Since 2004, the Stone Center’s annual Diaspora Festival of Black and Independent Film has been showcasing films from all corners of the African diaspora including several films making their North Carolina and US premieres at the festival. Diaspora Film Festival screenings are marked by lively post-screening Q&A, in-depth commentary, critique, and contextualization with filmmakers, scholars and attendees.
Over the years, the festival has forged lasting partnerships and collaboration with various campus and community co-sponsors. These include the African Studies Center, the African, African-American and Diaspora Studies Department (AAADS), the Women and Gender Studies Department, The History Department, the Center for the Study of the American South (CSAS), the Alliance (Carolina Latinx, American Indian, and Asian-American Centers), Ngozi Design Collective, the Hayti Heritage Center, the Rogers-Eubanks Community Center, Palace International and Providence 1898, among others.
The 2025 edition of Diaspora Film Festival will feature about two dozen films of all genres selected from more than a hundred submissions from around the world. A special screening on November 20th, in collaboration with the American Indian Center, features LUMBEELAND, a short film exploring drug culture’s impact on a Native American community.
Screenings on THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9 | 6:30PM are as follows:
MERCY
Dir: Philip Szporer | Short | Canada (2025) | 15 MIN
This poetic short film voices issues of race, place, and identity, and dives into the double-voiced discourses of a particular Black literary tradition concerning the complication of the slave learning their captor’s language.
FROM RODEO TO POLO: THE FIRST HBCU POLO TEAM
Dir: Kendi King | Documentary | USA | 9 MIN
The first Black collegiate polo team at Morehouse College chases national USPA certification, training a rag-tag team of charismatic cowboys into pioneering polo stars.
“RUNAWAY”
Dir: Donya A.R Conley | Short | USA | 10 MIN
Ms. Edna spends the night in the police station based on the assumption of her daughter’s disappearance. She begins to plead with the Officer who gives her a hard time regarding the justification for her daughter’s missing.
FOOD FOR THE SOUL
Dir: Chisom Chieke | Short | USA | 17 MIN
As cultures clash and insufferable parents meddle, a first generation Nigerian American and her Black American boyfriend must decide between being true to themselves or trying to live up to their families’ expectations…a risk to their happily ever after.
HARLEM TO HARVARD (Featured image above)
Dir: Zuzelin Martin | Short | USA | 14 MIN
An inspirational short documentary about a teacher, Edouard E. Plummer, who helped over 600 students from Harlem attend the most elite boarding schools in the country creating countless ripples of generational impact.
All screenings are free and open to the public. Unless otherwise stated, all screenings will take place on site in the Stone Center’s Hitchcock Multipurpose Room (150 South Rd, Chapel Hill, Room 111).
RSVP now: https://heellife.unc.edu/event/11602431