The Consulate of Italy in Detroit and the Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago, in collaboration with Wayne State University's Irvin D. Reid Honors College and the Department of Classical and Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, present Black Italian Film Showcase, a film series to celebrate Black History Month.

Black Italian Film Showcase is the first celebration of Afro-Italian talents in film, showcasing new features, documentaries, and short films and illuminating the historical, social, and cultural aspects of Black life in Italy through film, offering the opportunity to see a diverse representation of Italy. Curated by Italian-Ghanaian-American producer-director Fred Kudjo Kuwornu, this retrospective of Italian of African descent filmmakers deals with questions of colonialism, diversity, global black diaspora, gender, race, and identity that are best answered by those who live Italy’s integration day to day.

On Friday, February 17th movie director Antonio Dikele Distefano will be present for a public conversation, presenting the screening of his new movie Autumn Beat (2022), produced by Amazon Studios and co-produced by Indiana Productions and presented in Detroit for the first time to the public.

PROGRAM

Friday, February 17th at 5:30pm “Autumn Beat” directed by Antonio Dikele Distefano preceded by the short film “Idris” directed by Kassim Yassin Saleh The screening will be introduced by a public conversation with Antonio Dikele Distefano

Saturday, February 18th at 3pm “Va Pensiero, Walking Stories” directed by Dagmawi Yimer preceded by the short film “I am Fatou” directed by Amir RA

Saturday, February 18th at 5pm “Blaxploitalian: 100 Years of Blackness in Italian Cinema” directed by Fred K. Kuwornu preceded by the short film “Il Moro” directed by Daphne Di Cinto

Movies will be presented in Italian with English subtitles. The program is free and open to the public.