The Indianapolis Black Documentary Film Festival will be held at Martin University

Indianapolis, Indiana – This Friday and Saturday, Martin University will play host to the 2023 Indianapolis Black Documentary Film Festival in honor of Black History Month.

The Father Boniface Hardin Gatheretorium, located at 2186 N. Sherman Drive, will host the festival.

The purpose of the event, according to the organizers, is to establish a setting where Black filmmakers, storytellers, producers, and professionals of the film industry may interact and enjoy the films on display.

There will be three films shown, and each showing will include a question-and-answer period following the conclusion of the film.

The festival opens Friday at 6:30 p.m. with Tarabu Betserai Kirkland’s “100 Years From Mississippi.”

The film relates the tale of Mamie Lang Kirkland, who left Mississippi at the age of seven and then returned 100 years later.

“Mamie Kirkland left Aliceville, Mississippi, in 1915. She and her family left because her father was about to be lynched. And so she left Mississippi and vowed never to return to Mississippi. Her son, who is the director of the film, found out about this through her conversations and family conversations and he decided that he was going to make a film about it. She was 107 when she returned to Mississippi,” Eric Winston, executive director of the film, said Friday on Daybreak.

This is [Not] Who We Are” and “Taking Israel” are the two movies that will be shown on Saturday afternoon.

“Taking Israel” is the story of Wilberforce University students who traveled to Israel for nearly two decades to observe the country’s political, social, and educational conditions. “This Is [Not] Who We Are” explores the gap between Boulder, Colorado’s progressive self-image, and the lived experiences of its small Black community.