Stephanie Tavares-Rance
Stephanie Tavares-Rance | |
|---|---|
 Stephanie Tavares-Rance at the 2025 Denver Film Festival | |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Film festival founder |
| Organization | Martha's Vineyard African American Film Festival |
| Spouse | Floyd Rance |
Stephanie Tavares-Rance is one of the founders of the Martha's Vineyard African American Film Festival, along with her husband, Floyd Rance.[1][2][3][4]
The festival, which takes place in August in the town of Oak Bluffs, is now widely seen as a magnet for the American black elite.[2][4]
Former president Barack Obama has credited the couple and the festival for elevating black storytelling. In 2022, while introducing a movie at the festival he said, “One of the powers of this festival, and the work that the Rances have done, is to lift up stories that too often have been lost in the flow of time.”[4]
Career
[edit]In the early 2000s Tavernes-Rance was working in marketing while her husband was a filmmaker. At the time, they lived in Brooklyn, New York and decided to organize a one-time film festival in Barbados, where Floyd Rance was filming a movie. But after 9/11 attacks, they could not hold the festival overseas and instead moved it to Martha's Vineyard, where the two had a number of contacts.[4]
The first film festival was modest, with minimal promotion or marketing, attracting just half a dozen people in a conference room, Tavernes-Rance told The Washington Post.[4]
References
[edit]- ^ Major, Derek (2022-08-22). "An African American Film Festival Has Turned Martha's Vineyard Into a Black Celebrity Hot Spot". Black Enterprise. Retrieved 2025-06-30.
- ^ a b Syckle, Katie Van (2024-08-13). "A Haven for Black Film on Martha's Vineyard Keeps Growing". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-06-30.
- ^ "Video Martha's Vineyard African American Film Festival honors Black storytellers". ABC News. Retrieved 2025-06-30.
- ^ a b c d e Andrews-Dyer, Helena; Betancourt, David; Kingsberry, Janay; Rao, Sonia; Butler, Bethonie (2022-08-20). "Why a small film fest in Martha's Vineyard became Black Hollywood's hot spot". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2025-06-30.
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