The Maupintown Film Festival is located in Charlottesville, Virginia at the historic Jefferson School African American Heritage Center.

The festival focuses on showcasing stories from around the world of African American history and culture with feature films, shorts, documentaries, animated films, and discussions with filmmakers as well as experts and community members on topics that are of interest and/or concern of the day.

The festival has hosted guests including Actor/Filmmaker Tim Reid, Academy Award winning Director Paul Wagner, Charlottesville City Mayor Nikuyah Walker, Filmmakers Hannah Ayers and Lance Warren, Actress/Filmmaker Karyn Parsons, local area historians, community leaders and more.

Join us July 7-9, 2023 for our 10th annual festival as we share films that highlight little-known and thought-provoking stories.

Our theme for 2023 is CULTIVATE COMMUNITY.

Awards & Prizes

The Maupintown Film Festival is a non-competitive film festival, and is focused on creating exposure for African American filmmakers and sharing untold stories of African American history and culture to bring awareness and education to the community.

Rules & Terms

All filmmakers are eligible to submit their films to the Maupintown Film Festival. From both the state of Virginia and globally. We welcome US and international film submissions.

Film entries will not be returned.

Video clips and photography of your film if selected, may be used in promotional material for the Maupintown Film Festival.

If you are available to attend, we invite all selected filmmakers to please join us at the festival, as we will include along your film, a Q&A session with you.
5 Reviews
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  • Marta Renzi

    We were delighted that our new documentary GUARDIANS OF THE FLAME was part of the 2023 Maupintown Film Festival. Lorenzo was a faithful and clear communicator, and a warm host. Unfortunately we couldn't stay to see other films but the Q&A before ours proved we were in good company. Good Q&A with a responsive audience who shared their thoughts generously.

    July 2023
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  • Charlene Bell

    Enjoyed screening Story of HER. Engaging conversation with the audience. Overall a good first experience

    July 2023
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  • Atlas O Phoenix

    It was a honor and privilege for my team and I to have our film, Little Men, be a part of the festival. Thank you again for choosing our film!

    November 2020
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  • Karim Massaquoi

    I feel uneasy leaving a critical review given the challenges of 2020, so I'll try to be as gentle as possible. Lackluster communication. I had to ask for socials and info to try and promote. Would've expected organizers lead with that. Ultimately never got info on how to access our films during the fest window so we missed the whole thing. My cast, crew, and community were all super bummed. Also missed out on a chance for feedback on our film. Oversight was admittedly on the festival's end, so I thought I'd get a refund. I didn't. Leaving this not out of spite, but out of a hope Maupintown comes back stronger and more detail-oriented next year. It was nice being selected, though. The empty stars are N/A, not meant to be zeros.

    August 2020
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  • Alexandria Searls

    It was wonderful to be part of this festival. They adapted well to the situation of the pandemic, and I was very impressed with the virtual platform. My film and the others looked and sounded great. The curation was excellent. The films worked well together and there were themes that ran throughout the works, relating them to each other.

    July 2020
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