The American Black Film Festival took over Miami for its 30th anniversary this past week. With surprise appearances by the likes of Tyler Perry and T.I., big premieres and network panels from NBC, Netflix and Amazon, the 2026 lineup was stacked with marquee talent.
Though the fest has grown into a mecca of big-budget Black filmmaking over the last three decades, beyond the starpower names and red-carpet moments, ABFF remains the place to discover emerging talent. Indie darlings and hidden gems were in every stitch of this year’s festival lineup.
EBONY caught up with nine directors who made an impact at ABFF 2026 and are poised to become some of the most exciting voices in the future of film.
Jared Leaf, Spilled Milk
Ever thought about what really happened to those deadbeat dads who went out to get milk and never came back? That’s the question driving Jared Leaf’s horror short film Spilled Milk. A young man trying to track down his estranged father at a convenience store meets the mysterious “Milk Man” and quickly learns his own fate is about to curdle. Starring J. Alphonse Nicholson, Jerry O’Connell and Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi and executive-produced by Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions, Splled Milk took home the HBO Short Film Award at this year’s ABFF Honors.
“This film is an allegory for absentee fathers and the conditions that lead to that,” Leaf said. “When I was a kid, and my dad told me he was going to show up and he didn’t, my kid brain would explain it by saying something bad must have happened to him, otherwise he would be here. So, in a sense, that’s the horror element of it; Something bad happened to this dad that doesn’t allow him to show up for his family.”
Solvan ‘Slick’ Naim, Girl Dad
No stranger to the ABFF stage, Solvan “Slick” Naim was first recognized by the festival in 2013 as a rising star. The Brooklyn native has come to be known for directing gritty, procedural action in series like Snowfall, Power, The Equalizer, and The Blacklist. But this year, Naim premiered something different at the fest: a slice of life comedy.
Directed by Naim and co-written with Lane Williamson, Girl Dad is a queer coming-of-age story starring 2026 ABFF winner Marsai Martin and Courtney B. Vance as an estranged father-daughter pair who set out on a mission to get a refrigerator for their LA apartment.
“I’ve done a lot of action, I’ve done a lot of comedy and dramas, and murders, very ominous work as well,” Naim told EBONY. “It’s a lot different from the work I do. It’s more of a slow burn. This was more like ‘Let’s live with these characters for a bit, and then let’s kind of unhinge them a little bit towards the last act.’” While accepting the ABFF Honors Screenwriting Award (U.S. Narrative Feature), Naim noted that the story evolved from his personal experience of visiting a friend who did not have a fridge in his L.A. apartment.
Kiah Clingman, HPV (Her Pretty Vagina)
Kiah Clingman is on a mission to get us all talking more about women’s health. Written, directed, and produced by Clingman, HPV (Her Pretty Vagina) is a dark comedy that brings to life the very real battle millions of women face. A labor of love between Clingman and producer-actor Taylor Polidore Williams — both of whom star in Onyx’s Reasonable Doubt – HPV stars Williams as a young woman going through the physical, mental, and emotional throes of her advancing endometriosis diagnosis. Inspired by Clingman’s real-life battle with HPV and endometriosis, the director said this short turns the “terrifying isolation” of the experience into a communal story.
“I’ve had crazy horror moments when it comes to the gynecologist. But I feel like a lot of us don’t know that, or we take those experiences and we are suffering in silence and we don’t share them, even with the other women in our lives.” she continued. Even within the comedic moments, Clingman says it was important to infuse the project with a sense of discomfort and dread, “to create this visceral feeling when you’re watching. You may squirm in your seat, you may feel uncomfortable. That’s the point.”
Law Artis, Law’s World: Lipstick Bandit
Law’s World: Lipstick Bandit twists the “roommate from hell” framework into a hilarious, reality TV-style romp. When a queer sex blogger (played by Artis) tries to guide a camera crew on a house tour, the audience gets an inside look at the drama between his many bickering female roommates. As each character is revealed, more and more conflict mounts, and Artis has to step in as the voice of reason.
Written, directed and starring Artis, the ABFF first-timer says this series is meant to show queer representation and Black womanhood in all its facets. “I grew up watching Living Single, and ensemble casts of Black people, Black females. So I wanted a multitude of colors,” he shared. “I think it’s so much fun when you get to see somebody’s world in technicolor, and so I wanted that dimension.”
Asia Johnson & Michael Kleiman, Beyond
As a cohort of incarcerated men at Sing Sing Correctional Facility prepares for a TED Talk-style public showcase, documentary directors Asia Johnson and Michael Kleiman embed with the group. Together, they examine how art and community help the men hold on to their humanity in the carceral system in this moving documentary. With unprecedented access to the prison and the men preparing their speeches, BEYOND asks the audience to consider: how do you move beyond being defined by your worst moment?
“Even if you haven’t been touched by the system, if you ever cheated on an exam, or you slapped your sibling, or you lost your temper, and somebody is constantly asking you about that, or defining you by that, it’s just heavy,” Johnson stated over the answer. “You have to have hope in a place that is dark and depressing and overcrowded and sad, and holding on to that hope is just so contagious.”
Simone Thomas-Rowe, Yellow Pages
At just 21 years old, Simone Thomas-Rowe was the youngest director ever to showcase at ABFF, thanks to her senior thesis film, Yellow Pages. The short follows a precocious young girl who dreams of being a comedian. In order to practice her jokes for her school’s talent show, she flips through the Yellow Pages to call up strangers and makes an unlikely new friend.
The promising filmmaker, who says she previously worked on mostly thrillers, calls Yellow Pages her magical love letter to Black girls and a tribute to her late grandfather. “I grew up around literally only women, and so there’s always tension in the room,” she recalled. “My grandpa was someone who could just tell a joke and be like, ‘Y’all, the situation is not that serious.’ I wanted to make a film that was really like that and just full of joy.”
Love, Brooklyn‘s Cadence Reese and Damien Leake, known from Tyler Perry’s Assisted Living and S.W.A.T., star in the 15-minute short.
Jeremiah Towolawi, The Truth About Space
One of the few international directors to show at ABFF, Nigerian-British filmmaker Jeremiah Towolawi brought the audience into his world with The Truth About Space. A standout pick in the HBO Short Film Award Showcase, the film follows a man recently released from prison who meets his daughter for the first time. He must ultimately decide whether to keep up the lie — that he was an astronaut away in space during his extended absence — or own up and tell her the truth.
Towolawi was inspired to write the short after witnessing a fatal car crash outside of his window and wondering how the driver’s life was about to change. Describing the vulnerable portrait of fatherhood in this work, Towolawi said, “I think cinema has created a lot more nightmares of Black fatherhood than fantasies, and I think I just had no interest in that. I want his kid to want him, not need him, because I think it’s important for Black fathers to be wanted, especially when they’re discarded, because there’s a history of being discarded and rejected. But I also believe it comes at a cost; you have to do the work.”
Nina Lee, That’s Her
She’s that girl. When You, Me & Tuscany dropped, director Nina Lee made a bold tweet about the state of the Black rom-com. “In my tweet, I stated that studios were monitoring the success of You, Me and Tuscany before moving forward with That’s Her,” she shared. “What that virality taught me was that people are craving romcoms. I think cinema is all about variety. Some days you’re in the mood for horror; other days it’s buddy comedy. Right now, I think people are in the mood for love.”
In That’s Her, Lee explores love through a playboy executive who must choose between finding true love with a grounded office temp or advancing his career with a high-powered executive. “While That’s Her carries the heart, humor (it really is funny as hell), and irresistible chemistry audiences expect from a great romantic comedy, it reaches beyond the genre’s familiar comforts,” shared Lee. “Because beneath the romance and charm, the film explores something deeper: the different faces and ages of love, the choices we make in pursuit of connection, and how our childhood experiences shape the relationships we build (or destroy) as adults. And that sounds real deep, so let me emphasize the film is still funny.”
Dominique Draper, The Day You Find Your Name
Dominique Draper wanted to explore the life of Afeni Shakur — mother of Tupac Shakur — so he created a proof-of-concept short set during the height of the Black Panther movement, in which she defended herself in court while pregnant. “She was finding her name, and fighting for her name, all the while carrying her unborn child, too,” Draper said.
After visiting Oakland, California and Alcatraz Prison, Draper, a graduate of USC School of Cinematic Arts, immersed himself in Black Panther history and the women involved in the movement. He reached out to the Shakur family to get their blessing on moving forward with his vision. “This project sits at the intersection of film, hip-hop history, and personal legacy and was independently produced from the ground up,” he shared, “shaped by my background and connection to that culture.”