Film festivals, all over the world, present an opportunity for film lovers, actors, directors, producers, critics, and a host of other industry influencers to come together for a few days to fellowship over their object of mutual adoration: films. The Urban World Film Festival is no different in this regard.
Stacy Spikes, in partnership with HBO, founded the Urban World Film Festival in 1997. The twenty-three-year-old Festival, which is held annually in New York City, is a five-day event anchored in film, showcasing narrative and documentary features, short films, spotlight screenings and conversations, and live staged screenplay readings.
The Urban World Film Festival is one of the largest festivals across the world, and works to highlight films that cut across different cultures, themes, and characters. The Festival in particular gives room for Black directors, and content creators to showcase their content to a large audience of film buffs.
The 2019 edition of the Festival, which takes place between September 18 – 22, at the AMC Empire 25 (Midtown, Manhattan) New York City, has a lineup of seventy eight films, including two from Nollywood producers: Beverly Naya and Ego Boyo.

Skin, a feature documentary by Beverly Naya, is about exploring through identity the meaning of beauty in all the different shades of black. Skin, directed by Daniel Etim Effiong, stars Eryca Freemantle, Eku Edewor, Diana Yekinni, Mudi Yahaya, Hilda Dokubo, and a host of others. The documentary, which premiered in Lagos in March 2019, will be showing at the Urban World Film Festival on Thursday, September 19. You can watch the official trailer of the documentary here.

Another Nollywood producer whose movie is a must-see at the 2019 Urban World Film Festival is Ego Boyo with The Ghost and The House of Truth. Directed by award-winning filmmaker Akin Omotoso, The Ghost and The House of Truth is set to premiere at the Festival on Friday, September 20, 2019.
The Ghost and The House of Truth tells the story of Bola, a single mother who works with crime victims to find healing, who finds herself in need of healing when her child becomes a victim of a terrible crime. The Ghost and The House of Truth stars Tope Tedela, Kate Henshaw, Seun Ajayi, Ijeoma Grace Agu, Fabian Lojede, Mairo Obruthe, Susan Wokoma, Imoleayo Olusanya, Toyin Oshinaike, Gloria Young, to name a few. Watch the official trailer here.
Other Nigerian producers whose films have been showcased at the Urban World Film Festival include Ebbe Bassey with Siri Oko Fo (2008), Adeyemi Michael with Sodiq (2014), Femi Odugbemi with Gidi Blues (2016), Bola Ogun with Are we good Parents (2018), to mention a few.
For more information on the Urban World Film Festival visit www.urbanworld.org