The American Black Film Festival concluded its final full day of programming in honor of the festival's 30th anniversary by announcing the winners of the 2026 festival at the Best of ABFF Awards ceremony.
Hosted by New York Times bestselling author and award-winning comedian KevOnStage, the event featured a rousing performance by Grammy Award winner Anthony Hamilton and the presentation of the ABFF Alumni Award to Creed II and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts director Steven Caple Jr.
«"The Best of the ABFF Awards has always been dedicated to celebrating the talent and resilience of independent creators," said Jeff Friday, president of festival organizer Nice Crowd, in a statement. "In honor of our 30th anniversary, it's incredibly fitting to welcome Steven Caple Jr., a director whose journey from our short film competition to a global blockbuster epitomizes the very mission of this festival. We're proud to honor him alongside this year's outstanding nominees.".
The anthology film "Three Colors: Pan-African" and the coming-of-age drama "Girl Daddy" were the big winners in the U.S. Feature Films section: the former took home the Grand Jury Prize, the latter won Best Screenplay (for Solvan "Slick" Naim and Lane Williamson), and both films shared the Best Actor award for Marsai Martin (Girl Daddy) and Bashir Salahuddin (Three Colors: Pan-African). Meanwhile, the Best Director award went to Armani Ortiz, director of "Otra.".
While there were winners in the international, series, and documentary categories, one of the festival's highlights was the HBO Short Film Competition, a contender for an Oscar, featuring renowned directors such as Ryan Coogler and Reynaldo Marcus Green. This year's winner was "Spilled Milk," written and directed by Jared Leaf. Produced by Oscar winner Jordan Peele, the film stars J. Alphonse Nicholson, Jerry O'Connell, Scott "Kid Cudi" Mescudi, and Brandon Perea.
The full list of Best of ABFF Awards 2026 winners is below.
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American Feature Film (Grand Jury Prize): «Three Colors: Pan-African»
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Best Director Award (American Feature Film): Armani Ortiz («Otra») * Sponsor: Ally Financial
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Best Screenplay Award (American Feature Film): Solvan Slik Naim and Lane Williamson (Girl Daddy) *Sponsor: Amazon MGM
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Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture (US) - Tie: Marsai Martin (Father of the Girl) and Bashir Salahuddin (Three Colors: Pan African).
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International Feature Film (Grand Jury Prize): «Little Gods»
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TV series (Grand Prix of the Jury): «Comic Book Store»
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Documentary Film (Grand Jury Prize): «Black is Beautiful: The Story of Kwame Brathwaite»
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HBO Award for Best Short Film: «"Spilt Milk"» *Sponsor: Warner Bros. Discovery/HBO
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ABFF Alumni Award: Steven Caple Jr.
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