YOUTH SHORTS: The Black Disquisition / MAMA / A Song of Grace / Prose / Clothed Minds

Prose

An English exam takes two college students on a journey of defining their relationship

The Black Disquisition

The Black Disquisition is an affecting true story of the traumatic event in a boy’s life that fractures his self image and the difficult conversation his parents must have with him about race in America. With its avant garde narrative structure and rotoscope animation this film illuminates how a brief childhood encounter can alter a life well into adulthood.

2021 BIBFF Official Reel

The 8th Annual Black Film Festival features over 80 films from 16 countries on October 6-11, 2021. We are proud to bring this amazing group of "Official Selections" to Baltimore City both in our Virtual Theatre and at the SNF Parkway Theatre in Baltimore's Station North Arts District. Enjoy the films and be sure to use the unique pairs and shorts programs to have you own #ReelUnity moment.

MAMA

My children in America's hands. The tragic deaths of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd have rocked the American nation, and left three mothers without their child. A child they carried for nine months. A child that is their own flesh, blood, and love. A new revolution is upon us. Hear from three black mothers who tell of their hopes and fear for their black children entering a discriminative America. Whitney Pirtle, a sociologist professor at UC Merced, who has two sons with her husband who also works in education. Sam, she works in the education field. And finally, Arkesha, who is a city bus driver.

Clothed Minds

Clothed Minds is a documentary highlighting the effects of school dress code policies on Black girls in the Washington DC school system. Based on the report 'Dress Coded: Black Girls, Bodies and Bias in DC Schools' from the National Women’s Law Center. Clothed Minds seeks to explore the disproportionate impact of enforcing dress codes on Black girls. Clothed Minds brings together perspectives from psychologists, local community activists, the founders of the initial study and students DC public schools who have been directly impacted by dress code policies. We seek to spark action for schools to review, revise, and rewrite these policies with the help of Black girls.

A Song of Grace

A Song of Grace takes us inside the world of 12-year-old Grace Moore, a classical music composer from Brooklyn New York. In the Summer of 2020, The New York Philharmonic debuted one of Grace’s original compositions propelling her into the public eye. The film goes behind the curtain to uncover the forces that have shaped Grace in a lyrical dedication to the relationship between a budding young artist and her mother. 

A Song of Grace weaves a tender portrait of the magic of black motherhood and what it takes to raise a young gifted black child.