The BLK Docs Film Festival (BDFF) is a new documentary centered film festival concentrating on telling the Black American story, with primary thematic elements embodying the "Spirit of '76" and its ideals of self-determination and liberty

BDFF takes place October 22-24, 2026 in the documentary rich town of Durham, NC. Despite having the highest concentration of Black people in the United States, the American South is often disregarded as being the actual voice of Black Americans.

To correct this, BDFF will feature three (3) days of:

- documentary film screenings - both feature-length and short films,a special slate of screenings from new/emerging documentarians
- master classes in Impact Producing and workshops in crafting historical documentaries, best practices in archiving cinema & restoration
- vendor opportunities for filmmaker-centered technology and organizations
- meetups for filmmakers, curators/exhibitors, and funders to network, hosted by select film community stakeholders
- ...and more!

But most of all, the Festival will be centered and display our inaugural theme: The "Spirit of '76", examining how the Black documentary filmmaker community embodies and exhibits its ideals of self-determination and liberty that built America’s independence.

BLK Docs Film Festival is grown out of the BLK Docs initiative launched in 2020 by film exhibition company The Luminal Theater and film production company Speller Street Films, created to help cultivate a vibrant documentary culture within the African-American community and greater society, through film screenings, documentary/reality-centered photography exhibitions, engaging webinars, and other interactive events.

Since our first program in June 2020 and in the twelve since, BLK Docs has not only presented original and innovative documentaries that audiences can scarcely access in theaters or virtually (i.e. “Wilmington 10 - USA 10,000”, “Digging for Weldon Irvine”, “Unapologetic”) but have hosted live, local pre-release theatrical premieres of crowd-pleasing films like the Academy Award-winning “Summer of Soul” and “A Wu-Tang Experience: Live at Red Rocks Amphitheatre”. The BLK Docs Film Festival (BDFF) is the culmination of the varied needs and desires of the documentary filmmaking community through relationships our program has developed over the past six years.

PLEASE READ RULES & TERMS for MORE INFORMATION.

*cover image from Christopher Everett’s WILMINGTON ON FIRE II*

Awards & Prizes

To be announced

Rules & Terms

All films must comply with the following rules/regulations:

Submitted films should be directed or produced by or currently living in the United States of America with an emphasis on films emerging from the Southern USA: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.

You must submit evidence (or have it made plain on your film's page) that your film has Black/African-American/African diaspora director or producer and that you are from the above states/regions. ONLY the film’s director or producer can submit.

Only films completed between Oct. 2024-August 2026 are eligible. Works-In-Progress may be submitted, but must be complete by August 2026 or else will be disqualified even if initially selected. Should we add a Works-In-Progress program? Maybe showcase 2-3 WIP projects with Q&A + feedback.

No premiere status is needed.

Filmmakers must be 18 years of age and older.

Only Documentary and Experimental Documentary films are eligible.

Films must have a minimum of 2 minutes, maximum 120 minutes running time.

Only two (2) submissions per filmmaker or filmmaking team.

Films can be in any language but we request that non-English films have subtitles in English or provide a transcript in English. NOTE: We may be able to help subsidize subtitling costs for a small amount of selected films.

Only films with original or licensed (and attributed) music may be submitted; copyright-free (but attributed) and music via public domain is welcome. We reserve the right to ask you and your team if your music is unoriginal or uncleared and to not choose your film based on such.

No X-rated films may be submitted, but we do invite films that push the envelope (we do not believe in stymying your creative freedom, but we have limits on what we can show).

Digital screeners only through FilmFreeway only. Please do not mail or email your entry unless requested by our festival.