The 33rd Annual African Diaspora International Film Festival returns to New York City from November 28 to December 14, 2025, with a lineup of over 70 films about people of color from Peru to Zimbabwe, from the USA to Belgium, and from New Zealand to Jamaica.
Chicago African Diaspora International Film Festival (ADIFF Chicago) celebrates its 20th anniversary with programs and screenings at the Film Center and Facets Multimedia from June 15-18, 2023.
The African Diaspora International Film Festival (ADIFF) celebrates its 30th anniversary from November 25 to December 11, 2022 with 89 narratives and documentaries from 44 countries to be presented in seven different venues in Manhattan.
The African Diaspora International Film Festival (ADIFF) will celebrate its 28th anniversary virtually nationwide for the first time from November 27 to December 13 with 75 narratives and documentaries from 31 countries including 26 World, US and New York premieres.
The African Diaspora International Film Festival (ADIFF) – DC will hold its 13th Anniversary from August 9 to 11, 2019 at the George Washington University (GWU) Marvin Center (800 21st Street NW). The weekend will feature an exciting line up of 16 national and international fictions and documentaries set in The United States, Djibouti, Brazil, Barbados, DRC, Panama, France, Guadeloupe, Cuba and Morocco – including 12 US and DC premieres.
Timeless: A Virgin Island Love Story[/caption]
The African Diaspora International Film Festival (ADIFF) 2018 will celebrate the Caribbean with films from the US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Panama, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Barbados, and T&T. The Caribbean is a rich reservoir of stories. Films from the region come in many languages. The characters have many origins and skin tones, and all the countries harbor a particular identity.
Opening Night film Timeless: A Virgin Island Love Story travels in time from 19th Century Ghana to the modern day Caribbean. It is the story of Ajuwa, a Ghanaian warrior, who loses her soulmate to the slave trade; their souls reunite in contemporary US Virgin Islands.
Angelica by Marisol Gómez-Mouakad is set in New York and Puerto Rico. Angelica has spent her whole life escaping from her mixed racial identity, but a family crisis forces her to return to Puerto Rico and rethink her life. Cimarronaje in Panama-Panama by Toshi Sakai explores how, two centuries before George Washington or Simon Bolivar dreamed of liberation from European tyranny, enslaved Africans in Panama fought for and gained their independence.
The festival will feature two revealing documentaries: Barrow, Freedom Fighter by Marcia Weekes from Barbados and Every Cook Can Govern: Documenting the Life, Impact & Works of C.L.R. James by Ceri Dingle from T&T. Barrow is a passionate docu-drama about the courage of one man who relentlessly preached a gospel of economic self-reliance and self-respect to the people of his native country Barbados and beyond. The CLR James documentary, in a historical tour-de-force, interweaves never-before-seen footage of C.L.R. James with personal contributions from those who knew him.
THE WINDRUSH AND THE BUMIDON
The Black presence in Europe is not new, but with time, the ambitions of colonial powers and the increasing extreme right wing waves, being Black in Europe implied different connotations.
Post-war UK experienced a massive arrival of people from the Caribbean, known as the Windrush. In the 1980’s arrived from Africa wealthy Nigerians and Ghanaians alongside rural migrants and refugees from Somalia and Zimbabwe. This massive presence of black people gave the UK a new flavor. ADIFF’s Windursh program illustrates Black life in the UK with the presentation of recent and classic films.
In France, the Bumidon system, a structure implemented by the French government to bring folks from their overseas territories mostly Martinique and Guadeloupe to work in France, contributed to making France a multiracial society.
ADIFF-NY 2018 will showcase a selection of films about the human experience of many men and women who left their native lands looking for a better life in the colonial metropolis.
The Story of Lovers Rock and Time and Judgement, by internationally acclaimed Barbados/UK filmmaker Menelik Shabazz, explore the history of the Black UK life experience through the arts – music, spoken word – with performances, archival footage and testimonies. Playing Away by Horace Ove from T&T is one of the ten best Afro-British films of all times. Love story The Naked Poet by Jason Barrett – whose family is from Jamaica – is representative of the work and interests of a new generation of Black British filmmakers.
The BUMIDOM system and its impact are described in They had a dream / Le Rêve Français which tells a story based on reality. It is both a social and a fictional saga, exploring the interconnected lives of two Guadeloupian families to reveal hidden and obscure aspects of French society.
The African Diaspora International Film Festival (ADIFF) celebrates its 26th anniversary from Nov. 23 to Dec. 9 with screenings to be held in five venues in Manhattan: Teachers College, Columbia University, Cinema Village, Riverside Church, The Dwyer Cultural Center and MIST Harlem.Screenings will be held in five venues in Manhattan: Teachers College, Columbia University, Cinema Village, Riverside Church, The Dwyer Cultural Center and MIST Harlem.
Kofi Annan’s Suspended Dream[/caption]
The African Diaspora International Film Festival (ADIFF) celebrates its 26th anniversary in New York City, with a total of 61 films from 40 countries including 27 World, US and NY Premieres. Screenings will be held in five venues in Manhattan: Teachers College, Columbia University, Cinema Village, Riverside Church, The Dwyer Cultural Center and MIST Harlem.
Some titles come directly from important national and international film festivals such as Sundance, the Tribeca Film Festival, the Pan African Film Festival, FESPACO, Cannes, Slamdance and Berlinale. Some of the films celebrate the contribution of men and women who have resisted and succeeded in affecting major changes in society. Films featuring Miriam Makeba, Sandra Bland, C.L.R. James, Errol Barrow, and Nobel Prize winners Dr. Denis Mukwege, Kofi Annan and Toni Morrison are part of the ADIFF 2018 line-up.
Opening Night film Timeless: A Virgin Island Love Story travels in time from 19th Century Ghana to the modern day Caribbean. It is the story of Ajuwa, a Ghanaian warrior, who loses her soulmate to the slave trade; their souls reunite in contemporary US Virgin Islands.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG1CJuoKqxU
Closing Night film Muslimah’s Guide to Marriage is a comedy of manners about Muslimah Muhammad, a twenty-something African-American orthodox Muslim woman who lives in Inglewood, CA and has seven days and fourteen hours left in her Iddah (Muslim separation) before she will officially be divorced from her cheating husband.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FABbhzviyXU
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE THE PREMIERE SCREENINGS:
*Harlem Legacy by Shushana Dubreil and Genesis Tuyuc (World Premiere, USA, 2018, 26mins).
A film that follows two middle schoolers from P.S 161 Pedro Albizu Campos Middle School, who defy both academic barriers and racial stereotypes through the “rigorous academic sport of debate”.
*Freedom for the Wolf by Rupert Russell (NY Premiere, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Kuwait, Tunisia, Usa, 2017, 89mins). Democracy is in crisis. A new generation of elected leaders are dismantling freedom and democracy as we know it. Filmed over three years in five countries, Freedom for the Wolf is an epic investigation into this new regime of illiberal democracy.
*Kinshasa Makambo by Dieudo Hamadi (Democratic Republic of Congo, France, Germany, Norway, Qatar, Switzerland, 2018, 75 mins). Follows young activists who fight for change in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
*Kofi Annan’s Suspended Dream by Vasselin Pascal (France, Ghana, USA, 2018, 52mins). Two times UN Secretary-General, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kofi Annan talks about himself in an exclusive interview.
*Minga and the Broken Spoon by Clay Edou (Cameroun, 2017, 80mins). A charming animation for the entire family, this African fable tells the story of Minga, an orphaned girl living with her stepmother Mami Kaba and her stepsister Abena.
*Black Mexicans / La Negrada by Jorge Perez Solano (Mexico, 2017, 100mins). Black Mexicans / La Negrada is the first Mexican feature film about the Afro-Mexican community, filmed entirely with people from different towns around the Costa Chica in Oaxaca.
*El Jaida by Selma Baccar (Tunisia, 2017, 104mins). Eight months before the Independence of Tunisia, four women meet at a prison for women called Dar Joued.
*No Shade by Clare Anyiam-Osigwe (UK, 2018, 104mins). Told through the prism of love, relationships, dating and marriage, No Shade provides a raw perspective on the issue of colorism.
*Shaihu Umar by Adamu Halilu (Nigeria, 1976, 142mins). Newly restored copy. Set in northern Nigeria towards the end of the 19th century, Shaihu Umar starts with a discussion between Islamic students and their renowned teacher, the wise man Shaihu Umar.
*A Day for Women (Youm Lel Setat) by Kamla Abu Zeki (Egypt, 2016, 110mins). A new swimming pool opens in a poor Cairo district, with the announcement that Sundays are reserved for women.
*They Had a Dream (Le Rêve Français) by Christian Faure (France, 2017, 2x90mins). They had a dream tells a story based on reality. It is both a social and a fictional saga, exploring the interconnected lives of two Guadeloupian families to reveal hidden and obscure aspects of French society.
*Ellen: The Ellen Pakkies Story by Selma Baccar (Netherlands, Poland, South Africa, 2018, 123mins). Based on true events, Ellen tells of the troubled relationship between a mother and her drug-addicted son – a relationship that will eventually drive her to the edge and lead to his murder.
*Last Life AKA Rise Again by Michael Phillip Edwards (USA, 2018, 82mins). The story of three American spirits as they inhabit 16 different characters moving through America’s racial history from the birth of the nation to the present.
*Singleville by Mary McCallum (USA, 2018, 73mins). Singledom sucks for three feisty ladies with stories to tell and male egos to skewer in this raucously funny mockumentary that boasts an all-female cast.
BARROW: FREEDOM FIGHTER, the story of Errol Walton Barrow who led Barbados to independence is the winner of the Audience Award for Best Film directed by a Woman of Color at 2017 African Diaspora Film Festival. Runner up is WOVEN by Salome Mulugeta and Nagwa Ibrahim.
Narrated by former United States Attorney General Eric Holder whose father is from Barbados, the Errol Barrow docudrama, BARROW: FREEDOM FIGHTER tells the story of The Right Excellent Errol Walton Barrow who successfully led Barbados to independence on November 30th, 1966 after more than 300 years as a British colony.
BARROW: FREEDOM FIGHTER, is a passionate story about the courage of one man who relentlessly preached a gospel of economic self-reliance and self-respect to the people of his native country Barbados and beyond. He defied the status quo, confronted racism and classicism, fought colonial oppression and selflessly led his people to political and economic freedom.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBHTfas2MQw
The Last Revolutionary by Michael Brewer will open the 25th anniversary of the African Diaspora International Film Festival (ADIFF).
The festival will celebrate its 25th anniversary with a total of 64 films from 31 countries including 31 World, US and NY Premieres. Screenings will be held in three venues in Manhattan: Teachers College, Columbia University, Cinema Village and MIST Harlem.
The Last Revolutionary depicts two black men who came together as revolutionaries in the 1970s but whose lives took very different paths. They meet again in a Los Angeles throwback hideout during Obama’s presidency and debate and argue around how to best stop the ongoing attacks from the far right and racist groups around the country.
The Last Revolutionary is one of several films in the festival that deal with issues of social justice, activism and police brutality, issues that have been for a long time and continue to be of great concern to communities of colors worldwide.
Going back into history are films like Malcolm X : An Overwhelming Influence On The Black Power Movement! – to have its world premiere in ADIFF 2017; Winnie, the award-winning Sundance documentary about Winnie Mandela; Mama Africa: Miriam Makeba about the South African singer and activist Miriam Makeba, and Barrow: Freedom Fighter – about the man who led the struggle for Barbados independence after 300 years of British colonialism.
Addressing contemporary concerns are Black Cop, a searing political satire about a black cop who seeks revenge after being egregiously profiled and assaulted by his colleagues, Silas about a committed environmental activist from Liberia fighting against land grabbing and environmental destruction in his country. The Valley of the Black Descendants is a documentary about Chileans of African descent fighting to get official recognition from a State that has concealed their culture and African identity for more than 200 years.
“Who do we want in the seats” The Last Revolutionary director Brewer says “Anyone who is progressive and sees the need for change. The Last Revolutionary touches on many issues that are happening in the country (and asks): How have things really changed?”
“After 25 years of existence, the African Diaspora International Film Festival brings powerful films to New York that touch on many issues that are still very relevant today” says Dr. Reinaldo B. Spech, Co-Director and Chief Curator of ADIFF. “The Last Revolutionary was the perfect film to open our 25th edition. It takes us full circle.”
https://vimeo.com/241057946
The 2015 African Diaspora International Film Festival taking place from November 27 through December 13, in Manhattan, will showcase a selection of films coming from the Caribbean and about Caribbean people out of the Caribbean.
The Black British Film Program is comprised of a selection of four films about the presence of Black people in the UK with a very strong Caribbean flavor in front and behind the camera.
Let The Music Talk by Yvonne Deutchmann is a 1981 musical documentary never screened in the USA before. It tells the story of black music in Britain, from the calypso of Lord Kitchener arriving on the SS Windrush in 1948, gospel choirs, griots from Grenada, steel pans in schools and at the Notting Hill Carnival, jazz, Afro-rock, soul-funk with the Real Thing, reggae with Misty in Roots and Eddy Grant.
The Story of Lovers Rock by Menelik Shabazz – a favorite of ADIFF – tells the story of Lovers Rock as a musical genre and gives a voice to the Caribbean descendant people who created that music and culture in the UK.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiJof_zx2Uk
Honeytrap by Rebecca Johnson plays out as a tragedy. It tells a story of fifteen-year-old Layla (Jessica Sula – Skins), a beautiful and naive Trinidadian girl who, freshly arrived from her native land, quickly embarks on a journey of love, sex, hip hop and violence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTyYCB_OyL0
“Second Coming” by Debbie Tucker Green is an emotional and intimate drama about a woman in a London family who faces a dilemma with her husband (Idris Elba) and the tensions and communication issues associated with her situation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LdB5mYbGz8
Other films in the festival have a Caribbean flavor including NY Premiere and festival Centerpiece “Cu-Bop: Cuba – New York Music Documentary” by Japanese filmmaker Shinishi Takahashi. Separated by an ocean, two Cuban jazz musicians continue to perform in spite of the difficulties they face. César López is recognized as Cuba’s premier saxophonist, having founded his landmark jazz band, the Havana Ensemble, in his native country. The gifted young pianist Axel Tosca lives in New York City, the leader of (U)NITY, a band which fuses Afro-Cuban culture with modern jazz and hip-hop. With this documentary for all music lovers, first-time filmmaker Shinichi Takahashi explores the African roots of Cuban jazz and documents what happens when expats return to the source of their inspiration. The screening will be followed by a concert with Axel Tosca and his band.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVOO4ag_4EU
Shot in Haiti and Bangladesh, “A Journey of a Thousand Miles” tells us a story of two countries that are embarked in a mutual discovery of sorts. A contingent of Muslim, Bangladeshi policewomen is deployed in Haiti to serve as UN Peacekeepers to maintain peace after the 2010 earthquake. We then learn, as the camera follows three of these Muslims women, about life in Haiti and Bangladesh and the challenges faced by the population in both countries.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAR3SXSme6c
“Black / Nwa,” a “Hood” film set in Montreal, Canada that chronicles the lives of four people – including several youths of Haitian descent – living in a neighborhood plagued by poverty and violence, aspiring to freedom and happiness.
“Sand Dollars” (pictured in main image above) by Laura Amelia Guzman and Israel Cardenas is a film from the Dominican Republic submitted to the Oscar competition in the foreign film category. “Sand Dollars” is the story of Noeli (Yanet Mojica) whose love affair with Anne (Geraldine Chaplin) a woman double her age, is a rare subject in films.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HeEPnn7ioE
Idris Elba, Anthony Mackie, Geraldine Chaplin, Epatha Merkerson, Jennifer Connelly, Michael Clarke Duncan, Sonia Sanchez, Rusty Cundieff, Stanley Nelson, and Thierry Michel are some of the names that lead the 23rd African Diaspora International Film Festival.
ADIFF 2015 has selected a total of 57 films from 27 countries. The lineup is rich in topics and themes presenting from different perspectives the human experience of people of color. Chelsea Bow Tie Cinemas, Teachers College, Columbia University and Mist Harlem will host this event from November 27 through December 13. With a world premiere, 9 US premieres and 16 NY premieres, ADIFF is more independent than ever with its rich and eclectic selection of films that cover many parts of the world.
Making their world and US debut in ADIFF 2015 are Opening Night film “The Man Who Mends Women, The Wrath of Hippocrates” by Thierry Michel which tells the story of Dr. Denis Mukwege, a man who has dedicated his life to assist women subjected to rape in his native DRC and World Premiere “Julien’s Bed” by Kirk Shannon-Butts, a visually imaginative film with a poetic story line about an African-American in Paris trying to reconnect with his lover. “Julien’s Bed” will screen in the first ever ADIFF LGBT Evening program with the South-African film “While You Were Not Looking” by Catherine Stewart. This beautifully shot drama explores gay life in South Africa with courage and imagination as the issue of class and the building of the New South Africa are very much at the center of the story.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3v_E75-T2M
The Black British program highlight will be the NY Premiere presentation of TIFF’s official selection “Second Coming” by Debbie Tucker Green starring Idris Elba as a man who enjoys a peaceful life in a marriage that is about to change due to unexpected circumstances.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Qp1_Ay41-A
The Talking about Chicago program will feature the two NY Premieres “70 Acres in Chicago: Cabrini Green” by Ronit Bezale and “Takin’ Place” by Cyrus Dowlatshahi, two documentaries about Chicago’s South Side and its inhabitants that expose an alternative reality to that traditionally presented in the media.
Among the films that explore historical themes will be the US Premiere of “If Only I Were That Warrior” by Valerio Ciriaci – ADIFF 2015 Gala Screening – which moves in and out of Ethiopia, Italy and the United States to tell us a story of unpunished war crimes, colonial wars and African history. “Invisible Heroes: African Americans In The Spanish Civil War,” by Alfonso Domingo and Jordi Torrent that introduces us to the remarkable story of African Americans who fought as volunteers in Spain for democracy and for civil rights that were denied to them in their own country.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaNg8QnN2rY
Twenty one of the films in ADIFF 2015 are directed by women including “White Lies” by Dana Rotberg – New Zealand’s entry in the 2014 Oscar competition for best foreign-language- and “Asni: Courage & Glamour in Ethiopia” by Rachel Samuel to be presented in the Ethiopia: Past & Present program.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prcx70v-H6w
Two films will explore the role of women in the armed forces: the drama “Stand Down Soldier” by Jeryl Prescott Sale, the story of Sergeant Stacy Armstrong who returns home from three deployments suffering with PTSD, which undermines her 20 year marriage and the stability of her family life. The documentary “A Journey Of A Thousand Miles: Peacekeepers” by Geeta Gandbhir and Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy follows three women in an all female, predominantly Muslim unit of police officers sent to post-earthquake Haiti as UN Peacekeepers for one year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAR3SXSme6c
The Urban experience is global. “Fevers/Fièvres” by Hicham Ayouch – one of leading films in ADIFF’s Urban film selection and winner of the Golden Stallion of Yennenga, FESPACO 2015 – is a French drama with a strong social commentary that follows Benjamin , a young boy who is at war with the world and himself. Canadian thriller “Noir/Black /Nwa” by Yves Christian Fournier depicts stories of young people living in a Montreal ghetto fighting to survive like Dickens, a 16 year-old Haitian who wants to be part of the street gang controlled by his older brother. Other urban films are “Honeytrap” from the UK by Rebecca Johnson, “Impunity” from South Africa by Jyoti Mistry, “License to Operate” from the USA by James Lipetzky, and “Hear Me Move” from South Africa by Scottnes L. Smith.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YUJsgnVOzI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tffnzrVga3U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIkzA4U7UbE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM9mLW7lv2c
Two North African films will have their US premiere in ADIFF: comedy-drama “The Blind Orchestra” by Mohamed Mouftakir, a humorous yet critical look at the life of a group of musicians in Morocco during the early years of the reign of Hassan II and “Private Revolutions” by Alexandra Schneider, a documentary that is a reflection on the life of young Egyptian women after the Spring revolution presented in the Egypt: Before & After the Spring Revolution program to be hosted by Egyptian journalist Barbara Nimri Aziz.
ADIFF 2015 has some delightful encores to offer including titles that had a very short theatrical release and keep audiences talking like “Shelter” – starring Anthony Mackie and Jennifer Connelly- by Paul Bettany, “Tango Negro: The African Roots of Tango” by Dom Pedro, “The Pirogue” by Drissa Touré, “Sand Dollars” -Dominican Republic submission to the Oscars in the Foreign Language category- by Israel Cárdenas and Laura Amelia Guzmán and “Black Panthers: Vanguard Of The Revolution” -Oscar contender in the Best Documentary Feature category- by Stanley Nelson.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwB0-YGivtc
Other important films that will premiere in the festival are “We, Strking” by Denis Gheerbrant about African women on strike against a hotel chain in Paris, Slamdance fest favorite “Dennis Rodman’s Big Bang In Pyongyang” by Colin Offland, and family friendly comedy-drama “White Water” by Rusty Cundieff about a black child obsessed with the idea of drinking water from the Whites Only fountain during the days of Segregation in the South.
ADIFF’s New York Premiere Centerpiece screening of “Cu-Bop: Cuba – New York Music Documentary” by Shinichi Takahashi will be followed with a live concert performance with Afro-Cuban pianist Axel Tosca and his band (U)NITY.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVOO4ag_4EU
ADIFF will have the honor to host writer/poet/activist/professor Sonia Sanchez for ADIFF’s Closing Night screening of the new documentary celebrating her life and legacy: “BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez” (pictured above) by Barbara Attie, Janet Goldwater and Schmidt Gordon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7cP6g6VBAY