Programmed December 2025

Black Debutantes: First Features by Black Women Directors

Though their voices have historically been marginalized, innovative Black women filmmakers have long broken barriers to tell urgent, powerful, and perceptive stories on-screen. This celebration of pioneering Black women who made an impact with their very first—and in some cases only—feature film reveals a rich lineage of artists whose works open up into fascinating dialogue with one another. Exploring themes of revolutionary and anticolonialist struggle (Sarah Maldoror’s Sambizanga , Sara Gómez’s One Way or Another ), the experience of coming of age as a young Black woman (Cauleen Smith’s Drylongso , Dee Rees’s Pariah ), and the meaning of heritage and history (Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust , Zeinabu irene Davis’s Compensation ), these uniquely insightful, formally imaginative works are each an act of courageous dedication and vision. Programmed by Rógan Graham, who presented a version of Black Debutantes at London’s BFI Southbank in May 2025.