Black LGBTs to Host Black Alphabet Film Festival July 2-3

In the inaugural launch of the Chicago based Black Alphabet’s debut event, the community-based group is launching its first annual Black Alphabet Film Festival (BAFF) July 2-3 at the Center on Halsted and Inn of Chicago.

Featuring a combination of nearly 20 shorts and features from around the world, the two day event marks one of the first exclusively Black LGBTQ and same-gender-loving (SGL) film festivals in the city.

BAFF will have a few screenings receiving their official Chicago premieres, including Friend of Essex, a documentary meditation on the continuing influence of poet activist Essex Hemphill; Glitterboys & Ganglands, a documentary about transgender life on the South African beauty-pageant circuit; and I Didn’t Know Mark Carson, a short on the recent New York City gay hate-crime slaying.

Affinity, the Center on Halsted (COH), Chicago Black Gay Men’s Caucus (CBGMC) and United Black Pride are co-hosting the event. The July 2 event begins at 5:30 p.m. at the Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted St. at the Hoover-Leppen Theater; the following night rolls out more adult fare at the Inn of Chicago, 162 E. Ohio St., 6-9:30 p.m.

See www.blackalphabet.org or www.facebook.com/blackalphabetChicago.