A Weekend of Black Cinematic Brilliance

Black Cinematic Brilliance is going fully online – for the first time. This summer, for the 17th edition of the Seattle Black Film Festival (formerly Langston Hughes African American Film Festival) you can tune in from your couch!

Festival Tickets

No tickets are required to participate in all festival events, but donations to LANGSTON are warmly encouraged. Your support of LANGSTON ensures our mission to strengthen and advance community through Black arts and culture will endure and thrive. You are a part of that community, and you are appreciated!

How To Watch

The Seattle Black FIlm Festival is available exactly where you are thanks to our streaming partners, Couch-A-Thon! Set a reminder for your screening block and tap in with Couch-A-Thon to join the film festival online. SBFF programs will NOT be available on-demand so make sure you get to the party on time!

6:00 PM PST

Black and Brilliant Short Film Showcase and Panel

The festival kicks off Friday, July 10th at 6pm with a Director’s Lens Happy Hour with this year’s official selection directors joining us from across the country to present their Black and Brilliant shorts. Tune in to the stream to hear insights on this year’s films and what’s new in Black independent filmmaking from the source. Get answers to your questions then settle in for a curated evening of this year’s Black and brilliant shorts selection, including work from local filmmakers Tifa Tomb (writer for Amazon Prime’s “Strowlers”), Jeremiah Williams, D.J. Walker, Nifemi Madarikan and Kamari Bright.

Zola Mumford and Andrea Stuart-Lehalle / Moderators
2:00 pm PST

Workshop: The Storyteller’s Toolkit (Masterclass)

SBFF's Masterclass features host, Shannan E. Johnson, leading a discussion on culture, craft, and career strategies. For this exclusive live event, special guests, writer/director Patrik-Ian Polk (Being Mary Jane; Punks) and Numa Perrier (JEZEBEL [Writer/Director]; Queen Sugar [Director]; Black & Sexy TV [Creator]), will share a detailed yet easy-to-follow outline ("toolkit") to serve as a tangible resource for artists creating content for the streaming, film, and broadcast worlds.

Shannan E. Johnson / Host
7:00 PM PST

Coming Into Our Own

A creative, a lover, mother, grandson, neighbor - From loss to love to a one night stand that changes the playing field, these films explore identity and what's tied to our search to express who we really are - now and in the future. Join artist Sadiqua Iman for a chat with directors as we unpack these themes.

Sadiqua Iman / Host
2:00 pm PST

Workshop: Black Media Literacy

A one hour practical workshop examining how Blacks are represented in the media, and the tools we can use to protect ourselves, our knowledge and our people.

Zola Mumford / Host
4:00 pm PST

Documenting Our Experience

Exploring tradition, from the deepest pain and collective joy across three continents, this set of films will give you a glimpse of the breadth of the Black experience, across the diaspora. Warning: Some content in this block may be strong for some viewers

Abie Ekenezar / Moderator
7:00 PM PST

Closing Circle

An uplifting metaphor for our people cascades into a search for true peace and healing. We’ll be joined by London-based director of Nine Nights, Veronica McKenzie, to kick-off this final event in our weekend of Black cinematic brilliance.

Elisheba Johnson / Host

Join Our Mailing List

Subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed.
We keep your data private and share your data only with third parties that make this service possible. See our Privacy Policy for more information.