The Inaugural Edition
Inspired by the groundbreaking legacy of Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte's "Carmen Jones" exactly 70 years earlier.
Anchored within the Marché du Film at the Festival de Cannes, Colour of Cannes Honours, co‑founded by filmmaker and Coffee Bluff Pictures Founder/CEO Deborah Riley Draper and global strategist and entrepreneur Tiara Chesmer‑Williams, creates intentional space for filmmakers of colour and underrepresented voices at the heart of the industry, providing a platform for access, opportunity, visibility, and recognition.
A New Tradition in Cannes
The inaugural Colour of Cannes Honours, a Marche du Film summit, creating access,
opportunity and recognition for filmmakers of color launched on May 14, 2026.
Next edition: May 13, 2027
Expanding Culture Forward Storytelling
Making History
The Colour of Cannes Honours along with its incubating partner Coffee Bluff Pictures are the first and only African-American, Women-owned companies to join the Marche du Film as programming partners.
More than 300 filmmakers, executives, and cultural leaders convened at the Marché du Film’s official beachside venue, La Plage des Palmes, for the inaugural Colour of Cannes Honours, hosted by Grammy‑nominated singer and actress Estelle.
Attendees were immersed from the cocktail reception and the 2026 Vanguard Award presented to producer Crystine Zhang into a Deadline fireside chat with Zhang led by Zach Ntim, and the panel “The Business of Culture‑Forward Storytelling and the Indie Filmmaker,” moderated by Essence editor‑at‑large Mikki Taylor with entertainment law partner Marcie Cleary, SAGindie executive director Darrien Michele Gipson, founder and investor Valerie Mosley, and Autlook Filmsales CEO Stephanie Fuchs. Ideas, concrete industry knowledge, and career‑shaping conversations were exchanged, encouraged, and celebrated.
