We would like to say congrats to Tanya Kersey, and the entire HBFF team (we rock!) for being featured in the LA Times. And don’t forget, the festival kicks off tomorrow, so make sure you’re ready! If you have yet to purchase tickets, it’s not too late.

Hollywood Black Film Festival: Movies, panels and a beauty lounge

By Susan King

October 1, 2013, 1:15 p.m.

The Hollywood Black Film Festival, which begins Wednesday and continues through Sunday at the Montalban Theatre and the W Hotel, includes an array of films and panels. But in what might be a first, the festival also features complementary beauty services Friday and Saturday for guests with all-access passes, so you can look good while attending the programs.

The festival,  founded in 1998 by Executive Director Tanya Kersey to help develop the careers of both emerging and established black filmmakers, is bookended by movies starring Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson (“Dreamgirls”). She stars in the opening-night film “Winnie Mandela,” which opened theatrically last month, and the closing-night feature, George Tillman Jr.s “The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete,” which opens theatrically Oct. 11.