The DC Black History Film Festival returns this weekend, beginning Friday at the Lincoln Theatre and continuing Saturday at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. The festival will show 15 films—four features and 11 shorts—that present alternative stories of Black history.
The first day will focus on the history of Washington, DC, while day two will showcase Black history stories from across the globe. Friday’s activities run from 5:30 PM to midnight, beginning with a reception by the DC Office of Cable Television, Film, Music and Entertainment. Saturday’s events happen from noon to 7 PM.
The 15 films are “fresh, new stories of Black history that people need to hear and that would be advantageous to their understanding of culture,” says Richard Campbell, the festival director. “This curation, we think, is also an intellectual exploration into how cultures manifest not just in DC but around the world.”
The Friday events will be hosted by actor Lamman Rucker and will feature a performance from go-go group the Experience Band and Show. Short films include Interception, about Jayne Kennedy, the first Black woman to host a network sports television broadcast, and The Legacy of Lee’s Flower Shop, the story of the oldest family-owned flower business in Washington.
The festival continues Saturday at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema with five short films and three features. It will be hosted by singer Sylver Logan Sharp, and short films include A Race in the Sun, an exploration of cycling culture through the eyes of the first Black woman to become a professional cyclist, and His Truth is Marching On, a look at American music history told through the Civil War song “John Brown’s Body.” The three features will be Black Uniform, a documentary featuring the voices of 12 Black veterans; Return to Your Corner, the story of the first boxing world champion of Africa; and Storming Caesar’s Palace, about a group of mothers who launched a grassroots movement for economic justice and Black women’s empowerment in the 1960s and 1970s.
