The seventh annual Halifax Black Film Festival will return later this month, with options to visit the festival in-person or online. It will be the first time back in-person since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s the best feeling ever. As human beings we need that person, that human connection,” said Fabienne Colas, president and founder of the Black Film Festival.
“I’m so happy and thrilled that the artists will be seeing their audience live.”
The festival will present 70 films from 10 different countries over the course of five days.
The opening film Aisha, starring actress Letitia Wright from the Black Panther franchise, follows the story of a Nigerian woman moving to Ireland to try and seek asylum. The title character faces the challenges of moving to a new country, the bureaucracy of the immigration process, threat of deportation, and the feeling of hopelessness of trying to begin a new life.
Aisha will be the few films to be played solely in-person, where it will be shown at the Cineplex Parklane theater at 7 p.m., in Downtown Halifax.
Through the Fabienne Colas Foundation, rising Black talent are able to show there work for a wider audience through film.
“One of my top picks this year and every year quite frankly, is our series is called Being Black in Canada. Which includes Being Black in Halifax,” she said.
Colas said that this is an initiative from the Fabian Colas Foundation to help train and mentor the next generation of Black filmmakers in Canada.
She is excited with the results that Halifax has produced. “Halifax is coming up really nicely because last year they won a CSA award for best direction in a documentary series. We couldn’t be prouder.”
Colas explains that if you want to cultivate Black talent in front and behind the camera, you need to start empowering people.
“This festival is really created for everybody, especially people who are not even Black. People who are not exposed to Black filmmaking, Black filmmakers, Black stories, people who would like to discover a world through films. People who would like to participate in great conversations,” she said.
Colas hopes people will take this opportunity to go see these films not just for entertainment, but to support organizations during Black History Month.
The Halifax Black Film Festival runs from Feb. 24 to Feb. 28.
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