Monthly Film Festival | InFocus: Black Cinema
Check out this monthly film festival!
NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (NFMLA) hosts its February Monthly Film Festival and annual InFocus: Black Cinema program, spotlighting Black stories and emerging Black talent in front of and behind the camera in two shorts programs, along with a selection of short film highlights from NFMLA’s ongoing monthly program.
The day kicks off with February Shorts, an eclectic program of films that includes dark comedy, horror, drama, and musical celebrations. These stories include intrigue, danger, performance, the joy of authentic expression, finding a place within one’s culture, and looking out for one’s neighbors.
The day continues with InFocus: Black Cinema Shorts I, the first of two programs showcasing Black storytelling and stories. This collection offers stories of perseverance, authenticity, lifelong excellence, formative childhood experiences, introspection, grief, struggles with self-image and communities coming together for one another. This block opens with a selection of films produced through Black Girls Film Camp, an incubator for the next generation of storytellers. The program invites high school Black girls across the US to pitch a story idea, selecting a cohort of ten each year to have their short film project produced through the program.
The night’s programming concludes InFocus: Black Cinema Shorts II, which tells stories of joy and confrontation. Characters confront their fears, the spirit world, racist family members, systems and history, while finding joy in their talents and passions, friends, loved ones, and glimpses of a better life.