African Diaspora Film Festival Begins Saturday

The 33rd Annual African Diaspora International Film Festival (ADIFF) will take place in New York City from November 29 to December 14, 2025. The festival will feature over 70 films from more than 30 countries, aiming to showcase socially relevant works by and about people of color.

Festival Venues and Accessibility

In-person screenings will be held at Teachers College, Columbia University; Cinema Village; and The Lenfest Center for the Arts. A Mini Virtual Festival will also be available, allowing audiences across the US and Canada to stream 20 films. A free community screening of Who in the Hell is Regina Jones will be offered to seniors on December 3 at Teachers College, Columbia University.

Opening and Closing Events

The festival opens on November 29 with a VIP Reception and the New York Premiere of The Dutchman, a psychological thriller adaptation of Amiri Baraka’s play. A moderated Q&A with director Andre Gaines and journalist Derrell Johnson will follow the screening. ADIFF concludes with a VIP reception and the New York Premiere of Fanon, a biographical drama about Martiniquan psychiatrist Frantz Fanon. Director Jean-Claude Barney will participate in a Q&A after the screening.

Special Screenings and Programs

A Centerpiece Screening will highlight the African Diaspora in India with the New York Premiere of Rhythm of Dammam, a drama focusing on the Siddi community and their use of traditional music to address intergenerational trauma. A Filmmaker Spotlight will feature a special event and conversation with director Leslie Harris, following a screening of the restored version of her film, Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.

Gala Screenings will include Sugar Island (Dominican Republic) and the US Premiere of The Ants (Morocco). The “Silenced Voices: Cinema and Censorship” program will revisit films once banned or suppressed, including Oscar Michaux’s Within Our Gates (1920) and Jules Dassin’s Uptight (1968). A Censorship and Cinema panel, featuring legal scholar Tanya Katerí Hernández, will be held on December 12.

FESPACO and Francophone Selections

The festival will feature seven New York premieres from FESPACO, a major African film festival. Among the films is Diya, the Price of Blood (Chad), which also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival. The Francophone selection, supported by the OIF and the Québec Government Office, will showcase films from Canada, Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, Belgium, Haiti, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, and Guadeloupe.

Other notable films include Malês: The Revolt, an Afro-Brazilian historical epic, and The Song of the Rifles (Burkina Faso), a drama about a young boy’s struggle amid a civil war.