The Black Europe Film Festival of Minneapolis / Saint Paul (BEFF MSP) is a celebration of Afro-European cinema making its debut in the Twin Cities (Minnesota) from January 30th to February 2nd, 2025.
Built upon the principles of community co-planning and anti-racist organizing, BEFF MSP will showcase documentaries, fiction films, and shorts by Europe’s most renowned Afro-descendant filmmakers, providing artists a venue to share their work and create networks of support within the global Black diaspora and international film community.
With the enduring traumas of racism, colonialism, and displacements, as well as a unique sense of vibrancy, creativity, and worldmaking, Black filmmakers grapple with complicated inheritances and thrive beyond the paradigms that whiteness offers.
This festival aims to amplify their non-stereotypical vision of what Black Europe is and Black Europeans are, thereby challenging racialized regimes of visibility responsible for the disempowerment and devaluation of Black lives across the globe.
Masterclasses, encounters with visiting filmmakers, film production workshops, lectures, and residencies will enrich the festival’s program, creating an occasion for Black joy and offering exciting engaged learning opportunities for diverse audiences, communities, and youths.
Presented in collaboration with the Minneapolis / St. Paul Film Society, the University of Minnesota Liberal Arts Engagement Hub, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and the Capri Theaterr, BEFF MSP is supported by a generous grant from the University of Minnesota Imagine Fund.