Written by | Ray Cornelius
The stars aligned this afternoon for the BronzeLens Film Festival’s 8th Annual Women Superstars Luncheon. The highly anticipated event of the summer took place at Atlanta’s iconic Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel and featured an all-star salute to four of TV and film’s most influential and promising women—Queen Latifah, Crystal Fox, Neema Barnette and Nefertite Nguvu.
The room was literally filled to capacity as a number of the city’s influencers, tastemakers and media personalities gathered to honor these amazing women for their indelible imprints within the entertainment industry.
Queen Latifah made history today as the first recipient of the Festival’s “IconSuperstar” Award. The “Girls Trip” star was recognized for her contributions as a musical performer, actress, producer and content creator. She received her award from filmmaker Will Packer, who also conducted a special one-on-one interview with “Sister Queen” about her career and much more.
Neema Barnette, a veteran producer, writer and director, was filled with gratitude as she was honored with this year’s “Legendary Behind-the-Lens SuperStar” Award. She was recognized for decades of blazing trails for Black women in Hollywood. Barnette is the first African American sitcom director and has most recently worked on such hit series as “The Breaks,” and “Being Mary Jane.” She also applauded award-winning filmmaker Ava DuVernay for allowing her the opportunity to direct OWN’s hit series, “Queen Sugar” and received her award from one of the show’s actors—Omar Dorsey.
Crystal Fox had a few full circle moments today as she was presented with the “Visionary SuperStar” Award. A veteran of the stage and screen, Fox thanked her “Atlanta” family who has supported her 30 plus year career. She also thanked her late aunt—Nina Simone—for encouraging her to be both an artist and an activist. “We must reflect the times,” she proclaimed before the audience. Fox currently appears on Tyler Perry‘s popular soap opera, “The Haves and the Have Nots” and received her award from friend and fellow actor, T.C. Carson.
Emerging filmmaker, Nefertiti Nguvu received this year’s “Behind-the-Lens SuperStar” Award for her critically-acclaimed project, “In the Morning” as well as her work with Latifah and Common. She is definitely one to watch in the coming years and has already created quite a buzz around Hollywood. She received her award from Queen Sugar‘s Timon Kyle Durrett.
Check out all of the photos below including more shots of the honorees along with the presenters + other invited celebrities including Regina Belle and Lisa Wu:
Photo Credits: RayCornelius.com
