--- description: The American Black Film Festival will be held one week before the Oscars, honoring films and TV shows with lead actors of African descent. title: Here's Who the American Black Film Festival Will Honor Before the Oscars image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4abc686f0f3f9dd0/698879efcd1bba4d236ff086/teyonah-parris.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [awards](/tag/awards/) ## awards Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Here's Who the American Black Film Festival Will Honor Right Before the Oscars  by [Eliza Berman](/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Jan 21, 2016 4:17 PM CUT  Teyonah Parris at the New York premiere of her movie "Chi-Raq" on December 1, 2015. Teyonah Parris at the New York premiere of her movie "Chi-Raq" on December 1, 2015.James Devaney--2015 James Devaney/Getty Images  by [Eliza Berman](/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Jan 21, 2016 4:17 PM CUT On Feb. 21, exactly one week before the Academy Awards, the American Black Film Festival Honors will recognize the best television shows and movies of 2015 which feature a lead actor of African descent. The announcement of the nominees for this year’s honors comes after a week of charged discussion about the [conspicuous absence](http://time.com/4180868/oscar-nominations-analysis/ "undefined") of Oscar nominees of color for a second consecutive year, and [decisions](http://time.com/4184380/spike-lee-oscar-boycott-oscarssowhite/ "undefined") by would-be Oscar attendees Spike Lee, Jada Pinkett Smith and [Will Smith](http://time.com/4188459/will-smith-oscars-boycott/ "undefined") not to attend the ceremony. The mission of the [ABFF Honors](http://abff.com "undefined") is “to celebrate Black culture by recognizing individuals, movies and television shows that have had a significant impact on American entertainment, as well as those who are proponents of championing diversity and inclusion in Hollywood.” In addition to the nominees listed below, the event, to be hosted by Mike Epps, will honor Diahann Carroll with the _Hollywood Legacy Award_ and producer Will Packer with the _Distinguished ABFF Alumni Award_. There will also be honors for _Excellence in the Arts_ and a _Rising Star_, still to be announced. ABFF President and CEO Jeff Friday, who also founded the Honors, echoed some of the sentiments Pinkett Smith conveyed when explaining her decision to skip the Oscars. “I have always believed that the Black artists in Hollywood would be more empowered if they were more committed to supporting one another, attending celebrations of their culture and relying less on mainstream validation of their work,” Friday said in a press release. Several of the ABFF’s film nominees, including _Straight Outta Compton_, _Creed_ and _Beasts of No Nation_, have been cited as examples of stories about people of color the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences may have overlooked when voting on Oscar nominees. Many believe that actors like Idris Elba (_Beasts of No Nation_) and Will Smith (_Concussion_) delivered performances worthy of an Oscar nod. Below are this year’s ABFF Honors: **Film of the Year** _Beasts of No Nation_ _Chi-Raq_ _Concussion_ _Creed_ _Dope_ _Straight Outta Compton_ **Television Show of the Year** _Being Mary Jane_ _black-ish_ _Empire_ _How to Get Away With Murder_ _Power_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4188587/american-black-film-festival-honors/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4188587/american-black-film-festival-honors/"},"headline":"Here's Who the American Black Film Festival Will Honor Right Before the Oscars","datePublished":"2016-01-21T16:17:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T14:19:52.012Z","description":"Nominees include \"Straight Outta Compton\" and \"Empire\"","url":"https://time.com/4188587/american-black-film-festival-honors/","keywords":["awards","Television","movies","Oscars"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4abc686f0f3f9dd0/698879efcd1bba4d236ff086/teyonah-parris.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliza Berman","jobTitle":"Berman is a senior editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4abc686f0f3f9dd0/698879efcd1bba4d236ff086/teyonah-parris.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Teyonah Parris at the New York premiere of her movie \"Chi-Raq\" on December 1, 2015.","caption":"Teyonah Parris at the New York premiere of her movie \"Chi-Raq\" on December 1, 2015.","creditText":"James Devaney--2015 James Devaney/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/awards/","name":"awards"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4188587/american-black-film-festival-honors/","name":"Here's Who the American Black Film Festival Will Honor Right Before the Oscars"}}]}] ```