We can't wait for you to join us for this year's festival! It's sure to be an entertaining experience filled with conversation starting films, educational opportunities, and social events. Click here (soon) to see our films full descriptions.

 

Thursday, August 15th

5:00PM-7:00PM

Opening Film

We’re kicking off the festival with the feature film Solace.

Following the death of her father, a 17-year-old girl is sent to live with her estranged family and finds comfort in a questionable friendship with a self-destructive neighbor, leading both on a startling path to self discovery. Starring Hope Olaide Wilson, Chelsea Tavares, Lynn Whitfield

Location: The Miracle Theatre

 

3rd Annual Making Black Lives Matter Through Film Panel

Making Black Lives Matter Through Film
Join us for a crowd favorite on Thursday night for our opening night film showcase, featuring a variety of poignant films and panel discussion after, as we tackle how to make black lives matter through film! Block preceded with oral story from Firefighter Nick Baskerville..

Films: The Voicemail, Oklahoma is Black, Crispus, We Have The Numbers: A Short Documentary on Gun Violence in America, Murder in Mobile, Unarmed Man

Location: The Miracle Theatre

7:30PM-10:00PM

Friday, August 16th

9:00AM-11:15AM

FILM SCREENINGS - BLOCK 1

The Connection
These films showcase connections to our history, Africa, and the disconnect that exists with the two as well.

Films: Familiar Faces/Unexpected Places, Dara, Sankofa, The History of White People in America, The Tree and the Pirogue

Location: The Miracle Theatre

11:45AM-1:35PM

FILM SCREENINGS - BLOCK 2

Wait…What?
These films showcase unconventional characters and storytelling.

Films: Dog Person, The Call, Moving On, Pearl Motel, Here, Dre, A Night At The Table

Location: The Miracle Theatre

2:00PM -5:00PM

FILM SCREENINGS - BLOCK 3

Smiles & Tears
Films showcasing stories that will make you laugh or make you cry.

Films: Roasted, Corey, Heavenly, Me Time, Miracle Fruit, Doll, Angels In Our Hood, Slave Cry, We Want to Make It
 

Location: The Miracle Theatre

FILM SCREENINGS - BLOCK 4

Never Back Down
We'll screen films of activists who don’t know the word quit.

Films: Respect Our Black Dollars, While I Breathe, I Hope

Location: The Mayflower Hotel- State Room

7:30PM-10PM

Saturday, August 17th

9:00AM-11:00AM

FEATURE FILM SCREENING

One Child Left Behind: The Untold Atlanta Cheating Scandal
Directed by Emmy Nominated Producer Jodi Gomes, this harrowing documentary brings the accused, whistleblowers, cheaters, and innocent together on film for the first time to tell the real story. The US Education debate takes a front seat in this investigative film that will leave many wondering how our education system could be so blind.

Film: One Child Left Behind

Location: The Mayflower Hotel- Chinese Ballroom

11:30AM-2:00PM

FILM SCREENINGS - BLOCK 2

We’ve Been Here
This block starts off with an oral story from Comic Chelsea Shorte. Featuring a variety of LGBTQ+ themed films highlighting the humanity behind the community. Q&A with filmmakers and panel to follow focused on if and how we care about the marginalized within the African American community.

Films: Congo Cabaret, Sicko!, F.A.M., Light in Dark Places, Masks

Location: The Mayflower Hotel- Chinese Ballroom

2:30PM-5:00PM

FEATURE FILM SCREENING & PANEL EVENT

Una Great Movie
A beautiful diverse movie about a black American woman traveling to Mexico, slowly turns into a romantic comedy with an all-white cast. The absurd reality of chasing a dream. Panel to follow with director Jennifer Sharp, Danielle Vega (East Los High), and film critic Sandie Chen.

Location: The Mayflower Hotel- Chinese Ballroom

9:00AM-11:00AM

FILM SCREENINGS BLOCK 1

Portraits
A glance into the minds and lives of beautiful people or characters.

Films: Opus, After I’m Gone, Let This Be Therapy, LIME, East of The River, Four Points

Location: The Mayflower Hotel- District Ballroom

11:30AM-1:30PM

FAMILY FRIENDLY SCREENING BLOCK

Join us for the feature film EMMETT, a film about a twelve year-old black child prodigy, teams up with his eccentric SAT tutor to solve a crime and keep his family from splitting up. The film will be preceded by three family friendly shorts.

Note: This block is Buy One Get One Free. For every one parent or guardian that purchases a ticket, your child (age 17 and under) can attend for free.

Films: Wash Day, Wash Day, Emmett

Location: The Mayflower Hotel- District Ballroom

2:00PM-3:45PM

FEATURE FILM SCREENING

Owned: A Tale of Two Americas
The United States’ postwar housing policy created the world’s largest middle class. It also set America on two divergent paths -- one of imagined wealth, propped up by speculation and endless booms-and-busts, and the other in systematically defunded, segregated communities, where “the American dream” feels hopelessly out of reach.

Some ten years after the last housing collapse and well into a perceived upswing, the election of Donald Trump and urban uprisings in places like Baltimore suggest that there's a far more fundamental problem with housing policy in America. And we haven't even begun to 'recover.' 'Owned' is a fever dream vision into the dark history behind the US housing economy. Tracking its overtly racist beginnings to its unbridled commoditization, the doc exposes a foundational story few Americans understand as their own.

Film: Owned: A Tale of Two Americas

Location: The Mayflower Hotel- District Ballroom

4:15PM-6:20PM

FILM SCREENINGS - BLOCK 2

Black Love
A showcase of stories of lessons in dating, marriage, or love in a black family.

Films: Flight, The Bee, The Right Swipe, Lion, Lights On, Together, One Last Goodbye, Funny Married Stuff

Location: The Mayflower Hotel- District Ballroom


 

3:00PM-4:00PM

FREE WORKSHOP

Intellectual Property and Protecting Your Art

This workshop is done in collaboration with Creative Control and was extremely popular last year! Lawrence Cosby Esq. will return to talk about IP and how artists should protect their art from a legal perspective.

Location: The Mayflower Hotel-Small Classroom

4:30PM-6:30PM

FREE WORKSHOP

Honing Your Pitch: How To Tell Your Story In 5 Mins Or Less
This free workshop will be taught by storytellers Nick Baskerville and Stephanie Garibaldi. Wondering the best way to deliver a pitch or tell your story? Learn to tell your own true stories in compelling and connective ways.

Location: The Mayflower Hotel- Small Classroom

6:45PM-7:30PM

AWARDS CEREMONY

Awards
Find out who is taking home a trophy for the 2019 DC Black Film Festival. Free to attend.

Location: The Mayflower Hotel- District Balroom

8:00PM-11:30PM

CLOSING NIGHT EVENT

For The Love of Music
What would you do for love…or the love of music? These films may have the answers.

Films: The Beat & Path Presents: Electrosoul, Wheels

Location: The Mayflower Hotel- District Ballroom