Photo by Shondell Orinthia Babb
On February 23rd, Promise Me screened at the 2020 Afro Prairie Film Festival during their “New Black Canadian Shorts” program. Alison had to fly out earlier that day but she pre-recorded a thank-you message to the audience and her producer accepted the award on her behalf.
Here is an excerpt of an article from the APFF website:
Photo via Tonya Williams
The festivities were capped off on the last night of the festival with the New Black Canadian Short Films in Competition screening. Seven short films were showcased including: Wash Day, Kalunga Line, Heron Gate, Measure, PICK, Lagoon, and Promise Me. The Winnipeg Film Group specializes in short film productions and provides available funding, equipment and training resources to support Winnipeg content creators.
The event came full circle when Alison Duke’s short film Promise Me (2019) was presented with the Winston W. Moxam Best Black Canadian Short Film Award. Indie Producer Fonna Seidu accepted the award on Duke’s behalf as the film’s producer and a successful alumni of Duke’s Black Youth! Pathway 2 Industry Program. “There’s a lot of young people and mentorship and hand holding that happened throughout the film. It doesn’t happen in industry. You sink or swim in the industry,” Seidu said.
You can read more about the evening in this article written by Shondell Orinthia Babb : A Fast Track to Industry Insiders
Photos/Travis Ross | (L-R) Filmmaker Bisong Taiwo received an award from Reelworld Screen Institute for his Time Sleeper film. Producer of Promise Me film Fonna Seidu accepted the Best Black Canadian Short Film Award for Alison Duke.
We would like to thank the jury members for selection Promise Me:
Elizabeth Mudenyo
Nedu Ejeckam
Nampande Londe
Sheldon Williamson
Of course, with all of our gratitude, we would like to thank the APFF team:
Alexa Joy | Festival Director
Ben Williams | Outreach Director
David Knipe | Artistic Director
The biggest thank you goes out to our team that made this possible! Check out or cast and crew here.