Greenville engineer nominated for HBO film fest award.

Judges at the American Black Film Festival's annual HBO Short Film Award named Talk Black, written and directed by Greenville native Destiny Macon, one of five finalist for the festival's $10,000 Short Film Award.

The festival will be held in Miami from June 15-19, followed by virtual events on ABFF PLAY from June 20-30.

Macon's short film, Talk Back, follows Mahogany, a timid engineer who develops a wild and expressive split personality to help her speak up with her male coworkers based off Macon's own experiences as an engineer.

The film was created with support from the South Carolina Film Commission and Trident Technical College through their Indie Grant program.

Talk Back was selected for an Indie Grant in 2020 and received $30,000 in funding along with professional production support to bring Macon's vision to life. South Carolina filmmakers can submit their short film projects to be considered in the current Indie Grant funding cycle by August 1.

"In 2020, when I was writing the script for TALK BLACK, I had just watched the hilarious and surprising short film HAIR WOLF on HBO Max," Macon said in a news release. "One of my biggest dreams was to have the same trajectory in my own career by receiving an Indie Grant, screening at the American Black Film Festival in Miami and then having my own short film broadcast on HBO Max. Two years later I'm astonished to see that my exact dream is about to happen in real life!"

Talk Black was shot in Greenville and stars Mystie Smith, Sh'kia Augustin, Dan Thorp, John W. Wright and Don Henderson Baker. Producers include Brad Jayne, Jonathan Baty, Kisha Imani Cameron and Smitha Lee.

"Destiny is a rising star not only in South Carolina's film industry, but as this recognition makes clear, in the industry as a whole,"...