Documentary Features
A competitive section for non-fiction feature-length films directed by or about persons of African descent. Films selected for this section compete for the Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature with a cash prize of $2,500. The following films represent the 2025 official selections in the Documentary Features category:
Black Women and Sex
SOUTH AFRICA | 90 min | WORLD PREMIERE
Black Women and Sex explores the tension between black women, and the politics of sex in Africa.
Director: Godisamang Khunou | Writer: Godisamang Khunou | Producers: Godisamang Khunou, Calvin Sefala, Adelaide Joshua- Hill, Yolanda Ncokotwana,Refiloe Hlabioa, Iris Kaingu, Nthabeleng Phora, Kgomotso Zebediela | Cast: Iris Kaingu, Glow Makatsi, Olawumi Oloye
Carnival: They Can’t Steal Our Joy
CANADA | 75 min | WORLD PREMIERE
Caribbean Carnival is not just any event. It is liberation, a voice of freedom, people in action, a cultural movement that was birthed out of a place of righteous defiance to become a paradise of colorful street parade.
Director: Ian Mark Kimanje | Writer: Allen Booth and Ian Mark kimanje | Producers: Ian Mark kimanje | Cast: Candace Dixon, Fiona Compton, and Ian Mark Kimanje
Fatherless No More
USA | 86 min
Fatherless No More chronicles the remarkable journey of an Orlando-based pastor and former Super Bowl Champion who was driven by a divine calling to move into an RV at a place often deemed hell on earth, Rikers Island.
Director:Kayla Johnson, Co-director Ashly Robinson | Producers: Cole Anthony, Cece Winans, Ashly Robinson, Kayla Johnson, Michelle Duffie | Cast: Tim Johnson, Malik Bacchus, Jayden Mayo and Tristian Williams
Good Shot
USA | 81 min | WORLD PREMIERE
In the heart of Watts, a beloved neighborhood legend named Maxwell seeks redemption as a father after a lifetime of using basketball to mask his pain.
Director: Joris Debeij | Writer: Walter Thompson-Hernández | Producers: Jean Mougin, Joris Debeij, Aron Phillips, Stephen Curry, Erick Peyton, Steve Wood | Cast: Maxwell Henderson
Love, Joy & Power: Tools For Liberation
USA | 96 min | WORLD PREMIERE
Black Voters Matter is a feature length documentary about the co-founders of the Black Voters Matter Fund, Cliff Albright and LaTosha Brown, the work they do to empower African American communities especially in the rural south, and the crucial role they played in flipping Georgia from red to blue in the 2020 Presidential election and the 2021 Georgia Senate Runoffs and the numerous threats they faced to do the work.
Director: Daresha Kyi | Producers: Trevite Willis, Daresha Kyi | Cast: LaTosha Brown, Cliff Albright, April England Albright
Moses
USA/SPAIN | 127 min
In San Francisco, a man enduring homelessness for two decades connects with passersby to be seen among the invisible—a skill he learned from a promising music career cut short in the ’70s, and one that will ultimately transform his life.
Director: Fran Guijarro | Writer: Fran Guijarro | Producers: Fran Guijarro, Diya Guha & Juli López | Cast: Moses
SPADURA
USA | 60 min
Framed as an off-kilter baby shower, SPADURA unapologetically takes on the emotional and financial cost of IVF, grief, aging, as well as the unique fertility obstacles faced by Black women in America — all through a funny and gripping solo show.
Director: Allison Caviness | Writer: Dahéli Hall | Producers: Elizabeth Yng-Wong | Cast: Dahéli Hall
Wait Until Tomorrow
USA | 70 min
An intimate, urgent portrait of race, wealth, and opportunity in America, told through the eyes of Black families striving for more in cities across the nation.
Director: Osato Dixon | Writer: Osato Dixon, Kara Murphy | Producers: Kelley Robins Hicks, Jamund Washington | Cast: Shelley Stewart III, Sara Prince, Tiffany Burns, JP Julien, Avis E.,Crystal F., Antonio G., Kandice J., Armond J.