The tradition of Black filmmaking shone like a Heavenly body at Film Life’s 2006 Black Movie Awards. The history-making event was held, quite appropriately, at the Wiltern LG Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday, October 15th. The Wiltern, a fine example of Art Deco architecture, served as a worthy backdrop for the lively, sophisticated audience that filled its auditorium for the stellar event.

The evening’s theme, A Celebration of Black Cinema: Past, Present & Future, played out not only aesthetically, but spiritually as well. The glorious past of Black cinema was acknowledged through moving tributes to such films as Lady Sings the Blues, which was inducted into the Classic Cinema Hall of Fame, and through a wonderful tribute to the extraordinary Cicely Tyson (who remains a stalwart in present cinema). Ms. Tyson’s Distinguished Career Achievement award was presented by none other than Oprah Winfrey.

In a nod to the future, 13-year-old actress Keke Palmer, who brought unforgettable sass and intelligence to the role of Akeelah in Outstanding Motion Picture winner Akeelah & the Bee, won the Outstanding Actress BMA. The young actress’s surprise, excitement, and humility spread to the entire audience. “I can’t believe this!,” she cried in between thanking God, her co-stars Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett (both of whom took home Supporting Actor awards for their work in Akeelah), and “my mom for having me!”

Perhaps the night’s biggest surprise was Presley Chweneyagae’s win for Outstanding Actor. Mr. Chweneyagae lit up the screen in the gripping South African drama Tsotsi. Though his performance was brilliant, the newcomer was far from a shoe-in in his category, where he faced such venerable actors as Denzel Washington (Inside Man) and Cuba Gooding, Jr. (Shadowboxer). Mr. Chweneyagae’s win seemed quite un-Oscarlike in that it displayed not the workings of a rather predictable old boy reward system, but that of an institution in which the finest work earns its due.

Mr. Chweneyagae’s work in Tsotsi was heart wrenching, but the night was not without its share of lightheartedness, a good amount of which was brought on by host Tyler Perry. Mr. Perry, who exhibited an air of both regality and mirth, set the evening’s ebullient tone with a riotous movie montage featuring Mr. Perry himself in the starring roles of films like What’s Love Got to Do With It?, Disappearing Acts, The Color Purple, and Lady Sings the Blues. When Mr. Perry stepped onto the stage and announced that the point of the evening was not bitterness, but love – “We ain’t mad at nobody. We just glad about us,” he said in a slight southern drawl – the audience’s festive mood rose palpably.

While the ceremony offered many wonderful moments, the true reward of the Black Movie Awards was the opportunity to join together to acknowledge and praise the work of Black film artists who continue to shine the light of dignity and truth on the African diasporic journey.

Watching luminaries such as Spike Lee – who received the Ossie Davis Humanitarian Award for When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts as well as the Outstanding Achievement Award for his direction of Inside Man – and Laurence Fishburne – who added the Excellence in the Arts Award to his Outstanding Supporting Actor award – join with such newcomers as Frank E. Flowers, the HBO Director To Watch, was an inspiring experience.

This is the experience that Jeff Friday, Founder and CEO of Film Life, must have envisioned some ten years ago, a time he spoke so eloquently of during the show. Then, Mr. Friday told the audience, the Black Movie Awards had its humble beginning as a segment of the Acapulco Black Film Festival (now the American Black Film Festival). The audience was small, he recalled, but Friday and others had a vision of a nationally televised broadcast that would allow a broad audience to join in an unprecedented celebration of Black film.

Mr. Friday’s vision was anointed by the Godfather of Black American Cinema himself, Melvin van Peebles, when he so movingly acknowledged that he had counted on future generations to continue the work he started long ago, and that the people he saw before him had never let him down.