and CEO of Harlem Film House
Tilane Jones President of ARRAY
Muta Ali Emmy-nominated and Award-winning Film Director
Greg Carter Accomplished Filmmaker
David Gross Video Editor and Filmmaker