AADL Welcomes: Ann Arbor Black Film Festival

NOTE THIS EVENT HAS ALREADY OCCURRED

Date(s): Friday, June 5, 2026
Time: 5:30pm-7:30pm
Venue: Downtown Branch of AADL
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The Ann Arbor Black Film Festival is here to promote the vibrant culture of filmmaking in Ann Arbor, Michigan and showcase artists and media creators of color.

This evening’s program includes the following films:

Cogito, ergo sum
Bloomington, IN
Director: AHMED TAHSIN SHAMS
This hybrid documentary fuses the real-life reflections of ceramicist Malcolm Mobutu Smith with a claymation resurrection of the long-erased Black comic character Li’L Tuffy—who return to confront his origins, reclaim his stories, and ask: Who’s holding the pen now? With claymation this doc explores race, memory, and artistic agency through the hands and words of Professor Malcolm Mobutu Smith (Indiana University Bloomington), a ceramicist whose practice is rooted in Black material expression. As he shapes clay and reflects on the frozen imprints of time and identity, his words awaken one forgotten figure from America’s comic book past: Li’L Tuffy, a fictional amalgam inspired by the lost promise of All-Negro Comics.

The United States of WTF !!!
Detroit, MI
Director: A Ray Jones
A man in a laundromat goes through a range of emotions watching the absurdity of modern media on TV.

TCB: The Toni Cade Bambara School of Organizing
Director: Louis Massiah and Monica Henriquez
A biography of the influential writer, filmmaker and cultural worker, who with humor and deep insight, inspired a generation of artists to dedicate themselves to community empowerment. The film is structured as a series of lessons on cultural organizing, gleaned from Bambara’s life and shared by her friends, colleagues and students.

Other Days of Ann Arbor Black Film Festival

• Arbor Annie's Highlights
• BIPOC
• Free
• High Schoolers
• Indoor Activities
• Movies
• Parents

Please double check event information with the event organizer as events can be cancelled, details can change after they are added to our calendar, or we can make mistakes.