BLACK EUROPE FILM FESTIVAL

The Black Europe Film Festival returns to the Main Theater and Capri Theater, February 19th-22nd. This year’s selections span geographies and genres—science fiction, documentary, romantic comedy, family drama, and biopic—offering multiple perspectives on the scope and diversity of the Black diaspora. Together, the films take us through landscapes of Blackness rarely centered on screen, from African coastlines and European neighborhoods to Kenya, Spain, and, closer to home, New York and downtown Minneapolis.

What binds the films in this edition is a shared theme, “Afro-Pasts, Afro-Futures.” While the selections take us to many places—including, this year, Spike Lee’s Brooklyn, Rudy Gobert’s Minneapolis, and the empty graves of Tanzania and Ethiopia—they all explore the need to reconnect with the past: whether physically, through returns from abroad to home or from the diaspora back to Africa, or metaphorically, through memories, stories, and histories that shape personal and collective Black identities and cultures. But this common and insistent return to the past is not about being stuck.  Across their diversity, the films share a forward-looking belief: that reconnecting with the past—personal, historical, or political—opens pathways forward. It is, in many ways, a return to the future.

It is a multigenerational journey across time and borders that BEFF 2026 invites audiences to experience together with our visiting filmmakers and guests.

To connect, email the organizers at [email protected],

visit beffmsp.org,

or follow us on Instagram @blackeuropefilmfestival.

— FULL PROGRAM AND SCHEDULE COMING SOON! —

BEFF 2026 Film Selection

In Competition – Best Fiction Film

Hanami (dir. Denise Fernandes, 2024, Switzerland / Portugal / Cape Verde; Cape Verdean Creole, Japanese, French, English; Fiction – coming-of-age / family drama; Director attending virtually)

Fanon (dir. Jean-Claude Barny, 2024, France / Canada / Luxembourg / Belgium; French, Arabic; Fiction – biopic / historical drama; Director in attendance)

Memory of Princess Mumbi (dir. Damien Hauser, 2025, Switzerland / Kenya / Saudi Arabia; English, Swahili; Fiction – science fiction / romance; Director in attendance)

In Competition – Best Documentary

Les Voyageurs / The Travelers (dir. David Bingong, 2025, Cameroon / Spain; French, Spanish; Documentary; Director attending virtually)

The Empty Grave (dirs. Cece Mlay & Agnes Lisa Wegner, 2024, Germany / Tanzania; Swahili, German, English; Documentary; Directors attending virtually)

Spike Lee: The Last King of Brooklyn (dir. Dimitri Danvidé, 2024, France; English, French; Documentary; Director in attendance)

Special Programs

The Afro-Elderly Project: Multigenerational Spanish Blackness (creators Lucía Asué Mbomío Rubio, Laurent Leger Adame & José Oyono, 2023–2024, Spain; Spanish; Documentary / multimedia project; Creators in attendance)

Focus on Ethiopia

The River (dir. Herrana Addisu, 2024, Ethiopia; Amharic; Experimental documentary – short; Director in attendance)

Alazar (dir. Beza Hailu Lemma, 2024, Ethiopia / France / Canada; Amharic; Fiction – short; Director in attendance)