Black Filmmakers Spotlight: Resources and Links
With the start of Black History Month, Film at Lincoln Center is proud to launch a month-long initiative that celebrates, showcases, and honors the extraordinary Black filmmakers and artists who have helped shape cinema and the larger cultural landscape. Throughout February, we’ll be sharing resources and engagement tools dedicated to putting the focus on Black voices from around the globe.
February Social Schedule
Our February schedule of content includes:
- “Filmmaker Spotlight” will shine a light on exemplary directors every Monday & Thursday
- “Film in Focus” will present notable works every Tuesday & Saturday
- “From the Archives” will feature critical conversation starters from previous FLC filmmaker Q&As every Wednesday
- Our “Community Corner” section on Twitter and Instagram will offer a space for online dialogues with the FLC community every Friday
February Programming

Still from Ephraim Asili’s Fluid Frontiers
This month FLC is also presenting programming relevant to the global Black experience. The 28th New York African Film Festival, presented with African Film Festival, Inc. (AFF), takes place February 4-14 in our Virtual Cinema and continues in the Maysles Documentary Center Virtual Cinema from February 18 to March 4. Starting February 26th, we are also screening The Diaspora Suite, a collection of short films from Ephraim Asili, whose, The Inheritance, played at the 58th New York Film Festival and opens at FLC this March.
February Talks
Shaka King on Judas and the Black Messiah
Free Talk: See You At The Séance
Friday, February 26, 6pm ET. Advance registration required!
Creators who use the archive to commune with the future come together to discuss how they craft translations of Blackness through the bending, wielding, and visual exploration of time. What are the tangible effects of this holy, intangible ritual? Join NYC’s Upside Film Festival and FLC for a special evening of music and conversation that closes out Black History Month with an eye towards Black futures.
6:00pm ET: Live music set by DJ HIGHGNX
6:20pm ET: Panel discussion with Jourdain Searles (Medium, The New York Times, Variety), Idris Brewster (TRAVELING THE INTERSTITIUM WITH OCTAVIA BUTLER, The Monuments Project), Vernon Jordan III (See My Dreams Come True, Screencraft 2020), and more participants to be announced soon!
Filmmaker Conversations on Race and Black History
Explore our archive of interviews and Q&As with filmmakers including Spike Lee, Ava DuVernay, Steve McQueen, Barry Jenkins, Sam Pollard, Dee Rees, Yance Ford, and more discussing their films as they relate to the subject of race in America and the Black experience.
Explore the playlist below or on YouTube.
Community Corner
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram and share your voice on related community questions every Friday.
Film Comment Articles
Explore the Film Comment archives for additional reading and film criticism:
- Spike Lee interview on Do the Right Thing
- Julie Dash interview on 25 years of Daughters of the Dust
- Interview with Mbissine Thérèse Diop on Black Girl
- Tell It Like It Is: Black Independents in New York
- Anarchic Visions: Djibril Diop Mambéty
- Shedding Some Light – Barry Jenkins on films that inspired Moonlight
- Queer & Now & Then: 1991 – Michael Koresky on Marlon Riggs and Tongues Untied
Offer Support Beyond Film at Lincoln Center
Support Black-led organizations and filmmaking initiatives:
- Upside Film Festival
- Seen Journal
- Harlem Film House
- Black Girl Film School
- Black Women Directors
- Brown Girls Doc Mafia
Check back for more to come!