Black Beyond Borders: Dakar, Senegal (Series)
Series Overview
Black Beyond Borders is an award-winning documentary series exploring culture, creativity, connection, and cuisine across the African diaspora through the eyes of filmmaker Ebony Walden. Through intimate, on-the-ground storytelling, the series examines history, identity, and everyday Black life across borders, offering a deeply personal lens into global Black culture.
Season One: Dakar, Senegal
Season One follows Ebony’s six-week journey living and working remotely in Dakar, Senegal. Shot in a raw, immersive style using a handheld camera and iPhone, the series captures the vibrancy and complexity of the city—from street food and contemporary art to historic sites and intimate conversations with new friends.
As both traveler and daughter of the diaspora, Ebony reflects on Senegal’s place in the transatlantic slave trade while building meaningful connections in the present. Across four episodes, she visits Gorée Island's Slave Houses, celebrates her birthday during Dakar’s Biennale of Contemporary African Art, navigates the rhythms of remote work and daily life, travels briefly to Cape Verde, and hosts visitors from Virginia in a moment of cultural exchange.
Grounded in lived experience and told from a distinctly diasporic perspective, Season One introduces the central themes of Black Beyond Borders: movement, identity, and the dynamism of Black life across the globe.
Screening Version
This submission includes Episodes 1 and 2 (22 minutes total). Episode 1 (~10 minutes) can be screened as a standalone selection. A 45-minute feature-length season cut is also available upon request.
The series has received 3 awards and 3 official selections across international film festivals, including recognition for Best Web Series and Best Travel Series.
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Ebony WaldenDirector
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Ebony WaldenWriter
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Ebony WaldenProducer
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Ebony WaldenKey Cast
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Project Type:Documentary, Short, Web / New Media, Other
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Runtime:22 minutes 58 seconds
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Completion Date:November 5, 2025
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Production Budget:5,000 USD
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Country of Origin:United States
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Country of Filming:Senegal
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:Digial
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:Yes
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Student Project:No
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Black Beyond Borders Premiere ScreeningRichmond
United States
November 5, 2025
Richmond -
LA Independent Women Film FestivalLos Angeles
United States
December 14, 2025
Los Angeles Premiere
Best Web Series-Pilot -
TRAVEL Film International Film FestivalMoscow
Russian Federation
February 14, 2026
Moscow
Best Travel Web Series -
Virginia Black Film FestivalWilliamburg
United States
February 19, 2026
Official Selections -
International Black & Diversity Film Festival – (IBDFF)Toronto
Canada
April 17, 2026
Canada
Official Selection -
Depth of Field Film FestivalRehobeth Beach
United States
March 15, 2026
Delaware
Exceptional Merit Award -
The African Film Festival - TAFFDallas
United States
June 18, 2026
Texas
Official Selection
Distribution Information
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YoutubeDistributorCountry: WorldwideRights: Internet
Ebony Walden is a filmmaker, writer, and cultural storyteller whose work explores travel, transformation, and liberation across the African diaspora. She has traveled to more than 50 countries and all 50 U.S. states, weaving her journeys into films, essays, and creative projects that illuminate Black life, culture, and connection around the world.
She is the creator and director of the documentary series Black Beyond Borders, a deeply personal, DIY exploration of diaspora, belonging, and identity through travel and on-the-ground storytelling. Her work centers intimate, lived experience and reflects on the intersections of history, place, and self-discovery.
Ebony is the author of the forthcoming memoir Where I’m From: A Poetic Journey Across Five Continents (She Writes Press, 2026), which chronicles her eight-month solo journey across 15 countries, where she volunteered, backpacked, and created “Where I’m From” poems in collaboration with people she met along the way.
She is also the host of Black Beyond Borders: The Podcast, which shares stories of Black people across the diaspora forging lives of belonging around the world, and Black Coochie, a podcast exploring Black women’s sexuality, spirituality, and freedom. Her multimedia project, Richmond Racial Equity Essays, amplifies local voices envisioning racial justice in Richmond, Virginia.
A former racial equity consultant, Ebony’s creative work continues her lifelong commitment of forging pathways to connection, reflection, and liberation.
I created Black Beyond Borders out of a longing to see travel stories of the African diaspora told from the inside out. Too often, Africa and its diaspora are depicted through extractive, deficit or poverty lenses. This project resists that. With just a handheld camera and a heart wide open, I wanted to document my own journey of discovery, connection, and belonging in Senegal.
This series is intentionally DIY — raw, personal, and reflective. It’s about what it feels like to live, work, and celebrate in Dakar, not from the vantage point of a large crew or scripted production, but from my perspective as a traveler, daughter of the diaspora, and storyteller.
Black Beyond Borders is also the beginning of something bigger. Senegal is just Season One. Future seasons will continue across the diaspora — in the Caribbean, South America, and beyond — tracing the threads of Black culture and creativity that connect us globally.
My hope is that this series reminds audiences of our shared humanity and the richness of Blackness around the world, while also inspiring other creators to pick up the tools they already have and tell their own stories.
