The TRiiBE is proud to announce its partnership with Creative Cypher as an official media partner for this year’s highly anticipated XL Film Festival.
George Tillman, Jr. is the writer and director behind one of Black Chicago’s most iconic films, Soul Food. In celebration of the 25th anniversary of the film’s popular TV adaptation, the 2025 XL Film Festival honored Tillman and his producing partner Bob Teitel at a star-packed Soul Food Sunday Brunch.
The event took place Sunday afternoon at University of Chicago’s David Rubenstein Forum.
“I made that movie in 1996 and it came out in 1997. In Hollywood, you just keep making movies, you keep trying to get the next movie going, and sometimes you never have time to think back on what you did or what you accomplished,” Tillman told The TRiiBE. “So this [honor] is a really cool treat for me.”
Chicago’s own Larenz Tate curated the brunch alongside his brothers Lahmard and Larron under their TateMen Entertainment company. The Tate brothers are strategic partners for this year’s XL Fest, which was founded by Troy Pryor through his Creative Cypher banner. The festival runs from Aug. 14-23.
“I’ve been knowing the Tate brothers for a long time, so I’m really excited to come back to Chicago,” Tillman said. “I heard about [XL Film Festival] when the Tate brothers called me, and I was really excited. I’m not the kind of guy that’s into awards and everything, but Chicago’s had a special place for me.”
The 10-day festival’s opening weekend also had a Soul Food cast reunion. On Aug. 16, beginning at 6:00 p.m., both casts from the film and the Showtime drama series will speak on panels at the David Rubenstein Forum. The TV show, “Soul Food,” first aired on Showtime in 2000, starring Malinda Williams as Nia Long’s character “Bird,” Vanessa Estelle Williams as Maxine and Nicole Ari Parker as Teri.
“So Malinda Williams, from the TV show, I see a lot, but there are some people I haven’t seen in a while so I’m really excited,” Tillman said.
Grandma’s baby Brandon Hammond, who played 11-year-old Ahmad in the 1997 film, is working on a documentary about Soul Food, according to Tillman. Hammond will be in attendance at the fest along with Vivica A. Fox, who played his aunt Maxine, and Michael Beach, who played his aunt Teri’s husband Miles.
“Brandon, I talk to all the time,” Tillman said. “I’m very excited about a documentary that he’s working on that we’re executive producing. I did some interviews for him on that. So that is something that’s in the works that’s going to go behind the scenes and the whole thing of Soul Food.”
A Milwaukee native, Tillman graduated from Columbia College Chicago. He was working on commercials, and had already begun writing, when one day he overheard a production designer talking about working on the set of Damon Wayans’ 1992 comedy-drama, Mo’ Money.
“When Damon Wayans came in to shoot Mo’ Money in Chicago, he asked to have more African Americans on his crew, and there wasn’t a lot of African Americans at that time in the union,” Tillman said. “So I was just a guy working in a hardware store, and the production designer came in [and said], ‘Hey, you want to work on a movie?”
Tillman said he worked with the swing gang on the film set.
“Now I see Marlon [Wayans] all the time. Anytime I see him or his brother [Damon], I say thank you,” Tillman said. “Chicago was the first time I ever worked on a set.”
Reminiscing on Black Chicago’s film movement in the late 1990s and early 2000s, including Theodore Witcher’s Love Jones and the Barbershop film series that he and Teitel produced, Tillman said the XL Film Festival is opening doors for filmmakers to meet other filmmakers and sow the seeds of inspiration to grow Chicago’s film scene.
“I think that is the key at the end of the day,” Tillman said. “You can’t wait for Hollywood. We didn’t stop. I didn’t wait for them. We just made a movie.”
Although the trend in Hollywood back then was urban films about violence, Tillman said he was determined to show other facets of Black life.
“You have to tell your own stories,” Tillman said. “I think the idea of having a film festival, having acknowledgement, a place where people can connect, that is the starting point.”
