LAUDERHILL — Film enthusiasts and community leaders recently celebrated the seventh year anniversary of the Women’s International Film and Arts Festival (WIFF).
WIFF honorary chair Vivica A. Fox also spoke to more than 100 youth at the Lauderhill Community YMCA Center during a visit co-sponsored by the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Broward Children’s Services Council.
The WIFF hosted more 5,000 guests at this year’s anniversary, screening more than 50 films from more than 25 countries including Norway, India, Japan, Spain, South Korea, Canada, South Africa, Italy and the United Kingdom.
The event took place at various locations in Broward County and Miami-Dade County, including the YMCA Center, Ice Palace Film Studios, Briza On The Bay, and The Paragon Theatre-Coconut Grove.
Highlights of the festival included red carpet appearances from Gabriela Tagliavini, director of Without Men starring Eva Longoria and Christian Slater. Also in attendance was actress Yvette Yates, co-star of Without Men.
The first ever WIFF Pitch Miami Competition was held with local filmmaker Lolita Stewart-White winning the competition for her screenplay All American, which is based on a true story of a high school track star who fights to conceal his Haitian heritage while trying to win the heart of the girl of his dreams.
Fox closed the festival April 1 by hosting the Little Black Dress Miami Film Month/WIFF Wrap Party, co-sponsored by the Greater Miami Convention and Visitor’s Bureau which was also completing its first ever Miami Film Month.
The accomplished actress is known for her roles in Independence Day, HBO's Emmy nominated hit comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm, Lifetime's Drop Dead Diva, Hallmark's Christmas Movie, as an FBI Agent in Junkyard Dogs, The Hard Corps with Jean-Claude Van Damme, and also co-starred in Cover, directed by Bill Duke. The starlet hosted TV Land’s The Cougar, teamed with VH1 to executive produce and host Glam God, as the voice of Angel Dynamite on Cartoon Network’s New Scooby Doo, and was a fan favorite on ABC’s Dancing With The Stars.
Photo: Courtesy of DARREN SAUNDERS PHOTO
VIVICA A. FOX: The actress and producer paused during her duties as honorary chair of this year’s Women’s International Film and Arts Festival for a stop at the Lauderhill YMCA, to help empower young women as part of the Y’s program to build self-confidence in teens. Fox’ film credits include Kill Bill and Independence Day.
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