The Black August Film Festival Is An Invitation To Celebrate Black Resistance Out Loud

It’s been a really weird year. First MLK Jr. Day, Black History Month and other cultural observances were paused, and then the systematic attempts to stifle Black progress began. DEI programs getting defunded, companies backpedalling on their commitments to equity and the media quietly shifting away from stories that center Black voices. 

Watching everything unfold in real-time has been surreal. But despite the weight of these disruptive changes, organizations like the Pasadena African American Film Foundation have stayed the course, creating spaces like the Black August Film Festival that amplify truth and celebrate Black resistance out loud.

The Black August Film Festival is an annual film festival that showcases films focused on social issues and Black liberation. It’s part of the larger commemoration of Black August, so Black resistance and freedom fighters are the center of it all, and it features films from around the world related to these topics.

This year it’s taking place from August 16-17, 2025, at the Flintridge Center in Pasadena. And the theme for BAFF 2025, “Freedom or War,” is an ode to fallen revolutionaries like Huey P. Newton, who refused to accept the system’s version of reality and instead fought to build something better.

The lineup for this year includes over 60 films and music videos from six countries, along with an awards ceremony on Sunday evening. Awards will be presented in categories like Most Educational Film and Best Social Justice Film, and the Black August Award will honor a standout project that embodies the spirit of resistance that defines Black August.

And to make the festival more accessible, BAFF is hosting virtual viewings as well. So whether you’re attending in person or tuning in online, the Black August Film Festival is offering front-row seats to a conversation on liberation that you don’t want to miss.

One film that I want to mention is Listen To Black Women, a documentary by Buy From A Black Woman that I got to be a part of. We created this film to document the real impact of the defunding of DEI on Black women-owned businesses. It centers Black women’s voices, raw and unfiltered, speaking on the realities that we face in a system that was never built to support us. Being selected for screening at the Black August Film Festival couldn’t be more perfect because the organizers understand the power of documenting what’s really happening to our communities, especially at a time when so many institutions are trying to rewrite or erase the truth. 

The Black August Film Festival creates space for films like ours to be shown in their full complexity and strength, not watered down for comfort. Which is exactly what this moment calls for, unapologetic truth-telling and celebration that doesn’t ask for permission.

Because Black resistance deserves more than quiet acknowledgment, it deserves to be celebrated out loud.

So whether you’re showing up to honor the legacy of freedom fighters, support independent filmmakers or to hear stories that reflect the realities we live every day, pull up. Come through and engage. And join in on this welcome disruption because it’s a reminder that even when the world goes quiet, we’re still going to tell our stories.