New York - UPI
Director Joshua Sanchez's "Four" has won the top prize -- Best Narrative Feature -- at the 16th annual Urbanworld Film Festival in New York. The five-day festival began Sept. 19 and concluded Sunday with an awards reception at Tribeca Grill Loft in Manhattan, presided over by actors Stephen Hill and Tracy Heggins. "Urbanworld," which screened 49 films this year, is billed as the "largest internationally competitive festival dedicated to the exhibition of independent cinema by and about people of color." The winner in the Best Narrative Short category was Jesse Atlas' "Record/Play." Winning the Best Documentary Feature prize was Byron Hurt's "Soul Food Junkies." Peter Lord's "Agent 12 & the Messiah Stone" scored the accolade for Best Screenplay, while Pauline Gray's "Nala's Heart" earned the Best Teleplay honor. Ralph Scott's "Barbasol" picked up the Audience Award for Best Short and "Doin' It in the Park" by Kevin Couliau and Bobbito Garcia won the Audience Award for Best Feature.