Country United States | Official website Black Reel Awards.com | |
Awarded for Excellence in African-American Films Presented by Foundation for the Advancement of African-Americans in Film First awarded February 16, 2000; 17 years ago (2000-02-16) | ||
The Black Reel Awards, or "BRAs", is an annual American awards ceremony hosted by the Foundation for the Augmentation of African-Americans in Film (FAAAF) to recognize excellence in African-American, as well as those of African diaspora's cinematic achievements in the around the world film industry as assessed by the Academy's voting membership. The various category winners are awarded a copy of a statuette, officially called the Black Reel Award. The awards, first presented in 2000 in Washington, DC, are overseen by FAAAF.
Contents
- History
- Institutions
- Motion Picture Categories
- Independent Next Generation Categories
- Television Categories
- Discontinued Categories
- Special Categories
- Current Special Categories
- Discontinued Special Categories
- Film nominations
- Most nominated performers
- Most Individual Wins
- References
The awards ceremony was initially awarded online their first two years before the first live show in 2002. The awards have broadcast to radio since 2014. Currently, the Black Reel Awards is the oldest cinema-exclusive awards ceremony for African-Americans.
The 16th Annual Black Reel Awards ceremony was held on February 18, 2016. A total of 315 Black Reel Awards have been presented since the inception of the award through the 16th.
History
Founded by film critic, Tim Gordon and Sabrina McNeal in 2000, the first annual Black Reel Awards presentation was held on February 16, 2000, online courtesy of Reel Images Magazine. Two years later, the third annual Black Reel Awards held their first live presentation at a private dinner function at the Cada Vez in Washington, DC with an audience of about 150 people. Twenty statuettes were awarded, honoring African-American artists, directors and other participants in the filmmaking industry, for their works during 2001. The ceremony ran for 90 minutes.
In subsequent years, the Black Reel Awards have largely been presented in the Nation’s Capital, with the exception of one year when the awards were moved to New York. The awards have been presented live several times: the fourth annual Black Reel Awards presentation was held at H20 on the Southwest waterfront in Washington, DC with an audience of about 200 people; the sixth annual Black Reel Awards presentation was held at the French Embassy with an audience of about 350 people; and the thirteenth annual Black Reel Awards presentation was held at the MIST Harlem with an audience of about 200 people.
Initially, winners were announced online; since for every live awards presentation, the Foundation has used a sealed envelope to reveal the name of winners. The awards have been presented on radio since 2014.
The Black Reel Awards benefit The Foundation for the Advancement of African-Americans in Film (FAAAF), a non-profit arts organization whose mission is to provide educational opportunities to future minority film executives. Through the FAAAF programs "Reel Kids," and "Producer's Institute," scholarships are awarded to minority junior high, high school and college graduate students pursuing careers in the movie and television industries.
In 2015, the Foundation changed its name to The Foundation for the Augmentation of African-Americans in Film.
Institutions
The first Outstanding Actor award was given to Denzel Washington, for his performance in The Hurricane. He subsequently received the same honor the next two years, for his performances in Remember the Titans and Training Day.
At the 3rd Annual Black Reel Awards ceremony, held on February 16, 2002, the Outstanding Foreign Film category was introduced.
The 6th Annual Black Reel Awards, held in 2005, presented the first Vanguard Award, for entertainer of the year to Jamie Foxx for his performances in Collateral, Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story, and Ray.
Each of the Black Reel Awards ceremonies has ended with the Black Reel Award for Outstanding Film.
Motion Picture Categories
Independent & Next Generation Categories
Television Categories
Discontinued Categories
In 2005, three categories, Outstanding Actor, Outstanding Actress, as well as Outstanding Film awards were split into two separate categories (Drama and Musical/Comedy). In addition, the Outstanding Original Television Program was discontinued in 2005 and later expanded and resurfaced in 2015 as the Outstanding Television Documentary or Special category.
Special Categories
The Special Black Reel Awards are voted on by special Foundation committees, rather than by the Voting Academy membership as a whole. They are not always presented on a consistent annual basis.
Current Special Categories
Discontinued Special Categories
Film nominations
Below are the Motion Picture and Television films with 5 or more nominations. For Colored Girls holds the records for the most nominated film with 14 nominations. 12 Years a Slave and Selma are tied with the most wins with 8 wins apiece. On the television side, Lackawanna Blues holds the record for most nominations with 9 and wins 7 for a television film.
Most nominated performers
This is a list of multiple nominated performers, producers, writers & directors with 5 or more career nominations as of 2016. Spike Lee holds the record with 27 nominations as a producer, director and writer.
Most Individual Wins
Here are the individuals with the most wins, as of the 2016 ceremony.