About 400 young black people watched the movie Black Panther on Thursday in Dartmouth after a Halifax activist raised $7,000 to hold the event.
“It simply went amazing, and it’s very heart-warming right now,” Quentrel Provo, the organizer, said after the event.
A couple of weeks ago, he set up a crowdfunding campaign to pay to screen the movie to 200 people, and provide them with a snack and a drink.
READ MORE: Halifax man working on fundraiser for ‘Black Panther’ screening for young black kids
Provo surpassed his monetary goal within 24 hours, so he doubled the number of people he planned to bring.
The movie features a couple of rarities for superhero movies on this scale: a black superhero, and a nearly all-black cast.
“It’s nice to have [people of] other ethnicities get a chance to really show what they can do,” attendee Darius Wilson, 19, said.
Similar campaigns, dubbed the Black Panther Challenge, have been started in other Canadian cities.
“Africa is not just a jungle, you know?” Martins Abiagom, who is originally from Nigeria, said at the event with his family.
Although the movie takes place in a fictional African country technologically more advanced than seemingly any other on the planet, he said there are many real-life “interesting things” on the continent that people should learn about.
READ MORE: ‘Black Panther Challenge’ campaigns pop up across Canada
After the movie finished, Provo asked attendees how they felt about it. Several people said seeing the movie felt empowering.