Muhammad Ali, Mexican Culture and Murder Mysteries Headline Urbanworld's 2015 Film Slate

"Carmín Tropical" is among the movies playing in the Narrative Feature Film competition at Urbanworld 2015.Muhammad Ali: The People’s Champ, a biographical tribute to the former heavyweight boxing champion will serve as the opening night film at the 19th Annual Urbanworld Film Festival, presented by BET Networks (BET) with founding sponsor HBO.

Directed and executive produced by Clarence “Coodie” Simmons and Chike Ozah, this documentary features exclusive interviews with a who’s who of the sports and entertainment world including Muhammad Ali’s daughter Laila Ali, Mike Tyson and Sugar Ray Leonard. “We are excited to launch BET's original news documentary series with the film,” says Constance Orlando, Senior Vice President of Music, Specials and News for BET Networks. Muhammad Ali: The People’s Champ connects the fighter’s boxing prowess as well as his social media activism, to the millennial audience to reveal Ali’s meaning in the world today. It also headlines a fierce program lineup as Urbanworld, the nation’s largest competitive multicultural film festival, announces its 2015 slate.

The festival will screen over 80 films September 23-27, 2015 at Manhattan's AMC Empire 25 on 234 West 42nd Street in New York. An underlying quest for victory is the name of the game, as Urbanworld showcases stories about people fighting for redemption in one way or another. In the psychological drama Carmín Tropical, a transgender woman named Mabel returns to her hometown to investigate the murder of her friend Daniela. Directed by Mexican filmmaker Rigoberto Perezcano, this narrative feature explores gender and culture while taking the main character on a journey of revisiting the life she left behind in a town plagued with senseless violence, homophobia and intolerance.

"In Football We Trust" is among the select documentaries in the 2015 Urbanworld lineup.Urbanworld’s documentary lineup features the New York Premiere of In Football We Trust, about four young Polynesian athletes struggling to overcome gang violence, family pressures and near poverty as they enter the high stakes world of college recruiting and the promise of professional sports. Directed by first-time filmmakers Tony Vainuku and Erika Cohn, the movie explores how professional sports play a role in the “American Dream” phenomenon that fascinates our society.

“I believe In Football We Trust will illuminate how our country’s infatuation with chasing the ‘American Dream’ can often leave people entrenched in the very conditions they are striving to overcome,” says Cohn. Famed wrestler and Hollywood actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson mentioned the film is close to his heart and also helped produce it.

The documentary 3 ½ Minutes, Ten Bullets is among the Spotlight selections at Urbanworld. Directed by Marc Silver, it follows the journey of unraveling the truth behind Michael Dunn’s claim of self-defense in a shooting that led to the death of 17 year-old Jordan Davis. In what IndieWire calls “A harrowing exploration of criminal justice gone awry,” 3 ½ Minutes, Ten Bullets reconstructs the night of the incident and reveals how hidden racial prejudice can result in tragedy. Forgiving Chris Brown joins the narrative short films that are in abundance at this year’s Urbanworld film festival. Directed by Marquette Jones, this dark comedy about a group of heartbroken friends who unite over plans to get revenge on their boyfriends, is set in the hot desert.

Performing arts also takes center stage as A Ballerina’s Tale, a documentary focusing on a crucial period in the career of principal dancer Misty Copeland, is slated to close the festival. Directed by Nelson George, the movie examines issues of race and body image in the elite ballet.

Following Misty’s triumphant lead performance in Igor Stravinsky's Firebird at New York's Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, through her painful injury and recovery that followed, to her return to ABT and subsequent pop star status, A Ballerina's Tale  is the story of how great talent and a powerful will combined can open doors within a very cloistered world.

What are YOU watching this weekend?

Yes You Can! What Drake, Sports Movies & 94 year-old Track Stars Know About Battling Complacency

“You can still do what you want to do. You gotta trust that shit!” – Drake in ‘Too Much’ (feat. Sampha)

Drake performing "Too Much" from his album NOTHING WAS THE SAME on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.Lyrics in rapper Drake’s song titled ‘Too Much’ (feat. Sampha) remind me of how we tend to live life on autopilot – not necessarily complaining but not really enjoying our days on earth either. It’s as if we’re just going through the motions and basically waiting to die. It’s a said reality that also has me thinking of Benjamin Franklin’s quote about how most people die at 25 but are buried at 75.

The more I learn about American history and that of the world at large, the more I start to think that people from generations past seem to be much more resilient and ambitious than those of us living in today’s time, despite the fact that they had less resources than the luxuries we enjoy now. What happened to modern-day women and men? Why are so many of us quick and content to just throw our hands up and be asleep at the wheel on the highway of life? I recently watched a TV news report about a 94 year-old man named George ‘Scotty’ Scott, competing in the Penn Relays – the longest running race in the world. He ran with men and women between 75 and 98 years-old!

When the newscaster interviewed George following the Master’s Men’s 75+ 100m dash, he said “I just do the best I can.” Chances are, however, that only a few among the rest of us go to bed every night with the same amount of satisfaction for how we spent our day. Complacency is a choice that prevents far too many people from living up to their full potential. Each day we are lucky to receive on this earth is an opportunity for us to create the kind of lives that we can look back on and smile.

Hilary Swank as Maggie in MILLION DOLLAR BABY.If you ever feel like you’re stuck on a bumpy road that doesn’t line up with your abilities, values and passions, know that you don’t have to sit back, grin and bear it. Anything in life is possible if you believe in yourself enough to try.

That goes for aspirations big and small across the board such as traveling, home ownership, starting a family, landing some type of dream gig, fitness training, healthy eating, learning sign language, teaching Yoga or whatever floats your boat. An underprivileged waitress named Maggie believed that, with the proper training, she could become one of the world’s most boxing champs, in the sport drama film Million Dollar Baby starring Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman and Clint Eastwood. Despite having no moral support from home – even being ridiculed by her own mother – Maggie still put her best foot forward.

A teenage boy named Daniel ‘Rudy’ Ruettiger pushed himself to the limits in the pursuit of playing football for Notre Dame, in the biographical drama Rudy starring Sean Astin and Jon Favreau. He was too short and surrounded by people who had very little expectations of him and of themselves, yet, that this not deter him from shooting for the moon. Maggie and Rudy share the common thread that is an unrelenting quest for all that life has to offer beyond the limitations that society and/or their circumstances place on them. Deep down, they trusted themselves in having what it takes to give life their best shot.

Y is for YouAlthough the results of Maggie’s and Rudy’s efforts may not have turned out exactly as these two bold characters had in mind, they still preferred these journeys over the alternative of growing old with regrets, wondering what could have been. Drake wasn’t lying – you CAN do what you want, go where you want and be who you want in life. Just like those 90 year-olds at the Penn Relays, Maggie in Million Dollar Baby and the main character in Rudy, you just have to trust that you have what it takes and then do your very best to make that happen.

Does watching sports movies motivate YOU in any way?

Are YOU the master of your own destiny?

The night they played the Titans – A Coach Yoast Theory #atozchallenge

All hope seemed lost for a high school football team whose important game of the season was not going in their favor in the biographical sports drama “Remember the Titans” starring Denzel Washington and Will Patton.

Not only were they down in points, one of their own players even walked off of the field, abandoning them at a crucial moment. Officials showed these teenagers no mercy either, calling penalties left and right, yet, overlooking fouls from the opposing team. Coach Bill Yoast (played by Patton) had another plan in store – one that would change the morale among his team as well as the direction of this game. Here is how he led them out of the hole they found themselves in…

“Now, I don’t want them to gain another yard. You blitz all night! If they cross the line of scrimmage, I’m gonna take every last one of you out. You make sure that they remember FOREVER, the night they played the Titans!”

For those of you who have seen the movie, you know this is the moment where Coach Yoast is not screwing around; he means business and is willing to go the distance in making sure that his team has a fair shot at winning the game. His new plays are set up to survive in the environment that they found themselves in, possibly beating the opposing team at their own brutal and seemingly fixed game. At this point, it isn’t just about winning; it’s about respect, taking back their freedom of not having to play by someone else’s narrow-minded rules and most importantly – it’s about standing tall against all odds until the time clock reaches zero.

Coach Yoast’s way of thinking when he said those above lines is exactly how we need to approach some of the offenses that we meet out on the field of life.

You’ll always get tackled and trampled over if you don’t beef up your defense and give the opposing situation all you’ve got – no matter how bigger, smarter, more powerful or more resourceful, etc. that condition or person or place is, in comparison.

It’s not about accepting defeat, it’s about doing your best at making it difficult for an opponent to bring you down and wipe you out. Maybe you’ll win, maybe you’ll lose, but one thing is for sure if the latter applies – your challenger shouldn’t have an easy ride to victory.

That’s how legends – no scratch that – TITANS are made. The people we remember and those who inspire us are the ones who do the unthinkable, achieve the impossible, go above and beyond their abilities or potential at times when they are far from the lead. They are the individuals, groups, partners and teams taking the kind of risks that naysayers unexpected or even refuse to acknowledge because they’re too busy gossiping or being miserable or contributing to the problems of the world, rather than the solutions of the world.

How memorable are you? What have you contributed to your existence on this earth so far? What can you do from here on out to make sure that the people you come in contact with – and possibly even those who you may never come in contact with -- will not forget you?

Who are the Titans that you will remember forever and what makes them a champion?

What do you want to be remembered for when this game is all over?