Black Harvest Film Fest is filled with local and national selections
Nothing could be more exciting than to have a tremendously essential film like the 1972 film “Black Girl” as part of a film festival. Now, it’s not the opening night film, but it’s a great book end for the 31st Annual Black Harvest Film Festival (BHFF) that runs from November 7 through the 16th at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Gene Siskel Film Center, located at 164 N. State St.
Co-founded in 1994 by Sergio Mims, who also served as the Festival’s consultant until his passing in 2022, the BHFF celebrates, explores and shares the African Diasporic experience.
It spotlights eight feature films, nine short programs and more than 50 guests, with support from presenting sponsor Gilead Sciences.
Throughout the Festival, audiences will enjoy exclusive screenings, thought-provoking dialogues and celebratory receptions.
“Black Girl” is directed by Ossie Davis from a screenplay by J.E. Franklin, based on her popular play. This film, while birthed during the Blaxploitation Era, doesn’t have the trappings of many films of that time.
It’s a tender portrait that follows Billie (Peggy Pettitt), a young dancer coming of age between the weight of the world and her own aspirations. Also starring Leslie Uggams, Brock Peters, Claudia McNeil and Davis’ wife Ruby Dee. This restoration by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and The Film Foundation brings one of Davis’ most personal works vividly back to the screen. Funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.
But before we get to this film, the BHFF opens with a presentation of select Black Harvest Film Festival short films and the announcement of the winners of The Richard and Ellen Sandor Family Black Harvest Film Festival Prize, followed by a lively reception.
The short films include “House of AAMA:Threads of Legacy,” “Bailey’s Blues,” about a Chicago-born musician getting pretty agitated and honest in a confrontational interview with a French reporter. Steppenwolf’s Namir Smallwood, who is also a Hyde Park native, portrays the fictional Jazz bassist named Marion Bailey.
He talks about Bronzeville being the “Harlem of Chicago” and how when he bares his soul, the white man calls it Jazz. But he wonders: what replenishes him?
Other shorts for opening night are:
“Baba,” “ Vis-A-Vis” and “Everything Is Everything,” where Chicagoans celebrate and reflect on their history and identity during Juneteenth 2024.
The BHFF is curated for a third year by South Side native filmmaker, curator and programmer jada-amina (BFA 2020).
She worked with the Film Center programming team in viewing film entries, crafting the festival schedule, planning community programs and filmmaker dialogues and special events.
Curation for this year’s Festival affirms cinema as a force that continues to transform community and culture. “Black storytelling has always been a ceremony—calling forth what must be seen, felt and remembered,” said jada-amina. “When we gather in the dark before the big screen, a covenant forms—film and filmmaker, film and the faithful—each breathing life into the other. Black Harvest extends that lineage, reminding us that to see is sacred, to listen is to learn—and to keep the light even after the screens go dark.”
“From the Block” returns this year, featuring short works from Chicago filmmakers—homegrown talent, Festival alumni, and first-time voices. A theme this year is homelands: films that trace memory, longing and return, reflecting how the idea of home reverberates across the Diaspora.
One of the films is “From Scratch,” which highlights Burritt “Mr. B” Bulloch and his famous 50-year-old business, Old Fashioned Donuts in Roseland.
Among the highlights is “Blknws: Terms And Conditions,” a bold new theatrical release that journeys through the Black Atlantic—formally daring, expansive and visionary, a work destined to shape the canon.
Other feature films of note are “Seeds,” a lyrical portrait of Black farmers in the American South, tracing land, lineage and loss. Director Brittany Shyne captures quiet acts of care and resistance as families fight to preserve the soil and their story.
“Paw Paw & Dayja” is a family comedy where a Bigfoot-obsessed 10-year-old and her grandfather rediscover wonder through loss and laughter.
“The Inquisitor,” a film about Barbara Jordan’s extraordinary life of “firsts”—from Texas senator to Congressional powerhouse—comes alive in this portrait, narrated by Alfre Woodard.
For more information about the 31st Annual Black Harvest Film Festival, and for ticket prices, visit web.saic.edu/blackharvestfest.