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This year’s selection of more than twenty films, guides us through an array of perspectives that reflect the continent’s artistic ingenuity and expansive storytelling traditions. Our curated selections focus themes that tie the films together across genre, country, and era—on personal, communal, and national levels.

Many films explore migration, displacement, and reinvention, unveiling the human longing for safety, purpose, and belonging. Women’s voices take center stage, offering intimate, bold, and deeply resonant portrayals of strength, vulnerability, and leadership. Across fiction and documentary, filmmakers also confront questions of authority, societal expectation, justice, and inequity, prompting us to consider how individuals and communities imagine new possibilities amidst challenge.

Our festival poster echoes this spirit: the central figure whose hair displays film reels, symbolizes a place where stories are carried, protected, and amplified—histories braided together, memories unspooled—honoring the many narratives that are too often unseen.

We invite you to immerse yourself in these films, engage in meaningful dialogue, and experience the continent’s perspectives through African lenses. Thank you for joining us on this remarkable journey and for supporting the longest-running African film festival in the United States. Together, let us celebrate the brilliance of African cinema and create moments that linger long after this Black History Month

How to watch the films

In celebration of Black History Month at Portland Community College