Calgary Black Film Festival celebrates in-person for its second year
by Riggs Zyrille Vergara, Publishing Editor
This year, Calgary film fans will have the chance to celebrate Black cinema in-person through the second annual Calgary Black Film Festival (CBFF) showing over 45 films from 14 countries and numerous panels that will take place around Calgary from May 26-29.
Aside from the in-person screenings and events, CBFF will continue offering the virtual screenings of the films, something that they have adapted from their first film festival.
“CBFF is more than just about films, it’s a movement! At this pivotal moment in our history, the people of Calgary have really stepped up as a BLM ally and have shown tremendous support towards their Black communi5es. As such, we are seizing on this opportunity to help bring even more awareness through concrete actions,” said Fabienne Colas in a press release, President and Founder of the Black Film Festivals in Montreal, Toronto, Halifax, Ottawa, Vancouver and Calgary.
From a romance film called The White Line that defies racial boundaries in a time where love was only restricted to loving your own kind to a political crime thriller investigating the assassination of anti-Apartheid activist Dulcie September called Murder in Paris, CBFF is offering a wide variety of films exploring Black stories from around the world.
What’s special about this year’s festival is the provision of panels aimed to “the public from all communi5es as it highlights the talent of creators from diverse backgrounds and makes room for them to reflect on the issues they face,” according to a press release from the organization.
One of the main in-person events is a panel where audiences can meet the filmmakers behind the local films and where they can talk about the filmmakers’ inspirations, obstacles and more about how it is to become a Black content creator in Calgary.
The two other in-person events include a session on networking and how to “create powerful bonds and solid support systems that will take a long way” and a session on the victories and challenges of Calgary’s black community and how they managed to stand up amid all the challenges posed by the past two years.
All in-person events will be held at the Memorial Park Library with days and times posted on the CBFF website. Other screenings and events will be held at the Globe Cinema, the Dome Theatre at Telus Spark Science Centre and the Calgary Central Library.
Panel discussions online are also being offered by CBFF. They offer a panel focusing on how to market your own film or TV series and another that focuses on how to create impactful changes in the media industry that will put on lasting improvement to its level of diversity and inclusion, especially in the creative teams behind the scenes.
In a press release from CBFF, the organization notes that their organization was founded with the want to “amplify more Black voices and showcase the most relevant Black films from [Calgary] and abroad while creating a space to debate major cultural, social, and socio-economic issues.”
CBFF is created by The Fabienne Colas Foundation, a non-profit arts organization made for promoting diversity and inclusion in the arts across Canada and worldwide. It is co-presented by Global News, with the support of Calgary Arts Development, Telefilm Canada, Canada Media Fund and Calgary Economic Development.
