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2021 BLACK TRUTH FILM FESTIVAL RECAP
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The Black Truth Film Festival seeks to encourage educated discussion of black history & culture. This is not your typical film festival! We provide the platform for the black narrative to be told & heard through film.
MOST FILMMAKERS & TEAMS PLAN ON ATTENDING THE VIRTUAL FILM FESTIVAL
SO BRING YOUR QUESTIONS!!!!
MOST FILMMAKERS & TEAMS PLAN ON ATTENDING THE VIRTUAL FILM FESTIVAL
SO BRING YOUR QUESTIONS!!!!
2022 WINNERS
We invite you to share these experiences through the lens of talented filmmakers
*Some films include graphic language & scenes
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Congratulations to the 2022 Award Winner Diya Correa!
A black kid faces racism for the first time as he tries to fit in at an all-white boy's Catholic middle school.
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Congratulations to the 2022 Award Winner Nolan Huber-Rhoades!
Paying homage to the 90s hip-hop legends, Bellringer is an aggressive stomper with hard-hitting lyrics and masterful storytelling bound up in a cinematic experience that explores liberation—and the personal and structural obstacles that prevent us from achieving it.
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Congratulations to the 2022 Award Winner Nia June!
I found my fathers in the quiet of their sanctuaries. It was a house, abandoned yet, crowded with an indigenous urge to rise up. I called and they returned to me, as God, unburdened by the gravity of an oppressive system. Here, the Black man is honored, reimagined, and unveiled by the pyramidal gospel of power, freedom, and love.
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Congratulations to the 2022 Award Winner Phineas Alexander!
This short film, made in collaboration with poet Nia Williams, entitled How Power Looks explores methods of establishing power within the historical context of the University of Virginia. This flim juxtaposes Jefferson’s “Academical Village” as a backdrop with current students of color dressed in regency era colonial garb made from African Kente cloth, wearing white face, and singing about the inception of the African Diaspora stemming from displacement due to the transatlantic slave trade.
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Congratulations to the 2022 Award Winner OnRae L Watkins!
Imagine being granted time to converse with a deceased loved one, (i.e.: immediate or extended family member, friend, etc.), what would you say? Would you finally be able to fill the part of your soul that has been emptied? This short is a story about a man who is allotted time to converse with his deceased father. During this break from reality, he shares what life would have been like with him, then the truths of what it was like without him.
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Congratulations to the 2022 Award Winner Michael A. Pinckney!
Four Black men from different worlds have a heartfelt conversation about manhood, creativity, sex and their place in the world. They discover the harsh reality that not much has changed but are nevertheless grateful for those that came before them.
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Congratulations to the 2022 Award Winner Kristi Vincent Johnson!
North Carolina Poet Laureate, Jaki Shelton Green, paints moving, vivid, and poignant pictures of the complexities of the African American experience with her audio poems. Jaki visited the grove of trees in which an ancestor had been lynched, inspiring this poem brought to life through film.
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Congratulations to the 2022 Award Winner Anthony Paulino!
Gerald, an African American teenager who believes in taking a stance against the injustice to his people, and rebels against his father Jerome, a retired police officer, who does not agree with the methods implemented by the BLM supporters in 2020. Feeling suffocated and unable to breathe, Gerald lashes out against his father’s opposing beliefs resulting in the immanent divide between them. Tensions rise and Gerald’s mother, Trisha, is caught in the fallout of this modern New York City family as they crumble to the pressures of different ideologies, racial injustice, and being Black in America.
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Congratulations to the 2022 Award Winner Crossley Hawn, Allan Laino, Jacob Perry Jr., Gilbert Spencer!
Poet Nina Brewton expresses the complicated relationship she and many other Black citizens have with America, while contemplating a path forward. The wordless soundtrack for voices was composed by Scot Hanna-Weir, and performed by Bridge Voices. Presented in collaboration with The Poet Life.
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Congratulations to the 2022 Award Winners Perry Miotto & Shayn Walker!
A Black mayoral candidate and his high school rival turned campaign manager debate the worth of a concession speech.
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Congratulations to the 2022 Award Winner Amy Krause!
Family Over Everything. Even Prison Walls.What if your mother were in prison? And your brothers? And your childhood sweetheart, too. What if you had 16 close relatives who were incarcerated, many of them cycling in and out of prison? From the time she was a toddler, this has been Kamika’s’ life. But legacy is not destiny, and in Kamika’s mind, it's family over everything.
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Congratulations to the 2022 Award Winner Amy Stolz!
We can not unsee what we've seen. It will fight us until we stop fighting.
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Congratulations to the 2022 Award Winner Kristyna Archer!
What's in a Braid? A physicality that is both soft and strong, interwoven to withstand, embodied by a soul that runs deep and vast, with gravitas, grace, and greatness. This is a love letter to black women, celebrating the braid, highlighting it as the purest form of self-love and self-expression.
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Congratulations to the 2022 Award Winner Damon Jamal Taylor!
Black Daddy is unadulterated storytelling from the black father's point of view because it is often overlooked and the assumption is that black fathers are not involved in their children's lives. Black Daddy: The Movie is a passion project covering a space that is near to our hearts; black fatherhood.
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SCHEDULE OF FILMS
HELPFUL THINGS TO KNOW:
- We start ON TIME! To take advantage of all this evening offers be on time.
- The films in total this year last about 2 hours nightly. Your ticket purchase grants you access to tune into the virtual festival and watch any film you want the day of the event. There will be a half-way intermission with Q&A for the filmmakers. You may respectfully ask questions.
- This event is generally for adults. Individuals under the age of 18 should be accompanied with an adult. Some films may contain graphic images and language not appropriate for younger children.
- Anticipate a schedule of events forthcoming
- The films in total this year last about 2 hours nightly. Your ticket purchase grants you access to tune into the virtual festival and watch any film you want the day of the event. There will be a half-way intermission with Q&A for the filmmakers. You may respectfully ask questions.
- This event is generally for adults. Individuals under the age of 18 should be accompanied with an adult. Some films may contain graphic images and language not appropriate for younger children.
- Anticipate a schedule of events forthcoming
FINALIST
CONGRATULATIONS on your hard work and honor as a Finalist!
These films told valuable stories about the black community and are worth looking into!
Listed in no particular order.
Leonard's Story
by Quinn Wilson
Light Out
by Audrey Dupupet & Sherilyn Laurie
"Sellout"
by Trevor M. Edwards
Glove
by Tony Holland
Edmond Wysinger Documentary
by William Youngquist
#blacklivesmatter
by One Single Rose
by Quinn Wilson
Light Out
by Audrey Dupupet & Sherilyn Laurie
"Sellout"
by Trevor M. Edwards
Glove
by Tony Holland
Edmond Wysinger Documentary
by William Youngquist
#blacklivesmatter
by One Single Rose
HONORABLE MENTIONS
CONGRATULATIONS on your hard work and honorable mention!
These films told valuable stories about the black community and are worth looking into!
Listed in no particular order.
These films told valuable stories about the black community and are worth looking into!
Listed in no particular order.
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Hiding Place
by Amali Dunmore Homage To Mama by Tiffany "Chiffani" Salas & Klymora "Kay The Kreator" Smith Fighting For Respect: African American Soldiers in WWI by Joanne Burke An Army Rising Up by Brian Graves & Pablo Correa Ride to Remember by Dominic Stewart We STILL Matter. by Chiffon Valentine #Free to be Free "That's How God Created Us" The story of Louisiana HB 382 by Damien D Smith Vietnam in Retrospect: Black Vietnam Veterans by Billy E Ware The Other Madisons by Eduardo Montes-Bradley Finding Joy in the Journey: A Flawed Masterpiece by Sid Powell & Joy White Empire of Silence by Thierry Michel Eat Protest Lift by Caleb Stephens Chance Encounter by Sandra Mathieu American Auction by Dave Clarke To Those Who Are Here by Guido F.G. Jeurissen Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! The Water and The Zombie by Breanna Taylor The PRATT in the HAT by Susan Hillary |
The Shoulders of Giants
by Quinn Early MotherHOOD by Chris Kensil Destinee's Letter by John Christopher Say His Name (Deon Kay Tribute) by OnRae LaTeal Watkins Dis-Placia: Vacants in the Village by Jewel Guy The Path to the Church Where Everyone Is Equal by YURY MAXIMOV Bass Reeves, The Invincible Black Marshal by Larry Foley GORGEOUS by Ryan Njenga The Communion of White Dresses by Dr. Kristi V Johnson OPUSXTRAVELXART Xhibition, Rayna Dasant by Maurice Porcher Black Mama Sable by Okema "Seven" Gunn amplify by Isak Vaillancourt Harriet: The Black Swan In the Year of COVID-19 by Klair Ethridge Caught Up In Sorrow by Sierra Mercer We Hold These Truths To Be (PSA) by Anthony Anderson Dandy and The Lion by Sydney A Mason Melanin by Raquez Rouse |
ABOUT US
The Black Truth Film Festival seeks to encourage educated discussion of black history & culture. This is not your typical film festival! We provide the platform for the black narrative to be told & heard through film.
We live in a world where the population and even black people are not fully educated on the significance of black history or true nature of black culture. Black generations have been silenced, failing to past down historic accounts out of fear or apathy, believing their stories would never truly matter.
Today, there are still too many untold stories, too many unanswered injustices, too many questions and prejudices.
Why do black males suffer such high incarceration rates when they only make up 13-17% of the population? Why are black women three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than any other race in America? Is there more behind the stigma of blacks being associated with crime, drugs, violence, & poverty? Why are black women so often sexually objectified and seen as angry? Why aren't more black people shown in positive roles in media? Why must a black man live in constant fear for his life from a system that's supposed to provide justice and equality for all? Why do black people constantly feel unsafe? Is there any good reason to explain any of this? Does anything good ever come out of such a culture?
These are only some of the questions we hope to address and share, not just within the black community but with all to encourage educational discussion. There is no denying just by being black anywhere you are subject to a host of invalid assumptions. There's no denying not enough of the world, even within our own culture has a complete picture of the black narrative.
But we must start somewhere.
So we invite you to share your story or that of another. Especially during such a critical time in history where it is evident, we must no longer be silent and speak our truth now. Be heard.
If you have ever wondered about some of the questions listed above this is an opportunity to gain insight and hear the perspectives of black people on black culture for yourself. Here at The Great Black Narrative, we invite you, challenge you even to first learn, then help change the black narrative simply by sharing the truth.
We live in a world where the population and even black people are not fully educated on the significance of black history or true nature of black culture. Black generations have been silenced, failing to past down historic accounts out of fear or apathy, believing their stories would never truly matter.
Today, there are still too many untold stories, too many unanswered injustices, too many questions and prejudices.
Why do black males suffer such high incarceration rates when they only make up 13-17% of the population? Why are black women three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than any other race in America? Is there more behind the stigma of blacks being associated with crime, drugs, violence, & poverty? Why are black women so often sexually objectified and seen as angry? Why aren't more black people shown in positive roles in media? Why must a black man live in constant fear for his life from a system that's supposed to provide justice and equality for all? Why do black people constantly feel unsafe? Is there any good reason to explain any of this? Does anything good ever come out of such a culture?
These are only some of the questions we hope to address and share, not just within the black community but with all to encourage educational discussion. There is no denying just by being black anywhere you are subject to a host of invalid assumptions. There's no denying not enough of the world, even within our own culture has a complete picture of the black narrative.
But we must start somewhere.
So we invite you to share your story or that of another. Especially during such a critical time in history where it is evident, we must no longer be silent and speak our truth now. Be heard.
If you have ever wondered about some of the questions listed above this is an opportunity to gain insight and hear the perspectives of black people on black culture for yourself. Here at The Great Black Narrative, we invite you, challenge you even to first learn, then help change the black narrative simply by sharing the truth.
One story at a time.
The future depends on it.
The time is now.
The future depends on it.
The time is now.
YEARLONG CHALLENGE:
TO EMPOWER FILMMAKERS OF ALL LEVELS TO GIVE BLACK COMMUNITY ITS VOICE
TO EMPOWER FILMMAKERS OF ALL LEVELS TO GIVE BLACK COMMUNITY ITS VOICE
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This challenge invites filmmakers (of every race from around the world) to highlight the clear racial biases displayed in the American legal & jails systems and by its law enforcement towards Black Americans in their own unique way.
Compare the American systems in place to another country's, tell the story of a loved one or one of the many who have made the news (Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown), document the laws, practices and/or systems in place past or present that still impact Black Americans disproportionately today more than any other race. To submit your film for consideration go to the FilmFreeway Platform and enter your film into the "Genocide of Black Americans" category. There is a 2 hour-time limit on this category. You receive the same recognition as an award winner at our annual film festival event. |
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2023 ONLINE SUBMISSIONS NOW OPEN!
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2022 TIMELINE1 April 2021 Submissions Open
30 September 2021 Earlybird Registration ends 15 March 2022 Official Deadline 1 April 2022 Official notification to nominees 30 April 2022 Deadline for nominees mail entries 18 June 2022 Event date* * (Online/Virtual) AWARDSSee WHY YOU SHOULD SUBMIT tab
Filmmakers may have their film advertised for up to ONE (1) year via www.thegreatblacknarrative.com, where their film will continue to educate & inspire others as well as gain more views and interaction which may lead to more opportunities. Filmmakers may also be featured in an article interview with our network. We encourage you to join the provider's mailing list via the website to receive updates. |
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