©Courtesy of Harlem International Film Festival.
(September 17-21)Opening Night features the Renaissance Awards honoring
Stanley Nelson, Vernon Reid, and Kara Young and a tribute to local cinema with a special screening program titled Harlem Love
Stanley Nelson, Vernon Reid, Kara Young
Opening Night kicks off at City College’s Aaron Davis Hall with a block of short films produced by locally based filmmakers and/or filmed in or about our historic, world famous neighborhood and community. The opening festivities include the Renaissance Awards presented to three iconic New York film, music, and acting figures, two of them based in Harlem: award-winning documentarian Stanley Nelson, co-founder of the Black Rock Coalition and the two-time Grammy winning member of Living Colour, Vernon Reid, and rising star and record-breaking consecutive Tony winning actor, Kara Young.
The first three days will be hosted at Aaron Davis Hall at City College, Leonard Davis Center for the Performing Arts (129 Convent Avenue at West 135th Street) and include Hi’s famous Opening Night red carpet, screenings and panels all located at that central hub with weekend screenings at Maysles Documentary Center (343 Malcolm X Boulevard). This year’s film lineup will once again celebrate and showcase relatively undiscovered international cinematic gems and local New York filmmaking talent with a special focus on Harlem and other Uptown artists including those from the Upper Manhattan and the Bronx. Hi’s lineup features 89 films, including 22 features (8 narrative, 15 documentaries), 20 shorts 99 narrative, 10 documentaries, 4 episodic shorts, experimental, and youth), 4 music videos, and 2 VR projects.
The Harlem International Film Festival (Hi) introduces a partnership with the Nomadic Archivists Project (NAP) recently awarded a Mellon grant to assist organizations like Hi in preserving their historical records. The archiving process of the Festival’s two decade history is underway and the search for a suitable home for the archive is in motion.
Harlem International Film Festival’s Program Director, Nasri Zacharia, said. “This very special 20th Anniversary edition of the Harlem International Film Festival will highlight our unwavering commitment to honoring and safeguarding Harlem’s vibrant cultural history and the work of hundreds of filmmaker alumni. At a time when cultural institutions of color face unprecedented challenges, this initiative stands as a powerful affirmation of the enduring value, resilience, and brilliance of Black & Brown creative expression. Together, Hi and NAP are ensuring that this extraordinary legacy continues to shine brightly for generations to come.
“We congratulate the Harlem International Film Festival on their work to support some of the most diverse voices in filmmaking, both from Harlem and beyond, for the past 20 years,” said Pat Swinney Kaufman, Commissioner of the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. “The festival has become a vital part of Harlem’s community, and this year will honor filmmaker and Harlem leader Stanley Nelson, a former ‘Made in NY’ award recipient. His unwavering dedication to the preservation of civil rights history aligns perfectly with the mission and spirit of the Harlem International Film Festival.”
.fullstop., Harlem Blues, Harlem Fragments
Camara Ife Aaron, and Felicia Shayda Sobhani’s .fullstop., Kia C. Folsom’s Harlem Blues, Cathleen Campbell’s Harlem Dawn, Cameron Tyler Carr’s Harlem Fragments, Loradonna Frucci, and Lizbeth Fuentes’ The Original Harlem Globetrotters, and Annette Hampton’s Two is One and One is None.Other opening day events include a Screenplay Showdown reading competition. Finalists will direct ten selected pages from their screenplays to be read in-person by a live cast. The finalists are “Black Macbeth” by Cameron Monaghan (Shameless, Gotham), “Homes for Colored People” by Julie Loretta Seely; “Rabbit’s Foot Saloon” by Phillip W Fite, and Kyle Williams; “Robbery of an Essence” by Ericka Smith; “The Devil’s Creed” by Cheyenne Smith; and “The Elephant and the Donkey” by Lonnie Hughes.
She Dared to Dream: Ayanna Pressley
The Long Game
Stanley NelsonStanley Nelson is the foremost chronicler of the African American experience working in nonfiction film today. His documentary films, many of which have aired on PBS, combine compelling narratives with rich and deeply researched historical detail, shining new light on both familiar and under-explored aspects of the American past. A MacArthur “Genius” Fellow, Nelson was awarded a Peabody for his body of work in 2016. He has received numerous honors over the course of his career, including the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts Sciences. In 2013, President Barack Obama presented Nelson with the National Medal in the Humanities. Nelson’s latest documentaries include Sound of the Police, for ABC News Studios/Hulu, and Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom and Becoming Frederick Douglass for PBS. His previous documentary Attica, for SHOWTIME Documentary Films, was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 94th Academy Awards® and earned him the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary. In 2021, Nelson also directed the feature film Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy for Netflix, which was a 2022 duPont-Columbia Awards Finalist, and Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre, with co-director Marco Williams, for the HISTORY Channel, which was nominated for three Primetime Emmy® Awards.
Vernon Reid
Globally celebrated as a giant of electric guitar (he was recently hailed by Rolling Stone amongst the top 50 players of all-time), Reid’s Grammy Award-winning records with alt-rock trailblazers, Living Colour, still sound as fresh and fierce as when Cult Of Personality hijacked the Billboard chart in the late-’80s. But to take the pulse of the zeitgeist as he sees it – and hear his fearless musicality in microcosm – you need only drop the needle on his acclaimed new solo album, Hoodoo Telemetry, released October 3, 2025 on Artone / The Players Club Records.
Kara Young
Kara Young is an award-winning actor born and raised in Harlem. The three-time festival alumna’s film Blow Up My Life won Best Film at the Festival in 2023 in large part due to her show-stealing performance. Known for her dynamic roles on stage both on Broadway and off, she has received various accolades, including two Tony Awards a Drama Desk Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award, and an Obie Award. Having won the Tony Award in 2024 and 2025, she is the first Black actress to be Tony-nominated in four consecutive years (2022-25) for Best Actress in a Play and the first African-American actress to win two consecutive Tonys. Young studied at the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts before making her stage debut in Patricia Ione Lloyd’s play Pretty Hunger (2016) at the Public Theater. The following year, she joined the LAByrinth Theater Company and gained acclaim for portraying Viola in the 2022 off-Broadway revival of William Shakespeare’s romantic play Twelfth Night at the Classical Theatre of Harlem.
This year’s All Star Jury will be revealed at the film festival’s conclusion on September 21. Past jurors have included: Julie Dash, S. Epatha Merkerson, Jamal Joseph, Richard Peña and Claire Aguilar to name a few.
For updates, registration, and more information on the Harlem International Film Festival go to http://HarlemFilmFestival.org
2025 Harlem International Film Festival Official Selections
Opening Night Selections
Feeling
Director: Hilton Goode
Country: United States, Running Time: 28 mins
On the night of Élysée Jackson’s 23rd birthday, her old friend Bento Benson in a bid to make the occasion unforgettable declares they must listen to at least one of her prized records while under the influence. What unfolds for the pair is the creation of a shared realm-crafted embrace, where the world around them begins to fade away, leaving room for their relationship to blossom on this single unforgettable night..fullstop.
Directors: Camara Ife Aaron, Felicia Shayda Sobhani
Country: Dominica/Germany/Slovakia/
12-year-old Liv, the star of her middle school soccer team and its only girl. When she gets her period in the middle of playoffs, her best friends, Zora and Priya, have to help her find a pad so she can get back on the field and play. Along the way, they find an unlikely ally in a member of Liv’s all-male team.
Harlem Blues
Director: Kia C. Folsom
Country: United State, Running Time: 17 min
Harlem Blues is a poignant drama following Kaycee, a woman grappling with the aftermath of a shattered engagement as she navigates the vibrant streets of Harlem, finding solace in friendship while confronting the ghosts of her past. Through moments of introspection and unexpected encounters, Kaycee learns to embrace the possibility of a fresh start, discovering resilience, redemption, and the enduring power of love amidst the rich tapestry of life in the city.
Harlem Dawn
Director: Cathleen Campbell
Country: United States, Running Time: 3 min
The filmmaker’s not-quite-daily photo diary of sunrise above the Harlem rooftops as seen from their window over a 9-year period.Harlem Fragments
Director: Cameron Tyler Carr
Country: United States, Running Time: 17 min
An Afro-futurist scrapbook storytelling of a Harlem Black family’s beautiful destruction during the 2008 recession. A natural disaster so mesmerizing you can’t look away from the tragedy. Based on true events.
Harlem Wine
Director: Natasha Beste
Country: United States, Running Time: 3 min
Harpist Maurice Draughn performs his original composition, titled “Harlem Wine,’ captured specially for this film using a selection of antique and custom-made lenses.
The Original Harlem Globetrotters
Directors: Loradonna Frucci, Lizbeth Fuentes
Country: United States, Running Time: 12 min
Basketball players Hot Shot and Cheese, visit Maysles Documentary Center and their film students to reconnect with Harlem from behind their lenses. Lizbeth and Loradonna got exclusive interviews with the players and behind the scenes access to their 10-day residency.
Two is One and One is None
Director: Annette Hampton
Country: United States, Running Time: 10 min
Being prepared is one thing, but there’s also being paranoid. Briefly speaking on her own experience Annette turns the question of emotions, expression and preparation to her friends.
Director: James Franklin Blue III
Country: United States, Running Time: 40 min
In 2025, the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) will commemorate its 50th anniversary. This milestone presents an opportune moment for the organization to share its illustrious history and vision for the future through Beyond the Headlines: The NABJ Journey. Since its inception, NABJ has been a pivotal organization in providing career development opportunities for Black journalists, students, and communications professionals globally. As a leading advocate for Black media professionals, NABJ has ensured that its members have a voice in the global news media landscape.
She Dared to Dream: Ayanna Pressley
Director: Abby Ginzberg
Country: United States, Running Time: 28 min
Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) has been serving in the House of Representatives since January 2019. But just because Pressley was talented and experienced did not mean her path to politics was smooth. She had dropped out of Boston University to support her mother. Her father struggled with addiction and spent time in her childhood in prison; he ultimately became a professor. Her mother worked multiple jobs to cover tuition at Pressley’s elite Chicago private school. In Congress, Pressley has been a leader in reproductive rights, criminal justice reform, and opposition to Project 2025. She stands for abolishing capital punishment and solitary confinement, and shrinking the US prison population. She has also pushed for student debt relief during the Biden administration and is an outspoken advocate for the Green New Deal and Medicare for All. She sits on the Financial Services and the Oversight and Reform Committees.
Director: Asurf Amuwa Oluseyi
Countries: Côte d’Ivoire/France/Nigeria, Running time: 116 min
Three women, once trafficked as young girls and stripped of their innocence, reunite years later with a single goal: to take down the powerful men who shattered their lives. Bound by their shared trauma and unyielding resilience, they embark on a dangerous journey of revenge, turning the tables on their captors in a story of justice, empowerment, and unrelenting retribution.Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day
Director: Ivona Juka
Countries: Bosnia/Herzegovina/Canada/
Four close friends in their young 20s, Lovro, Nenad, Stevan, and Ivan, fought against the Ustashas and Nazis by joining the partisans. Sixteen years later, they became renowned filmmakers. In 1957, in Communist Yugoslavia, their sexual orientation raised suspicion, and a communist party loyalist named Emir was assigned to sabotage their careers and lives. The pursuit of freedom becomes a fight for survival for the artists, while Emir’s beliefs are challenged.
Ethered World Premiere
Director: Ericka Smith
Country: United States, Running Time: 86 min
A battle rapper is forced to ghostwrite for a popular athlete who threatens his life in more ways than one.
The Long Game New York Festival Premiere
Director: Jace Anderson
Country: United States, Running Time: 87 min
Ambitious ingenue Holly Sloan (Sekai Abeni) falls for older man Richard (Jackie Earle Haley) and agrees to help him con Mariah McKay (Kathleen Turner), an 80s starlet who has faded into a Norma Desmond-like obscurity. The two women strike up an unlikely friendship, with Holly first taking a job and then renting a room in the star’s house. Caught between her passion for Richard and her allegiance to Mariah, Holly must decide where her true loyalties lie. Based on a short story by New York Times-bestselling author Janet Fitch.
Pégame
Director: Dylan Verrechia
Country: Mexico, Running Time: 96 min
Pégame is a folktale based on the fable of the scorpion and the frog.
The Rewrite
Director: Terry Dawson
Country: United States, Running Time: 94 min
A struggling screenwriter, obsessed with portraying Black Excellence and authenticity, is forced to do a rewrite of his latest draft in order to save his career. But when he revisits the characters in his script in real life, he soon realizes that his own world is short on authenticity and anything but excellent.
Seppuku: The Sun Goes Down New York Premiere
Director: Yuji Kakizaki
Country: Japan, Running Time: 133 min
This period piece set in Japan during the Edo Period, finds Yoshino, the wife of the shogunate’s castle guard, a direct retainer of the Shogun, rebuking her husband, Furuta Kyuzo Masanari, after he is placed under house arrest for the crime of damaging the Shogun’s bow while on duty at the Edo Castle. Kyuzo’s fate will soon be decided.
Songs of Adam
Director: Oday Rasheed
Country: Iraq, Running Time: 97 min
In a remote Mesopotamian village on the banks of the Euphrates River, twelve-year-old Adam decides to stop time within himself. Only three people believe in his ability to defy time: Anki, his loyal best friend; Ali, his younger brother; and Iman, his cousin, whose dreams of a future with Adam are shattered by his choice.
DOCUMENTARY
A Double Life
Director: Catherine Masud
Country: United States, Running Time: 85 min
August 21st, 1971. On this day prisoners’ rights leader George Jackson allegedly attempted to break out of California’s notorious San Quentin Prison. Three guards and two inmates were brutally murdered, and Jackson is shot dead. The violence shocks the nation and sets in motion a wave of unrest at other prisons. Caught in this storm is a young lawyer named Stephen Bingham, who was the last outside visitor to see him prior to the break out attempt. Bingham was indicted on five counts of first-degree murder for allegedly passing a gun to Jackson during the visit. A nationwide all-points bulletin (APB) was issued for Bingham’s arrest, but he was nowhere to be found.
Comrade Tambo’s London Recruits Manhattan Premiere
Director: Gordon Main
Country: United Kingdom, Running Time: 104 min
At the height of apartheid in the late 60s and early 70s, an international group of working-class students and workers living in London answered Oliver Tambo’s secret call for undercover agents. This film tells the story of these young men and women who brought to life – at great personal risk – Oliver Tambo’s daring, non-violent strategy to keep hope alive in his embattled people in South Africa. Not everyone made it out.
The Disappearance of Miss Scott
Director: Nicole London
Country: United States, Running Time: 83 min
The Disappearance of Miss Scott chronicles Hazel Scott’s meteoric rise as a jazz talent and major Hollywood star before being blacklisted during the Red Scare. She was one of the most revered stars of the early 20th century, a beloved musical sensation, who also channeled her talents into Hollywood stardom, becoming the first Black American to host their own television show. She used her star power to be an influential voice of the proto-Civil Right Movement, and her life in Paris after being blacklisted from Hollywood during the 1950s Red Scare . Her career in the United States ultimately ended after she defended herself and her colleagues in front of the House Un-American Committee.
Enongo
Director: Kevin Schreck
Country: United States, Running Time: 92 min
Enongo is a feature-length, animation-documentary hybrid and the inspiring story of rapper/producer/Ph.D. candidate, Enongo Lumumba-Kasongo, a.k.a., Sammus. With her autobiographical and afrofuturism-inspired music, Enongo tackles various subjects including (but certainly not limited to) mental health, growing up, and relationships.
Fist Bump New York Premiere
Director: Madeleine Fray
Country: United States, Running Time: 60 min
Fist Bump is the story of Marcus Knight, an astounding success story; a talented and charismatic bi-racial young adult with autism and cerebral palsy who pursues his dream career of a life on Broadway. As a college freshman, he was accused of sexual harassment from a friendly fist bump which forced him to piece together his shattered ambitions.
Fleeting Reality
Director: Richard Van Kleeck
Country: United States, Running Time: 58 min
This film examines the legendary multiple Pulitzer Prize winning photographers of the Louisville Courier-Journal. Compelling stories include an African American photographer assigned to cover a Ku Klux Klan rally; mind changing images from the Breona Taylor demonstrations; the social divides at the Kentucky Derby; a different look at Muhammed Ali; the human cost of the “killing fields” of Cambodia; the tragic price of coal mining; U.S. Presidents from Truman to Biden; the early consequences of assault weapons in the hands of civilians, and the disputed photograph that went all the way to the Supreme Court; the power of photography to change laws, hearts and minds; and the fall of a family media empire.
Game On: Basketball in Rural China
Director: David Hamlin
Country: United States, Running Time: 80 min
This is the untold and surprising story of how American basketball came to rural China almost a century ago, and is now deeply rooted in this rural culture. Basketball has been embraced by China’s Miao people and other traditional cultures, becoming an integral part of daily life and community connection throughout China’s mountainous rural heartland. And every year, there is a remarkable basketball tournament attended by 20,000 local people. It’s the Super Bowl of Rural China – and a cultural and athletic spectacle unlike anything you’ve seen before. We follow three teams of men and women as they pursue their dreams to become basketball champions and bring glory to their villages.
Goodbye Horses: The Many Lives of Q Lazarus New York Festival Premiere
Director: Eva Aridjis Fuentes
Country: United States, Running Time: 104 min
Goodbye Horses: The Many Lives of Q Lazzarus is an intimate film which solves a musical mystery while taking the viewer on a rollercoaster ride through the life of enigmatic singer Diane Luckey, aka Q Lazzarus. Discovered by Jonathan Demme in 1987 during a fateful cab ride, Q had a moment of fame after her cult hit song “Goodbye Horses” was featured in The Silence of the Lambs. But while Q had a following in the New York and London club scenes, she was unable to get a record deal and completely vanished from the public eye in 1995. Not even her friends and bandmates knew what had happened to her, that is until another fateful car ride 25 years later brought her together with filmmaker and fan Eva Aridjis-Fuentes.
In The Red
Director: Mimi Chakarova
Country: United States, Running Time: 94 mins
In the Red is a feature documentary about transformation, about growing up poor in one of the wealthiest areas in the United States and getting into trouble early on. Some find their way to a free program in Oakland, California that offers a lifeline – rigorous training to become firefighters and first responders. But the streets keep calling. What makes one kid heed that call and another ignore it?
Nomad in No Man’s Land
Director: Hester Jonkhout
Country: Netherlands, Running Time: 58 min
Nomad in No Man’s Land takes you to the eventful life of Caribbean artist Felix de Rooy. De Rooy, queer and ‘of color’, is seen as a pioneer and the first in the Dutch Kingdom to speak freely through his art about what it means to be queer and Caribbean. With his work he challenges the establishment to look at itself in the mirror.
Pianoman
Director: Sunny Liu
Country: United States, Running Time: 53 min
A film about David Avenando, an undocumented immigrant who achieves his dream of opening a piano factory in Yonkers, NY, but runs into unforeseen circumstances that threaten to take away his livelihood and potentially separate his family.
Rubin Hurricane Carter: Forever a Fighter
Director: Peter Brian Thurling
Country: Canada, Running Time: 80 min
Rubin Hurricane Carter was a black destroyer in the ring. But in 1966, he was sent to prison for killing three white people in a hometown New Jersey bar. The film begins when Rubin is diagnosed with terminal cancer. He’s sick but feisty – ready to fight for his life once again.
Unbanked
Directors: David Kuhn, Lauren Sieckmann
Country: United States, Running Time: 85 min
This is the story of Bitcoin, from its inception as a response to the market crash of 2008, to its infancy as either the first realistic alternative to the oppression of a failed global fiat system, or the largest bubble waiting to burst in economic history.
Unbroken World Premiere
Director: Joshua Chen Cavalier
Country: United States, Running Time: 60 min
Unbroken is an intimate athletic drama as well as a meditation on loss, age, legacy & mortality. Following parkour practitioner Bryce Clarke, the film captures an unflinching look at a man’s grief & athletic triumph following the passing of his two closest friends — Basilio “Quiet” Montilla and Deyvid “Wolf” Garcia — both of whom continue to live on in the New York City parkour community.
Vanishing: A Love Story
Director: Sandra Luckow
Country: United States, Running Time: 108 min
Vanishing: A Love Story is a documentary about award-winning novelist Cai Emmons and her loving, open-hearted journey towards death. In 2021, at the age of 70, Cai was diagnosed with ALS. Taking place in 2022, during the last six-months Cai’s life, the film is, first and foremost, a story about the agency
of expression —having a voice to create a legacy in the world.
Director: Lorena Durán
Country: United States, Running Time: 9 min
In the Astoria housing projects of New York, a demanding single mother grapples with her daughter’s last day home, revealing her own fragility.Aly
Director: Kevin L. Lee
Country: United States, Running Time: 15 min
Tonight might be the night Michael and Aly take their relationship to the next level. But Aly has a secret.
Belief
Director: Christian Loubek
Country: United States, Running Time: 14 min
Alongside his wife and daughter, Lennox joyously unpacks their new home but is left speechless when he finds a letter in a moving box labelled ‘mom’ that predestines a different life for him – it’s not as he remembers.
Blackout
Director: Andrea Ocampo
Country: United States, Running time: 6 min
A young woman finds herself caught in Deja Vu at the edge of a subway platform, a duffel bag in hand. When she realizes she doesn’t know its contents, she opens a possibility murkier than the NYC underground.
Break A Leg
Director: Thomas J. Cooksey
Country: US, Running time: 19 min
A struggling actor is thrown into the role of a lifetime, when an unconventional exercise places him in the middle of an extortion plot.
Breathe
Director: Jamie Burton-Oare
Country: United States, Running time: 16 min
For Eric, it is a normal day in his life/neighborhood. For the world, it’s the day Eric faces the reality of taking his last breath.
The Celebration
Director: Michael Brown
Country: United States, Running Time: 14 min
The Celebration is a dramatic short film about a mother and father battling lingering trauma as she endeavors to create a joyous high school graduation celebration for their son.
The End
Director: Wil Pinke
Country: United States, Running Time: 18 min
In this surreal noir-comedy, an aging, wannabe mystery writer struggles to finish his first detective novel before it’s too late. As he approaches the end, the lines between his real and fictional lives begin to blur.
I Hate My Love Life
Director: Tiffany Jackman
Country: United States, Running Time: 15 min
After years of bickering, a well-seasoned married couple decides to go on dates with other people to see if the grass is really greener on the other side; only to find out they are not prepared for the woes of new-age dating.
KENDRAKE
Director: Affion Crockett
Country: United States, Running Time: 9 min
In the aftermath of the rap beef heard around the world between Kendrick Lamar & Drake, stands a divided fanbase. When the division makes its way into corporate America, extreme measures must be taken.
See You Friday
Director: Makeba L. Ross
Country: United States, Running Time: 11 min
Zuri is finally ready to be serious with Amare; but Amare just got some news that threatens to ruin the romantic date he planned for her.
Staging Ana
Director: K.M. Murphy
Country: United States, Running Time: 20 min
A theatre company prepares for season previews under a manipulative director, whose fanatical tactics blur the line between illusion and reality.
Superman Doesn’t Steal
Director: Tamika Lamison
Country: United States, Running Time: 19 min
Based on true events, Superman Doesn’t Steal is a coming of age story, set during the 1970’s Atlanta child murders- as seen through the eyes of 9 year old Harriet & her brother, who are fascinated with superheroes. When they experience a troubling series of events, the impact on their family leaves emotional scars and causes them both to grow up fast, and redefine their definitions of heroes, villains and yes- even Superman.
Ya Hanouni
Directors: Lyna Tadount, Sofian Chouaib
Country: France, Running Time: 3 min
While the Mom and the Dad try to put their baby to sleep, a competition arises between them: who will manage to get the baby to say the first word?
Documentary Shorts
42 Years for Nothing
Director: Lana Adams
Country: United States, Running Time: 40 min
After serving 38 years in prison for the rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl. David Bryant maintained his innocence. With the help of a nonprofit organization, he is released and sent home, but nothing could prepare him for what would happen next.
The Arrivals
Director: Andrea M DeGeorge Garbarini
Country: United States, Running Time: 40 min
From the Arrival of the first busload of asylum seekers sent to NY from Texas in August of 2022, the film follows 3 tiny, underfunded volunteer organizations that welcomed, assisted, fed, clothed and provided kindness and dignity to those newcomers in need.
Discovering Bessie Coleman
Director: Beth Powell
Country: United States, Running Time: 15 min
Discovering Bessie Coleman celebrates the impact of Bessie Coleman’s legacy through the eyes of those she continues to inspire. Rather than a biographical account, the film shares personal stories from Coleman’s family, aviation professionals, and celebrities like author and actress Karyn Parsons, recounting how they first learned about Coleman’s groundbreaking achievements as the first African-American and Native American woman to earn an international pilot’s license.
Homeless to Homeowner
Director: Jahangir Golestan-Parst
Country: United States, Running Time: 26 min
Homelessness continues to devastate communities across our Nation. In Sacramento, California, a group of determined individuals are transforming this seemingly intractable problem. Homeless to Homeowner introduces Mohammad Mohanna, a successful Iranian American developer and philanthropist, who believes everyone deserves dignified and prosperous lives. Shocked that his homelessness neighbors are routinely harassed and relocated, he established a facility where homeless individuals receive the resources they need to become productive citizens.
The Seed
Director: Hélène Goupil
Country: United States, Running Time: 19 min
Guy Clark, an iconic figure in the LGBTQ community who’s been selling flowers in San Francisco’s Castro District since the AIDS epidemic, finds himself priced out of his own neighborhood and has to weather the seasons of a changing city.
Woshchi’ishji: The One Close To Me
Director: Carrie Johnson
Country: United States, Running Time: 9 min
Devaughn “Von” Sylvester has lived his entire life on the Navajo reservation in Shiprock, New Mexico, playing the only sport that as a 6’2 guard took him anywhere else: basketball — but when Von spontaneously moves to Harlem, New York, the great change brings him face to face with a reflection of upbringing, and he must see if the sport that saved him once can save him again.
Animation Shorts
Black Man, Black Man
Director: Frank Elliott Abney
Country: United States, Running Time: 9 min
From the moment he wakes up, Elliott gets closer to confronting the child within. Carrying the weight of the feelings he wrestles with inside, reminders echo through his mind as affirmations to carry him through each moment, bringing healing and a path forward to reclaiming his worth.
Bridge My Little Friends
Director: Kazuyuki Ishihara
Country: UK, Running Time: 12 min
“I’ll bring Shiro to you.I promise!” Jin, the cat, made this promise to Mugi, who is deeply sad about losing her beloved dog, Shiro. Jin loves Mugi very much and, after hearing the story of the “Rainbow Bridge” from his owner Aki, he decides to take Mugi to meet Shiro at the Rainbow Bridge! Can Jin heal Mugi’s sadness? With the help of nearby pigeons and squirrels, Jin’s great plan is now underway!
Dreaming HanaH
Director: An Hyun Jung
Country: Republic of Korea, Running Time: 13 min
HanaH, who obsessively attaches importance to the value of the good, descends from the (image of) heaven : idea to earth : reality as she discovers the hypocrisy in the world she lives in. In the process of falling, she goes through abortion surgery, that is, accepting death and returning to the origin – the state of nothingness. Returning to an empty body, HanaH stands again in front of a world that has become meaningless.
Flocky
Director: Esther Casas Roura
Country: Spain Running Time: 12 min
Flocky is an animated allegory navigating pregnancy, exploring the connection between a mother and her unborn child. Set in a melancholic and enchanting world, the film beautifully captures the essence of love, and the poignant nature of loss.
Grandpa’s Beef Stew
Director: HaiTao Wu
Country: United States, Running Time: 11 min
Grandpa’s Beef Stew follows a young protagonist’s emotional journey as he grapples with his grandfather’s Alzheimer’s, uncovering the deep sacrifices of his past through the fading memories of his beloved beef stew.
Hadu
Director: Damilola Solesi
Country: United States, Running Time: 8 min
An eager young girl embarks on a culinary journey to recreate her grandma’s special recipe. Unfortunately, she ends up in a kitchen disaster, they reunite in the kitchen to relive cherished memories and create a perfect dish.
Lover
Directors: Ching-Wen Yang, Shao-hua Wang, Zhi-kou Zhai
Country: Taiwan, Running Time: 5 min
This story tells about the relationship between a companion robot, Alice, and her owner, Hana. Hana, suffering from depression, often releases her stress on Alice, causing the robot to frequently malfunction. Alice begins to question her own emotions and purpose.
The Sun Chaser
Director: Chloe Keer Liu
Country: United States, Running Time: 6 min
A curious young boy in rural Southern China climbs over mountains to catch the sun.
Temporality
Director: Aanya Gupta
Country: India, Running Time: 4 min
The idea for Temporality began with a question that philosophy has grappled with for centuries: what does it mean to live in awareness of death? The film is about our attempts to locate ourselves in the face of something unlocatable. It doesn’t seek resolution but offers companionship-through voices, visuals, and the shared human experience of wondering what comes after. It is both a personal and collective reckoning with death, filtered through the lens of animation and philosophy, where temporality itself becomes a subject: how we move through time, how we remember, and how we face the end that shapes all beginnings.
Wednesday With Gramps
Directors: Chris Copeland, Justin Copeland
Country: United States, Running Time: 9 min
When a teenage boy visits his Gramps at a seemingly mundane boring assisted living facility, he comes to find that they have much more in common than he thought.
HUB (Harlem/Upper Manhattan & the Bronx) Shorts
Dancing With Waves
Director: Emmitt Thrower
Country: United States, Running Time: 30 min
Tammi Judge, the founder of a transformative dance program, leads young dancers on a journey of self-discovery and personal growth, using the power of movement to heal, inspire, and change their lives forever.
Deli
Director: Max Garcia
Country: United States, Running Time: 14 min
3 NYC deli workers find themselves wrapped up in a government conspiracy after discovering the truth about Staten Island.
Harlem to Harvard
Director: Zuzelin Martin
Country: United States, Running Time: 15 min
An inspirational short documentary about a teacher, Edouard E. Plummer, who helped over 600 students from Harlem attend the most elite boarding schools in the country, creating countless ripples of generational impact.
The Origin
Director: Jorge Sanchez
Country: United States, Running Time: 20 min
As the fate of the earth hangs perilously in the balance, Bandi a sagacious elder embarks on a crucial mission to locate Tep one of the few legitimate descendants of an ancient extraterrestrial power, tracing back to a small tribe in Africa. Completely unaware of his lineage and the potency it bestows, Tep must join forces with Bandi and his tribal brother Mlinzi to fight off alien mercenaries sent to kill them. The fate of the world hangs in the balance.
Ring Shout – Let The Circle Be Unbroken
Director: Olubayo Jackson
Country: United States, Running Time: 18 min
The exploration of sacred dance in Africa and diaspora leads a NYC teacher on a worldwide journey to reconnect severed cultural ties. Her quest to document the Ring Shout, an age-old praise dance rooted in African Spiritual Traditions leads her to a rural Georgia museum where she discovers a long lost branch of her family and her Gullah Geechee roots.
Someone Loves You
Directors: Victoria Perry, Amanda Mandii
Country: United States, Running Time: 20 min
Someone Loves You is inspired by true events and experience with loving and humanizing family members who live with schizophrenia and other challenges. Millennial and first-generation Americans examine the different responses to mental health within the first-generation immigrant family dynamic.
The Uniform
Director: Dylan Gary
Country: United States, Running Time: 19 min
The Uniform tells the story of a lonely woman who has slipped through the cracks of life, and the extremes to which she will go in her search for human connection.
Woshchi’ishji: The One Close To Me
Director: Carrie Johnson
Country: United States, Running Time: 9 min
Devaughn “Von” Sylvester has lived his entire life on the Navajo reservation in Shiprock, New Mexico, playing the only sport that as a 6’2 guard took him anywhere else: basketball — but when Von spontaneously moves to Harlem, New York, the great change brings him face to face with a reflection of upbringing, and he must see if the sport that saved him once can save him again.
You Are Not Alone
Director: Brittney M Russell
Country : United States, Running Time 52 min
In the United States, Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy- related causes that white women, a disparity that rises sharply in the Bronx, one of New York State’s most impacted communities, where Black mothers face a maternal mortality rate nine times higher than their counterparts. You Are Not Alone captures the powerful stories of women in the Bronx navigating pregnancy and advocating for change.
Experimental Shorts
DuEls
Director: Jonas Åkerlund
Country: Norway, Running Time: 59 min
DuEls is a dance film based on Nagelhus Schia Productions’ successful dance performance choreographed by Damien Jalet and Erna Omarsdottir first presented at the Vigeland museum in Oslo in 2020. Through a series of short and visceral pieces performed in the form of a tour performance through the museum, the dance contributes to release the concentrated energy in Vigeland’s iconic sculptures.
Green Bay
Director: Shawn Antoine II
Country: United States, Running Time: 9 min
Green Bay is an experimental dance film that explores themes of survival, cosmic ritual, and the transcendent cycle of life through immersive visuals and visceral choreography.
Placenta New York Premiere
Director: MJ Golzari
Country: Iran, Islamic Republic of, Running Time: 4 min
Placenta is an abstract interpretation of the concept of human life. In the expanse of life as a newborn who grows, we are standing in the infinity of moments and space. Struggling to persevere, battling to keep going, and resisting temptation.
Youth Shorts
The New Black Panthers
Director: Onyeka Keneé
Country: United States, Running Time: 12 min
A group of Philly middle schoolers reflect on the Black Panther Party’s pioneering manifesto in the shadow of the COVID 19 pandemic.
Selam
Director: Tevin Lanier
Country: United States, Running Time: 9 min
Selam covers Tevin Lanier’s time teaching film and photography in the countryside of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia after they were invited by Selamta, an organization that helps children find homes in Ethiopia.
Solar Y
Director: Kevin Jones
Country: United States, Running Time: 4 min
A wealthy man is interested in investing in solar energy, but wants to investigate the sun’s power in person before making a decision.
Music Videos
Current
Director: Maria Usbeck
Country: Ecuador, Running Time: 4 min
Current is about feeling trapped in the very systems we’ve built—working, paying, surviving—while quietly yearning for something more elemental, more…free. It asks: are we living the way we’re meant to? Or have we lost touch with a deeper, more essential way of being?
Cut Me Summa Dat Noise
Director: Cara Hagan
Country: United States, Running Time: 7 min
Cut Me Summa Dat Noise is a film that celebrates the rhythms of everyday life through the eyes of a neighborhood matriarch who sets the tone for a new day with the beat of her own heart. As the neighborhood comes to life, people of all ages unite in a joyous cacophony of sound that illuminates the connections between them as members of a vibrant and diverse community in rhythm.
Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel – The Anthem Spiritual
Director: Andrew Horton
Country: United States, Running Time: 4 min
An awakening sometimes follows a remembrance. The African-American (Negro) Spiritual is a historical embodiment of the conscious of the people it represents. Filmed with footage captured on the streets of Harlem, follow this unique group of professional baritones known as the Hudson Heights Project as they utilize a refreshed Spiritual as a symbolic expression of contemporary sentiment.
I Got Joy
Directors: Manuel Larriaga, Joseph Jeremiah Langley
Country: France, Running Time: 3 min
The solution.
Seal Lullaby
Director: Xin Li
Country: China, Running Time: 5 min
This hand-painted animated music video depicts the journey of a baby seal on his own after leaving his mother, featuring Anne Akiko Meyers who performs Eric Whitacre’s Seal Lullaby with Grant Gershon leading the Los Angeles Master Chorale.
Episodic
The EKSPATS – We’re Going to Africa
Director: Ron Myrick
Country: United States, Running Time: 20 min
The EKSPATS is an animated clash of cultures comedy TV series of an all-American family that relocates to Nigeria. Bill Diamond, an earnest, unappreciated, down in the dumps business consultant is given a career-saving opportunity that forces him and his sheltered, all-American family to relocate to Nigeria. We join them on their journey as their minds and hearts open to the people, the culture, and the privileged family of the tycoon, Solomon Babatunde, who hired Bill’s firm. Later, he elevates Bill’s assignment to recommend a successor for the Babatunde family business empire.
Kaleb & Ms. Kelsey
Director: Andrew A Cano
Country: United States, Running Time: 2 min
Kaleb & Ms. Kelsey is a short puppet series that helps adults in the real world understand all the popular (internet) slang around them. Made to feel reminiscent of the shows you grew up with, but with the sense of humor and relatability of adulthood.
Larry’s Big Adventures
Director: Burton Rocks
Country: United States, Running Time: 10 min
In this series of short cartoons, an imaginative boy uses science to solve problems.
The Self-Love Act
Director: Kareema Bee
Country: United States, Running Time: 20 min
In this series hosted by Kareema Bee, a Black woman and artist explores her journey through self-love in dialogue with others, supported by The Big We Foundation. In the pilot episode, Kareema finds out her African ancestry in an unexpected way, which catapults her into an exploration of her roots and how it extends to her community, only to find what she’s been searching for may have been there all along.
VR
Coded Black 360 Video
Director: Maisha Wester
Country: UK, Running Time: 12 min
Immerse yourself in a highly atmospheric and provoking journey through the history of anti-blackness in the US and UK. Trace the origins of racial ideologies, their motivations, contradictions, and nightmarish consequences – from a 19th-century plantation to a mid-20th-century cityscape. This 360° video is a condensed version of a larger interactive PC game which explores Black humanity, intellect and resilience, and offers crucial insight into why anti-Black racism has always been destructive, not only to its targets but to bystanders, perpetrators, lawmakers, and entire societies.
The Tuskegee Airmen
Director: Uli Futschik
Country: United States, Running Time: 18 min
Amidst an era defined by widespread segregation, both in civilian and military lives, the members of the 332nd Fighter group shattered barriers as the first black military pilots in the United States Armed Forces during the second world war. The 360/VR film dives into the rich history of the fighter group who became more commonly known as the Tuskegee Airmen.
ABOUT THE HARLEM INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Celebrating the art of cinema in the home of the Harlem Renaissance, The Harlem International Film Festival (Hi) inspires and entertains by honoring dynamic films by anyone about anything under the sun. Conceived from the belief that we all have unique experiences and perspectives to share, the Festival actively seeks and exhibits fresh work. Hi is committed to exemplifying the eminence that Harlem represents and is dedicated to bringing attention to the finest filmmakers from Harlem and across the globe.