Omari Hardwick & Gentleman Jack Celebrate Aspiring African American Filmmakers
Stoic yet passionate; a conglomerate of confidence and humility, Omari Hardwick engages in open dialogue about the future of film while celebrating the winners of the Real to Reel short film contest.
Between the Tupac movie buzz, the growing anticipation for Marvel’s Black Panther combined with the increasing number of African American-dominated television shows and Oscar winners… 2017 is a great year to be Black in film.
Janlatae Mullins, winner of the $10,000 grand prize and a VIP trip to Miami, stuns event-goers with her short film, “Soul Fire,” which revisits painful memories of war when an African American widow becomes haunted with sweet memories of her dead veteran husband.
A handful of other competition entries made the on-stage screen at the event, having garnered the fanhood of Harwick and his team.
Power fans identify Omari Hardwick as the chiseled, dapperly-dressed drug-pushin’ adulterer and nightclub owner with the nickname “Ghost” that airs on Starz. Although you naturally want to confine him to his role on television, he is no Steve Urkel or Carlton.
With an audience of melanated dreamers, doers and shakers enjoying their complimentary cups of Gentleman Jack, Harwick revealed his true self and his intentions of creating more opportunity for people of color.
“Instead of being crabs in one barrel, I’ll just make more barrels.” he expressed.
When he’s not shipping kilos of cocaine onscreen as “Ghost”, Hardwick is creating outlets through his Bluapple Poetry Network, a program for inner-city students to express themselves through the art of spoken word poetry. And when Ghost isn’t making mature audience-only love scenes with FBI Agent “Angie” Valdez or on promo tours for Power, the real Omari Hardwick enjoys spending time with his own children.
Miami marked the final stop on the Real to Real contest tour. The event offered attendees op-portunities to network and stay connected. South Florida’s very own Jill Tracey held it down with her down-to-earth comedic fabulousness as the MC.
“Many times people focus on the celebrity in the room and miss out on the other key people in the movement,” up and coming filmmaker Anthony Rose, opined.
Things don’t just happen; hard working people make things happen. African Americans are gaining more power, changing the narratives and eliminating the limitations to the roles they’ve been stuck portraying (typecasting).
It’s always been beautiful to be Black; imagine being Black with unlimited barrels of opportunity.
Photos & Story by Arri Henry @heavensent928
