African American Film Critics group celebrates Black Hollywood and beyond while building its stature

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Filmmaker Ava DuVernay remembered working as a publicist years ago, struggling to draw major traffic to star-studded events for the African American Film Critics Association.

No matter which renowned Black actor showed up — from Viola Davis to Forest Whitaker — the organization known as AAFCA still had a hard time garnering mainstream media's attention and attendance from non-Black honorees to its flagship awards ceremony and other events. But the group, led by co-founder and president Gil Robertson IV, stayed its course to review and pay homage to Black actors and filmmakers detailing the African American experience.

Now, two decades after its founding as a small organization, AAFCA has grown in size and scope and built an admirable reputation in Hollywood. Its Special Achievement Awards will be held this weekend.

“It was an idea. It was a dream. It was this little dinky thing, but it was always beautiful,” said DuVernay, whose public relations company represented AAFCA the first few years before she became a filmmaker. “It was rough around the edges. It was respect. The community came, the press wouldn’t cover it. Actors, creatives, writers, and directors immediately jumped to it. We worked hard to establish what it was... So, I have a great affection for this group.”