Gift Provides for L.A. Office of Black Filmmakers Group

Warner Bros. Studios on Tuesday donated $100,000 to help the New York-based Black Filmmaker Foundation expand its activities to Los Angeles. The money will be used to help start a West Coast office of the organization that supports and encourages blacks in the movie industry.

The grant was presented at breakfast reception by Sanford E. Reisenbach, vice president of marketing and planning, to filmmaker Warrington Hudlin, president and co-founder of the foundation. (Hudlin and his brother Reginald produced the 1989 film “House Party” for New Line Cinema.)

“We at Warner Bros. have been extremely pleased to witness the expansion of opportunities for black filmmakers, actors and behind-the-camera talent over the past several years. . . .” Reisenbach said in a prepared statement. The donation will help the film industry as a whole, black artists and Warner Bros., he added. “It’s a win-win-win situation.”

“Warner’s generous contribution comes at a pivotal moment in the history of the black film movement,” said Warrington Hudlin. “They recognize that the black film renaissance is here to stay,” he said. “The chickens have come home to roost.”

The 2,000-member Black Filmmaker Foundation was founded 13 years ago by Warrington Hudlin. It was an early distributor and exhibitor of works by now-prominent black filmmakers such as Spike Lee, Charles Burnett, Charles Lane and the Hudlin brothers. Other contributors to the foundation have included Walt Disney Studios.

In addition to staffing the new office, for which space is currently being sought, the foundation plans to apply the Warner Bros. money to four other Los Angeles programs this year: screenings of new works and works-in-progress by African-American filmmakers; writing, directing and acting workshops; an artists showcase designed to highlight the works of foundation members, and a computerized skills bank to assist production companies, networks and studios seeking African-American artists and technicians.

In addition to the Hudlin brothers, foundation board members who attended the reception included actor-director Mario Van Peebles, actor-director Robert Townsend, actor Forest Whitaker and actor-director Debbie Allen.