New Windsor film festival will screen as many as 15 films by Black filmmakers

Windsor will host its first-ever Black film festival next month, highlighting accomplishments in Black filmmaking and storytelling.

The festival, which will take place at downtown's Armouries Theatre from Aug. 16 to 18, will feature as many as 15 Black films from countries across the world, such as Canada, France, and the United States. 

"This is a safe space where you aren't competing with the big shots," said Queen Eghujovbo, CEO and founder of the Windsor International Black Film Festival (WIBFF). "But we can start here with a small voice, and hopefully gain access to a bigger stage."

Eghujovbo, a former Calgary resident who now lives in Windsor, started the WBIFF after watching a film that inaccurately depicted South Africa.

"When I came to Windsor, my vision was to create a Black film festival, a space where we can be able to tell our stories and project them," said Eghujovbo.

Of the more than 50 films submitted, the WIBFF will select 10 to 15 to screen, including feature films, documentaries and children's films.

Hermes Fomutar, WIBFF president, says this gives Black filmmakers a platform that they are not always given.

"The vision is to give those Blacks that have not been able to express themselves... to help them, to encourage them and promote them to be able to produce films — and especially films that reflect Black values, that reflect Black culture, their experiences, their history and where they want to get to."

The WIBFF is in partnership with the Black Scholars Institute at the University of Windsor. For ticket information, see the festival website.