2026 FILM GUIDE

Directed by Christopher Leone, Gary Hernandez, Nadinne Alcantar, Olman Diaz, Gabriela Argueta De Leon, Matthew Taylor (USA 2026, 16:41).

As part of BPS Arts Expansion at EdVestors, the East Boston Music Collective is a neighborhood-focused effort to expand and strengthen the depth of sequential music education in all 11 East Boston BPS schools… Local.

Directed by Nikki Taylor Roberts (USA, 17:35)

The short film explores a key turning point in the life of the legendary Ella Fitzgerald. With a focus on her tumultuous adolescence and the life-altering Apollo amateur night win that launched her illustrious career, “Ella” offers a deeply human and emotionally resonant portrait of one of the greatest jazz icons of all time. Starring Jill Scott.

RoxFilm Alum. Pan African Film Festival 2026 - Best Short Narrative Nominee.

Directed by Denise Washington (USA, 2:06).

“Enslaved African”, a Folklore honoring the emancipation of enslaved people. Written, Produced, Directed and Performed by Denise Washington. Music Composed, Performed, Directed, Filmed, Edited by Production Artist Akili Jamal Haynes.

Local.

Directed by Rudy Valdez (USA 2025, 23.25).

Against the electrifying backdrop of the New York City Marathon, FINAL FINISHERS celebrates the unsung heroes at the back of the pack. Hours after the elites have crossed the finish line, the film finds its heart in the stories of those who persist long after dark, cheered on by a community that refuses to leave anyone behind…

Director Arlieta Hall & Brittany Alsot. (USA, 2026. 85 mins)

Finding Your Laughter follows Chicago comedian Arlieta Hall who is learning to use her own resources — stand up comedy and improvisation — as tools for both her own mental health and to be a caregiver for her father who is fading from Alzheimer's disease.

Open Captions. Audio Description available.

Directed by Tanya Martineau (USA 2026, 18:15 mins).

Taylor, an ambitious, caring yet insecure woman in her early 30s, has spent years cultivating what appears to be the perfect life with her long-term boyfriend, Khalil. Since a child, she has dreamed of getting married to her fairytale prince and decided that Khalil was her knight in shining armor. To her social media followers, they are #CoupleGoals—happy, stylish, deeply in love. But behind the filtered photos and adoring captions lies a relationship built on performance and the need for validation.

Directed by Yoruba Richen. (USA 2026. 38 mins)

The story of a Joan Little, a Black incarcerated woman in North Carolina who killed a white prison guard who was trying to rape her. The 1975 groundbreaking case was the first in U.S history where a woman was acquitted for using deadly force to resist sexual assault.

Directed by Kim Blanck. (USA,2025 9:39)

Gloria, a Chinese woman in her 70s living alone and struggling with her memory, finds new purpose in teaching herself Spanish.

Directed by Michael Reilly Peraza (USA 2026, 12:12 mins).

John Dixon returns to the old fishing hole to remember his late son, Rodney. But when a stranger named Clay arrives, John is forced to face the truth about his son's identity--and the denial he imposed for all of Rodney's life.

Directed by Exodia Demosthene (USA 2026, 11 mins).

The night before school photos, a spirited young girl, desperately attempts to recreate the perfect hairstyle. With the guidance of an otherworldly hairstylist, she embarks on a magical journey of self-acceptance.

Directed by Anthony Jones (USA 2025, 23:23 mins).

Get ready to be shocked and electrified by a new hero on the horizon. Kid Electric! This young speedster is new on the scene and has always wanted to be one of the comic book heroes he’s read about as a child. In this story we journey with him as he finds out exactly what it means to be a superhero.

Directed by Ann Gennaro (USA 2025, 27:51).

This documentary offers a brief historical overview of the efforts of key religious communities and individuals whose pastoral care and leadership enabled Black Catholics in the United States—and in Boston—to build an infrastructure that fostered spaces to gather, celebrate, deepen their faith, and be seen, while contributing significantly to the life and history of the Church and Archdiocese.

Local.

Directed by Thitu Muiruri (USA, Kenya 2025, 11:18 mins).

A young man struggles to overcome a childhood trauma that strains his romantic relationship.

Directed by Walter Thompson-Hernández. (USA, 2026, 90 min.)

Twelve-year-old Lil Ant transforms his working-class neighborhood beneath the LAX flight path into a living mythology, where family members become gods and the sky is crowded with endless departures. As he searches for connection with his god-like yet conflicted father, he finds support in his close-knit community that helps him reconcile myth and reality.

Directed by Savannah Renée Toney (USA 2026, 19:41min).

Whose life is it anyway? As Florida’s six-week abortion ban closes in, Serenity, a motivated, driven, starving writer faces a life-altering decision with time working against her. Over the course of one restless night in Miami, conversations with her mother and boyfriend, rooted in care but shaped by urgency, draw the realities of choice, access, and accountability into sharp focus.

Directed by Marcellus Cox (USA 2025, 23:00 mins).

Inspired By True Events following a talented MLB Prospect as he spends the day with his Mentor from the Big Brothers of America Program.

RoxFilm Alum.

Directed by Tibria J. Brown (USA 2025, 10:00min)

Kindah: A History in the Shadows spotlights the under-documented history of the Maroon community in Jamaica. The Maroons are descendants of self-emancipated Africans who did not just escape slavery but outwitted and fought the British Empire to secure their freedom. Open captions.

Directed by Gloria Respress-Churchwell (USA 2025, 89:00).

Limitless explores the life of a man who made extraordinary strides nationally and globally. From the beginning, he broke barriers by becoming his high school’s first Black student president and was the first African American to play intercollegiate football against a white team in a former Confederate state. His work as a psychiatrist saw him going to Antarctica to carry out research, to NASA to help select astronauts, and to Sesame Street to help educate a new generation of preschoolers. This documentary commemorates the contributions of this Renaissance man and uncovers the steps in forming this exceptional individual.

Local.

Directed by Akshay Shirke (Canada 2025, 9:40 mins).

"Louis" is a short film that explores how grief is experienced in Indian immigrant communities, focusing on a father and son. The story follows Kalpen, a young boy grappling with the death of his pet hamster, Louis. His father, Avneesh, silently carries the weight of his own father's death as he struggles to support his son emotionally. Set in Nova Scotia, the film contrasts cultural perspectives on death. It sensitively portrays two generations processing loss with Kalpen seeking to understand it, and Avneesh trying to keep it buried.

Directed by Taylor Dews ( USA 2025, 34:00).

As the nine Lane siblings rummage through memories kept in shoeboxes, kitchen drawers, and photobooks, they discover that their fading Sunday dinner tradition is tied to their family’s involvement in the lesser-known history of Black-American social clubs in Hampton Roads, Virginia…

Directed by Leon Hendrix III. (USA 2026, 120 mins)

Disillusioned with her lackluster life, JO takes a break and visits the storied French district of MONTMARTRE. There she falls for TOUSSAINT, a tour guide with a penchant for poetry and a strong belief in the power of Magic and Romance. Through their curious connection, Black History, art and love intertwine, reconnecting Jo to her long-lost passion for life.

Directed by Noella Letitia Mingo (United Kingdom, 2025, 9:15).

One woman's voyage of discovery to understand her heritage and what makes somewhere truly home.

Directed by Paul Sanderson (USA 2025, 36:11).

The film presents an oral history of stories told by present day Nantucketers, to help illuminate the lives of Black Civil War veterans, fugitives, abolitionists, and whaling captains interred in one of Nantucket island’s most significant burial grounds.

Directed by Rana Roy (USA 2026, 16:40 mins).

An Arab-American mother drowns in postpartum as a night nurse unsettles her and war floods her screens. Her private paranoia bleeds into the violence beyond her walls- blurring nightmare and reality... But is the madness in her mind or the world around her?

Directed by Jon Ayon (USA 2025, 18:00).

Haunted by the Nahua deity Tlazōlteōtl, 4 cousins in Northeast LA try to protect each other from the violence and family strife threatening to tear them apart.

Directed by Ivan Rome (USA 2025, 12:00min).

Oh Happy Day! follows CHRIS, a timid little guy smitten by a sweet soul named JAZMYN. Though he lacks the confidence to tell her how he feels, he tries in his own way to get her attention. But after many failed attempts, he decides to risk it all during his Easter speech.

Directed by Tracey Anarella (USA 2025, 71.47 mins).

In a relentless pursuit of justice, a chaplain, a lawyer, law enforcement officers, and grieving families unite to confront the devastating effects of U.S. policies on Native peoples, as they search for answers to the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives (MMIWR), battling to prevent further vanishings and murders.

RoxFilm Alum.

Directed by Carter Mitchell Stewart (USA 2026, 19:38 mins).

A Loss Prevention Specialist's world is turned upside down when he encounters a store employee who intuitively knows when people steal.

Directed by Jiayang Liu (USA 2026, 8:52).

After a college student returns to China and his grandparents, he begins exploring the idea of death in an introspective journey to understand what it means to exist. English subtitles.

Directed by Stephanie Glover (USA 2025, 7:32).

A young boy born with ectrodactyly is eager to explore the world, but his father, a pianist, constantly redirects him toward “safer” dreams that don’t require the use of his hands. Believing he is protecting his son from cruelty and disappointment, the father unknowingly chips away at the boy’s sense of possibility with each well-meaning intervention.

RoxFilm Alum.

Directed by Vanessa Bazile (USA, 12:40min).

Delilah and Jerome are moving into their first apartment. Their relationship hasn’t always been smooth sailing, but they somehow always find their way back to one another. When Jerome finds the old video camera they used to use, he takes the opportunity to film new memories. Delilah stumbles upon this footage and everything changes. Local.

Directed by Mackenzie McCree (USA 2024, 9:56 mins).

Within this video Omauri explains his journey as an artist, specifically as a painter and sketch drawing, and how he reached the skillset he's achieved.

Local.

Directed by Anita Allison (USA 2026, 3:18).

Paul Cuffe Is Me is a powerful, high-energy music video that pulls late 1700's Black and Wampanoag mariner Paul Cuffe out of the shadows of history. Written and performed by RoxFilm alum, Daniel Laurent.

Local.

Directed by Brittany Ramjattan, Andrew Ramjattan (USA 2025, 13:05min).

Bikram, a longtime chef and confirmed bachelor, runs his restaurant with heart and discipline. But when his niece and two meddling Aunties host a speed-dating night there, his world is thrown into comedic chaos—blending family pressure, unexpected romance, and the perfect dash of second chances.

Directed by Tishna Lodi (USA 2026, 13:38 mins).

Ahmed is a Muslim teenage football star looking to get recruited for the NFL, but when his coach shifts his practices to night time to accommodate Ramadan, Ahmed and Coach Omar come to blows about generational trauma. Written by Omar Ghonim.

Local.

Directed by Aishat Abiri (USA 2025, 13:01min).

When Ama shows up at Khalid’s apartment, we do not know who she is or why he is so nervous around her. Through flashbacks, we see that Khalid and Ama were once madly in love. So, why did he leave? What concerns do they have about his mental health? Is love enough to bring him back home?

Directed by Meenakshi Garodia (India, USA 2025, 17:25 min).

Poshun (Hindi): fostering, rearing, bringing up; nourishment;
nutriment, nutrition; protection; support.

Poshun, which means nourishment in Sanskrit, is a short narrative film. It is a coming-of-age tale about Khushi, an 18-year-old girl. Khushi (she, hers.) Khushi is a new immigrant to Boston with her mother and father, from a small town in Punjab, India.

Directed by Karen Somers (USA 2025, 88:00).

"Pursuing Light: The Bill Strickland Story" is an American rags to riches story with Bill Strickland and the impoverished communities he serves at its center. It moves up and down a fluid timeline, weaving the story of this extraordinary man’s life in art, education, civil rights and social justice, with the parallels found in his network of revolutionary youth arts and adult work force training centers.

Local.

Mvcho's Room
My Guatemala Bakery
Classworkin'
Attara's Chair Heist
Friendships
Bloom

Directed by Marlon P Solomon (USA 2025, 35:00 min).

Redline Narratives 2: Our Stories is a companion to Redline Narratives: The Lost Cultural Hubs of Boston. Built from extended interviews and community testimonies captured for the original film, this sequel centers first-person accounts—artists, elders, youth, and planners—showing how redlining shaped daily life and how residents are reclaiming space...

RoxFilm Alum. Local Premiere.

Directed by Sabrina Salvati (USA 2025, 87 min).

‘REMOVED: BLACK ERASURE IN BOSTON’ is urgently spotlighting the unfolding debacle at White Stadium while also highlighting Boston’s notoriously racist past in an attempt to create a dialog about the hidden history of Black Boston, unknown to many even within the Black community…

Local.

Director Noube Rateau, William Medero (USA 2025, 50 min).

Report Card – Danger of Failing, produced by the Emmy Award–winning Noube Productions. The film examines the high school education system in the inner cities. It interviews students, teachers, parents, and administrators, challenges inequities in our local education system, exposes the perspectives of those affected, and highlights possible solutions…
RoxFilm Alum. Local.

Directed by Martine Granby (USA 2025, 21:30min).

Drawing from institutional and personal archives, this film revisits a colored-only riverside recreation space that existed alongside a celebrated white-only water park, exposing the layered histories of segregation and unequal access to nature and leisure in Jim Crow America.

Director Edward Worthy. (USA, 2026. 12:22)

Set during the 2022 Jackson, Mississippi Water Crisis, Lynn, an overwhelmed woman visiting her childhood home to care for her elderly father's wound, struggles to accept her new reality as their water supply depletes and his health continues to deteriorate.

Director Abby Ginzberg (USA 2025. 28 mins).

A film about Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley. A leader in reproductive rights, criminal justice reform, and opposition to Project 2025… An activist politician, who believes “those closest to the pain, should be closest to the power”, her own path reflects the lessons learned as a Black woman and a committed representative in Congress.

Directed by Anthony Renard Reed (USA 2026, 17:49).

Black African women have dominated the three major US 26.2-mile marathons; the Boston, New York City, and Chicago Marathons. This African dominance began in 1994 when a Kenyan woman became the second Black woman to place in any of these marathons. Between 2014 and 2025, almost three-quarters of the top five women finishers of the three major U.S. marathons were Black Africans. However, nineteen years earlier, Baltimore-native, Marilyn Bevans, made world history as she became the first person, male or female, to place in the top five in these three prestigious marathons.

Directed by Cesar Lazare Jr (USA 2025, 14:58).

In the heat of summer, two lives spiral toward collision. Demetrius, a young man torn between responsibility and the lure of reckless friends, is pulled deeper into violence he never sought. Ariel, weighed down by expectation and searching for direction, drifts between loyalty and escape. As choices turn dangerous, their paths cross on a night where blood, regret, and the sea converge, forcing them to confront the shadows cast by their brightest days.

Premiere.

Directed by David Waiyaki Wanderi (USA 2025, 7:20 mins).

Two FBI agents close in on an online terrorist, only to find themselves trapped in their own investigation.

Directed by Kareem Benjamen Janey, Mike Dunee (USA 225, 7:26).

STELLA ROAD is a coming-of-age, authentic, urban drama based on the true story of two musically gifted brothers from a remote street in Boston called "Stella Road", who tragically lost their mother and were forced to face the world alone.
Local.

Directed by Wendell Moore (USA 2024, 50:11).

This is a boy's adventure. Dion “Juvey-D” Jackson is a 14-year-old Brooklynite who sneaks his father’s video camera out into the streets to record his antics with his best friend Antman. It is 1992, a transitional period in Fort Greene, a neighborhood at the time considered the Black Boeheim of art and culture, as well as a community on the verge of gentrification…

Directed by Catherine Joy White (USA 2025, 11:11).

Swim Sistas is a poetic, visually stunning love letter to water, sisterhood, and the enduring strength of Black women across generations…

RoxFilm Alum Award Winner for Best Narrative Short award with Fifty-Four Days.