Special Event | Welcome to the 31st Black Harvest Film Festival! Join us for this presentation of select Black Harvest Film Festival short films and the announcement of the winners of The Richard and Ellen Sandor Family Black Harvest Film Festival Prize, followed by a lively reception.

Special Event | For over five decades, the Community Film Workshop of Chicago (CFWC) has supported African Americans and people of color in the film industry. This free showcase features 10 captivating short films, each highlighting and reflecting the rich tapestry of this community.

Shorts Program | Select filmmakers scheduled to attend. | From blood to chosen, this collection of shorts honors tenderness and ties across generations and geographies. 

Feature Film | A lyrical portrait of Black farmers in the American South, tracing land, lineage, and loss. Shyne captures quiet acts of care and resistance as families fight to preserve the soil and their story.

Feature Film | A family comedy where a Bigfoot-obsessed 10-year-old and her grandfather rediscover wonder through loss and laughter.

Shorts Program | Select filmmakers scheduled to attend. | Stories on migration, belonging, and the places we call home.

Feature Film | The first feature directed by a Black woman, Jessie Maple’s 1981 WILL tells a Harlem story of redemption, marking Loretta Devine’s unforgettable screen debut.

Shorts Program | Select filmmakers scheduled to attend. | Ten portraits of Black men and boys tracing the art of becoming across generations and geographies.

Shorts Program | Select filmmakers scheduled to attend. | An eclectic late-night ride for the nocturnal.

Feature Film | Five Black Chicagoans, each carrying the impact of incarceration, journey to Benin through the Restore Fellowship to reclaim history and reimagine repair and liberation at the source.

Shorts Program | Select filmmakers scheduled to attend. | In this shorts program, horror and speculative cinema become portals where the future is here, and the past walks beside us.

Feature Film | A soulful chronicle of Chicago’s house music—its powerful roots and its echoes, and its power to move the world through rhythm, memory, and joy.

Shorts Program | Select filmmakers scheduled to attend. | Experimental cinema on the edge of Black possibility.

Feature Film | Kahlil Joseph’s long-anticipated feature expands his acclaimed BLKNWS project into a cinematic experience. Using archival fragments, music, and new media, the film reframes the news cycle through the lens of Black life, imagination, and possibility. Dialogue: followed by an onstage conversation with director Kahlil Joseph and the Visionary Award presentation.

Shorts Program | Select filmmakers scheduled to attend. | Six portraits of Black women and girls tracing the art of becoming across generations and geographies.

Shorts Program | Select filmmakers scheduled to attend. | Stories from Chicago’s very own take the center.

Special Event | Peer into the unknown, embrace the ambiguity, and show up to the Film Center for a screening that is entirely, absolutely, and completely “to be announced”—quite literally until the moment the lights go down.

Feature Film | A lyrical portrait of Black farmers in the American South, tracing land, lineage, and loss. Shyne captures quiet acts of care and resistance as families fight to preserve the soil and their story.

Shorts Program | Select filmmakers scheduled to attend. | Ten portraits of Black men and boys tracing the art of becoming across generations and geographies.

Shorts Program | Select filmmakers scheduled to attend. | Stories on migration, belonging, and the places we call home.

Feature Film | Five Black Chicagoans, each carrying the impact of incarceration, journey to Benin through the Restore Fellowship to reclaim history and reimagine repair and liberation at the source.

Shorts Program | Select filmmakers scheduled to attend. | From blood to chosen, this collection of shorts honors tenderness and ties across generations and geographies. 

Feature Film | The first feature directed by a Black woman, Jessie Maple’s 1981 WILL tells a Harlem story of redemption, marking Loretta Devine’s unforgettable screen debut.

Shorts Program | Select filmmakers scheduled to attend. | Six portraits of Black women and girls tracing the art of becoming across generations and geographies.

Shorts Program | Select filmmakers scheduled to attend. | In this shorts program, horror and speculative cinema become portals where the future is here, and the past walks beside us.

Shorts Program | Select filmmakers scheduled to attend. | A meditation on Black love and its many languages.

Feature Film | A family comedy where a Bigfoot-obsessed 10-year-old and her grandfather rediscover wonder through loss and laughter.

Shorts Program | Select filmmakers scheduled to attend. | Experimental cinema on the edge of Black possibility.

Feature Film | Barbara Jordan’s extraordinary life of “firsts”—from Texas senator to Congressional powerhouse—comes alive in this portrait, narrated by Alfre Woodard. 

Feature Film | A soulful chronicle of Chicago’s house music—its powerful roots and its echoes, and its power to move the world through rhythm, memory, and joy.

Shorts Program | Select filmmakers scheduled to attend. | An eclectic late-night ride for the nocturnal.

Feature Film | Barbara Jordan’s extraordinary life of “firsts”—from Texas senator to Congressional powerhouse—comes alive in this portrait, narrated by Alfre Woodard. 

Shorts Program | Select filmmakers scheduled to attend. | A meditation on Black love and its many languages.

Special Event | Two stories celebrating the cultural and organizing spirit of Black women who shaped Chicago’s legacy. 

Special Event | Three films chart the evolution of Black queer life, art, and community. 

Special Event | Matinee screening as part of the continuing BLKNWS Sunday series.

Shorts Program | Select filmmakers scheduled to attend. | Stories from Chicago’s very own take the center.

Special Event | From a screenplay by J.e Franklin, based on her popular play, and directed by acclaimed actor Ossie Davis, BLACK GIRL is a tender portrait that follows Billie (Peggy Pettitt), a young dancer coming of age between the weight of the world and her own dreams of becoming.