We are JKF Media LLC ("Company," "we," "us," "our"). We operate the website https://theblackpeoplesguide.com (the "Site"), the mobile application The Black People's Guide (the "App"), as well as any other related products and services that refer or link to these legal terms (the "Legal Terms") (collectively, the "Services").
These Legal Terms constitute a legally binding agreement made between you, whether personally or on behalf of an entity ("you"), and JKF Media LLC, concerning your access to and use of the Services. You agree that by accessing the Services, you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by all of these Legal Terms. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH ALL OF THESE LEGAL TERMS, THEN YOU ARE EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED FROM USING THE SERVICES AND YOU MUST DISCONTINUE USE IMMEDIATELY.
We will provide you with prior notice of any scheduled changes to the Services you are using. The modified Legal Terms will become effective upon posting or notifying you by admin@theblackpeoplesguide.com, as stated in the email message. By continuing to use the Services after the effective date of any changes, you agree to be bound by the modified terms.
The Services are intended for users who are at least 13 years of age. All users who are minors in the jurisdiction in which they reside (generally under the age of 18) must have the permission of, and be directly supervised by, their parent or guardian to use the Services. If you are a minor, you must have your parent or guardian read and agree to these Legal Terms prior to you using the Services.
We recommend that you print a copy of these Legal Terms for your records.
The information provided when using the Services is not intended for distribution to or use by any person or entity in any jurisdiction or country where such distribution or use would be contrary to law or regulation or which would subject us to any registration requirement within such jurisdiction or country. Accordingly, those persons who choose to access the Services from other locations do so on their own initiative and are solely responsible for compliance with local laws, if and to the extent local laws are applicable.
The Services are not tailored to comply with industry-specific regulations (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), etc.), so if your interactions would be subjected to such laws, you may not use the Services. You may not use the Services in a way that would violate the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA).
2. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
Our intellectual property
We are the owner or the licensee of all intellectual property rights in our Services, including all source code, databases, functionality, software, website designs, audio, video, text, photographs, and graphics in the Services (collectively, the "Content"), as well as the trademarks, service marks, and logos contained therein (the "Marks").
Our Content and Marks are protected by copyright and trademark laws (and various other intellectual property rights and unfair competition laws) and treaties in the United States and around the world.
The Content and Marks are provided in or through the Services "AS IS" for your personal, non-commercial use or internal business purpose only.
Your use of our Services
Subject to your compliance with these Legal Terms, including the "PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES" section below, we grant you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to:
access the Services; and
download or print a copy of any portion of the Content to which you have properly gained access,
solely for your personal, non-commercial use or internal business purpose.
Except as set out in this section or elsewhere in our Legal Terms, no part of the Services and no Content or Marks may be copied, reproduced, aggregated, republished, uploaded, posted, publicly displayed, encoded, translated, transmitted, distributed, sold, licensed, or otherwise exploited for any commercial purpose whatsoever, without our express prior written permission.
If you wish to make any use of the Services, Content, or Marks other than as set out in this section or elsewhere in our Legal Terms, please address your request to: admin@theblackpeoplesguide.com. If we ever grant you the permission to post, reproduce, or publicly display any part of our Services or Content, you must identify us as the owners or licensors of the Services, Content, or Marks and ensure that any copyright or proprietary notice appears or is visible on posting, reproducing, or displaying our Content.
We reserve all rights not expressly granted to you in and to the Services, Content, and Marks.
Any breach of these Intellectual Property Rights will constitute a material breach of our Legal Terms and your right to use our Services will terminate immediately.
Your submissions and contributions
Please review this section and the "PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES" section carefully prior to using our Services to understand the (a) rights you give us and (b) obligations you have when you post or upload any content through the Services.
Submissions: By directly sending us any question, comment, suggestion, idea, feedback, or other information about the Services ("Submissions"), you agree to assign to us all intellectual property rights in such Submission. You agree that we shall own this Submission and be entitled to its unrestricted use and dissemination for any lawful purpose, commercial or otherwise, without acknowledgment or compensation to you.
Contributions: The Services may invite you to chat, contribute to, or participate in blogs, message boards, online forums, and other functionality during which you may create, submit, post, display, transmit, publish, distribute, or broadcast content and materials to us or through the Services, including but not limited to text, writings, video, audio, photographs, music, graphics, comments, reviews, rating suggestions, personal information, or other material ("Contributions"). Any Submission that is publicly posted shall also be treated as a Contribution.
You understand that Contributions may be viewable by other users of the Services and possibly through third-party websites.
When you post Contributions, you grant us a license (including use of your name, trademarks, and logos): By posting any Contributions, you grant us an unrestricted, unlimited, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free, fully-paid, worldwide right, and license to: use, copy, reproduce, distribute, sell, resell, publish, broadcast, retitle, store, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part), and exploit your Contributions (including, without limitation, your image, name, and voice) for any purpose, commercial, advertising, or otherwise, to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, your Contributions, and to sublicense the licenses granted in this section. Our use and distribution may occur in any media formats and through any media channels.
This license includes our use of your name, company name, and franchise name, as applicable, and any of the trademarks, service marks, trade names, logos, and personal and commercial images you provide.
You are responsible for what you post or upload: By sending us Submissions and/or posting Contributions through any part of the Services or making Contributions accessible through the Services by linking your account through the Services to any of your social networking accounts, you:
confirm that you have read and agree with our "PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES" and will not post, send, publish, upload, or transmit through the Services any Submission nor post any Contribution that is illegal, harassing, hateful, harmful, defamatory, obscene, bullying, abusive, discriminatory, threatening to any person or group, sexually explicit, false, inaccurate, deceitful, or misleading;
to the extent permissible by applicable law, waive any and all moral rights to any such Submission and/or Contribution;
warrant that any such Submission and/or Contributions are original to you or that you have the necessary rights and licenses to submit such Submissions and/or Contributions and that you have full authority to grant us the above-mentioned rights in relation to your Submissions and/or Contributions; and
warrant and represent that your Submissions and/or Contributions do not constitute confidential information.
You are solely responsible for your Submissions and/or Contributions and you expressly agree to reimburse us for any and all losses that we may suffer because of your breach of (a) this section, (b) any third party’s intellectual property rights, or (c) applicable law.
We may remove or edit your Content: Although we have no obligation to monitor any Contributions, we shall have the right to remove or edit any Contributions at any time without notice if in our reasonable opinion we consider such Contributions harmful or in breach of these Legal Terms. If we remove or edit any such Contributions, we may also suspend or disable your account and report you to the authorities.
Copyright infringement
We respect the intellectual property rights of others. If you believe that any material available on or through the Services infringes upon any copyright you own or control, please immediately refer to the "COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENTS" section below.
3. USER REPRESENTATIONS
By using the Services, you represent and warrant that:(1) all registration information you submit will be true, accurate, current, and complete; (2) you will maintain the accuracy of such information and promptly update such registration information as necessary;(3) you have the legal capacity and you agree to comply with these Legal Terms;(4) you are not under the age of 13;(5) you are not a minor in the jurisdiction in which you reside, or if a minor, you have received parental permission to use the Services; (6) you will not access the Services through automated or non-human means, whether through a bot, script or otherwise; (7) you will not use the Services for any illegal or unauthorized purpose; and (8) your use of the Services will not violate any applicable law or regulation.
If you provide any information that is untrue, inaccurate, not current, or incomplete, we have the right to suspend or terminate your account and refuse any and all current or future use of the Services (or any portion thereof).
4. USER REGISTRATION
You may be required to register to use the Services. You agree to keep your password confidential and will be responsible for all use of your account and password. We reserve the right to remove, reclaim, or change a username you select if we determine, in our sole discretion, that such username is inappropriate, obscene, or otherwise objectionable.
5. PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES
You may not access or use the Services for any purpose other than that for which we make the Services available. The Services may not be used in connection with any commercial endeavors except those that are specifically endorsed or approved by us.
As a user of the Services, you agree not to:
Systematically retrieve data or other content from the Services to create or compile, directly or indirectly, a collection, compilation, database, or directory without written permission from us.
Trick, defraud, or mislead us and other users, especially in any attempt to learn sensitive account information such as user passwords.
Circumvent, disable, or otherwise interfere with security-related features of the Services, including features that prevent or restrict the use or copying of any Content or enforce limitations on the use of the Services and/or the Content contained therein.
Disparage, tarnish, or otherwise harm, in our opinion, us and/or the Services.
Use any information obtained from the Services in order to harass, abuse, or harm another person.
Make improper use of our support services or submit false reports of abuse or misconduct.
Use the Services in a manner inconsistent with any applicable laws or regulations.
Engage in unauthorized framing of or linking to the Services.
Upload or transmit (or attempt to upload or to transmit) viruses, Trojan horses, or other material, including excessive use of capital letters and spamming (continuous posting of repetitive text), that interferes with any party’s uninterrupted use and enjoyment of the Services or modifies, impairs, disrupts, alters, or interferes with the use, features, functions, operation, or maintenance of the Services.
Engage in any automated use of the system, such as using scripts to send comments or messages, or using any data mining, robots, or similar data gathering and extraction tools.
Delete the copyright or other proprietary rights notice from any Content.
Attempt to impersonate another user or person or use the username of another user.
Upload or transmit (or attempt to upload or to transmit) any material that acts as a passive or active information collection or transmission mechanism, including without limitation, clear graphics interchange formats ("gifs"), 1×1 pixels, web bugs, cookies, or other similar devices (sometimes referred to as "spyware" or "passive collection mechanisms" or "pcms").
Interfere with, disrupt, or create an undue burden on the Services or the networks or services connected to the Services.
Harass, annoy, intimidate, or threaten any of our employees or agents engaged in providing any portion of the Services to you.
Attempt to bypass any measures of the Services designed to prevent or restrict access to the Services, or any portion of the Services.
Copy or adapt the Services' software, including but not limited to Flash, PHP, HTML, JavaScript, or other code.
Except as permitted by applicable law, decipher, decompile, disassemble, or reverse engineer any of the software comprising or in any way making up a part of the Services.
Except as may be the result of standard search engine or Internet browser usage, use, launch, develop, or distribute any automated system, including without limitation, any spider, robot, cheat utility, scraper, or offline reader that accesses the Services, or use or launch any unauthorized script or other software.
Use a buying agent or purchasing agent to make purchases on the Services.
Make any unauthorized use of the Services, including collecting usernames and/or email addresses of users by electronic or other means for the purpose of sending unsolicited email, or creating user accounts by automated means or under false pretenses.
Use the Services as part of any effort to compete with us or otherwise use the Services and/or the Content for any revenue-generating endeavor or commercial enterprise.
Sell or otherwise transfer your profile.
Use the Services to advertise or offer to sell goods and services.
6. USER GENERATED CONTRIBUTIONS
The Services may invite you to chat, contribute to, or participate in blogs, message boards, online forums, and other functionality, and may provide you with the opportunity to create, submit, post, display, transmit, perform, publish, distribute, or broadcast content and materials to us or on the Services, including but not limited to text, writings, video, audio, photographs, graphics, comments, suggestions, or personal information or other material (collectively, "Contributions"). Contributions may be viewable by other users of the Services and through third-party websites. As such, any Contributions you transmit may be treated as non-confidential and non-proprietary. When you create or make available any Contributions, you thereby represent and warrant that:
The creation, distribution, transmission, public display, or performance, and the accessing, downloading, or copying of your Contributions do not and will not infringe the proprietary rights, including but not limited to the copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret, or moral rights of any third party.
You are the creator and owner of or have the necessary licenses, rights, consents, releases, and permissions to use and to authorize us, the Services, and other users of the Services to use your Contributions in any manner contemplated by the Services and these Legal Terms.
You have the written consent, release, and/or permission of each and every identifiable individual person in your Contributions to use the name or likeness of each and every such identifiable individual person to enable inclusion and use of your Contributions in any manner contemplated by the Services and these Legal Terms.
Your Contributions are not false, inaccurate, or misleading.
Your Contributions are not unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, pyramid schemes, chain letters, spam, mass mailings, or other forms of solicitation.
Your Contributions are not obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, violent, harassing, libelous, slanderous, or otherwise objectionable (as determined by us).
Your Contributions do not ridicule, mock, disparage, intimidate, or abuse anyone.
Your Contributions are not used to harass or threaten (in the legal sense of those terms) any other person and to promote violence against a specific person or class of people.
Your Contributions do not violate any applicable law, regulation, or rule.
Your Contributions do not violate the privacy or publicity rights of any third party.
Your Contributions do not violate any applicable law concerning child pornography, or otherwise intended to protect the health or well-being of minors.
Your Contributions do not include any offensive comments that are connected to race, national origin, gender, sexual preference, or physical handicap.
Your Contributions do not otherwise violate, or link to material that violates, any provision of these Legal Terms, or any applicable law or regulation.
Any use of the Services in violation of the foregoing violates these Legal Terms and may result in, among other things, termination or suspension of your rights to use the Services.
7. CONTRIBUTION LICENSE
By posting your Contributions to any part of the Services or making Contributions accessible to the Services by linking your account from the Services to any of your social networking accounts, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to us an unrestricted, unlimited, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free, fully-paid, worldwide right, and license to host, use, copy, reproduce, disclose, sell, resell, publish, broadcast, retitle, archive, store, cache, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, transmit, excerpt (in whole or in part), and distribute such Contributions (including, without limitation, your image and voice) for any purpose, commercial, advertising, or otherwise, and to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such Contributions, and grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing. The use and distribution may occur in any media formats and through any media channels.
This license will apply to any form, media, or technology now known or hereafter developed, and includes our use of your name, company name, and franchise name, as applicable, and any of the trademarks, service marks, trade names, logos, and personal and commercial images you provide. You waive all moral rights in your Contributions, and you warrant that moral rights have not otherwise been asserted in your Contributions.
We do not assert any ownership over your Contributions. You retain full ownership of all of your Contributions and any intellectual property rights or other proprietary rights associated with your Contributions. We are not liable for any statements or representations in your Contributions provided by you in any area on the Services. You are solely responsible for your Contributions to the Services and you expressly agree to exonerate us from any and all responsibility and to refrain from any legal action against us regarding your Contributions.
We have the right, in our sole and absolute discretion, (1) to edit, redact, or otherwise change any Contributions; (2) to re-categorize any Contributions to place them in more appropriate locations on the Services; and (3) to pre-screen or delete any Contributions at any time and for any reason, without notice. We have no obligation to monitor your Contributions.
8. GUIDELINES FOR REVIEWS
We may provide you areas on the Services to leave reviews or ratings. When posting a review, you must comply with the following criteria: (1) you should have firsthand experience with the person/entity being reviewed; (2) your reviews should not contain offensive profanity, or abusive, racist, offensive, or hateful language; (3) your reviews should not contain discriminatory references based on religion, race, gender, national origin, age, marital status, sexual orientation, or disability; (4) your reviews should not contain references to illegal activity; (5) you should not be affiliated with competitors if posting negative reviews; (6) you should not make any conclusions as to the legality of conduct; (7) you may not post any false or misleading statements; and (8) you may not organize a campaign encouraging others to post reviews, whether positive or negative.
We may accept, reject, or remove reviews in our sole discretion. We have absolutely no obligation to screen reviews or to delete reviews, even if anyone considers reviews objectionable or inaccurate. Reviews are not endorsed by us, and do not necessarily represent our opinions or the views of any of our affiliates or partners. We do not assume liability for any review or for any claims, liabilities, or losses resulting from any review. By posting a review, you hereby grant to us a perpetual, non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, fully paid, assignable, and sublicensable right and license to reproduce, modify, translate, transmit by any means, display, perform, and/or distribute all content relating to review.
9. MOBILE APPLICATION LICENSE
Use License
If you access the Services via the App, then we grant you a revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable, limited right to install and use the App on wireless electronic devices owned or controlled by you, and to access and use the App on such devices strictly in accordance with the terms and conditions of this mobile application license contained in these Legal Terms. You shall not: (1) except as permitted by applicable law, decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble, attempt to derive the source code of, or decrypt the App; (2) make any modification, adaptation, improvement, enhancement, translation, or derivative work from the App; (3) violate any applicable laws, rules, or regulations in connection with your access or use of the App; (4) remove, alter, or obscure any proprietary notice (including any notice of copyright or trademark) posted by us or the licensors of the App; (5) use the App for any revenue-generating endeavor, commercial enterprise, or other purpose for which it is not designed or intended; (6) make the App available over a network or other environment permitting access or use by multiple devices or users at the same time; (7) use the App for creating a product, service, or software that is, directly or indirectly, competitive with or in any way a substitute for the App; (8) use the App to send automated queries to any website or to send any unsolicited commercial email; or (9) use any proprietary information or any of our interfaces or our other intellectual property in the design, development, manufacture, licensing, or distribution of any applications, accessories, or devices for use with the App.
Apple and Android Devices
The following terms apply when you use the App obtained from either the Apple Store or Google Play (each an "App Distributor") to access the Services: (1) the license granted to you for our App is limited to a non-transferable license to use the application on a device that utilizes the Apple iOS or Android operating systems, as applicable, and in accordance with the usage rules set forth in the applicable App Distributor’s terms of service; (2) we are responsible for providing any maintenance and support services with respect to the App as specified in the terms and conditions of this mobile application license contained in these Legal Terms or as otherwise required under applicable law, and you acknowledge that each App Distributor has no obligation whatsoever to furnish any maintenance and support services with respect to the App; (3) in the event of any failure of the App to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify the applicable App Distributor, and the App Distributor, in accordance with its terms and policies, may refund the purchase price, if any, paid for the App, and to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the App Distributor will have no other warranty obligation whatsoever with respect to the App; (4) you represent and warrant that (i) you are not located in a country that is subject to a US government embargo, or that has been designated by the US government as a "terrorist supporting" country and (ii) you are not listed on any US government list of prohibited or restricted parties; (5) you must comply with applicable third-party terms of agreement when using the App, e.g., if you have a VoIP application, then you must not be in violation of their wireless data service agreement when using the App; and (6) you acknowledge and agree that the App Distributors are third-party beneficiaries of the terms and conditions in this mobile application license contained in these Legal Terms, and that each App Distributor will have the right (and will be deemed to have accepted the right) to enforce the terms and conditions in this mobile application license contained in these Legal Terms against you as a third-party beneficiary thereof.
10. SOCIAL MEDIA
As part of the functionality of the Services, you may link your account with online accounts you have with third-party service providers (each such account, a "Third-Party Account") by either: (1) providing your Third-Party Account login information through the Services; or (2) allowing us to access your Third-Party Account, as is permitted under the applicable terms and conditions that govern your use of each Third-Party Account. You represent and warrant that you are entitled to disclose your Third-Party Account login information to us and/or grant us access to your Third-Party Account, without breach by you of any of the terms and conditions that govern your use of the applicable Third-Party Account, and without obligating us to pay any fees or making us subject to any usage limitations imposed by the third-party service provider of the Third-Party Account. By granting us access to any Third-Party Accounts, you understand that (1) we may access, make available, and store (if applicable) any content that you have provided to and stored in your Third-Party Account (the "Social Network Content") so that it is available on and through the Services via your account, including without limitation any friend lists and (2) we may submit to and receive from your Third-Party Account additional information to the extent you are notified when you link your account with the Third-Party Account. Depending on the Third-Party Accounts you choose and subject to the privacy settings that you have set in such Third-Party Accounts, personally identifiable information that you post to your Third-Party Accounts may be available on and through your account on the Services. Please note that if a Third-Party Account or associated service becomes unavailable or our access to such Third-Party Account is terminated by the third-party service provider, then Social Network Content may no longer be available on and through the Services. You will have the ability to disable the connection between your account on the Services and your Third-Party Accounts at any time. PLEASE NOTE THAT YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE THIRD-PARTY SERVICE PROVIDERS ASSOCIATED WITH YOUR THIRD-PARTY ACCOUNTS IS GOVERNED SOLELY BY YOUR AGREEMENT(S) WITH SUCH THIRD-PARTY SERVICE PROVIDERS. We make no effort to review any Social Network Content for any purpose, including but not limited to, for accuracy, legality, or non-infringement, and we are not responsible for any Social Network Content. You acknowledge and agree that we may access your email address book associated with a Third-Party Account and your contacts list stored on your mobile device or tablet computer solely for purposes of identifying and informing you of those contacts who have also registered to use the Services. You can deactivate the connection between the Services and your Third-Party Account by contacting us using the contact information below or through your account settings (if applicable). We will attempt to delete any information stored on our servers that was obtained through such Third-Party Account, except the username and profile picture that become associated with your account.
11. THIRD-PARTY WEBSITES AND CONTENT
The Services may contain (or you may be sent via the Site or App) links to other websites ("Third-Party Websites") as well as articles, photographs, text, graphics, pictures, designs, music, sound, video, information, applications, software, and other content or items belonging to or originating from third parties ("Third-Party Content"). Such Third-Party Websites and Third-Party Content are not investigated, monitored, or checked for accuracy, appropriateness, or completeness by us, and we are not responsible for any Third-Party Websites accessed through the Services or any Third-Party Content posted on, available through, or installed from the Services, including the content, accuracy, offensiveness, opinions, reliability, privacy practices, or other policies of or contained in the Third-Party Websites or the Third-Party Content. Inclusion of, linking to, or permitting the use or installation of any Third-Party Websites or any Third-Party Content does not imply approval or endorsement thereof by us. If you decide to leave the Services and access the Third-Party Websites or to use or install any Third-Party Content, you do so at your own risk, and you should be aware these Legal Terms no longer govern. You should review the applicable terms and policies, including privacy and data gathering practices, of any website to which you navigate from the Services or relating to any applications you use or install from the Services. Any purchases you make through Third-Party Websites will be through other websites and from other companies, and we take no responsibility whatsoever in relation to such purchases which are exclusively between you and the applicable third party. You agree and acknowledge that we do not endorse the products or services offered on Third-Party Websites and you shall hold us blameless from any harm caused by your purchase of such products or services. Additionally, you shall hold us blameless from any losses sustained by you or harm caused to you relating to or resulting in any way from any Third-Party Content or any contact with Third-Party Websites.
12. ADVERTISERS
We allow advertisers to display their advertisements and other information in certain areas of the Services, such as sidebar advertisements or banner advertisements. We simply provide the space to place such advertisements, and we have no other relationship with advertisers.
13. SERVICES MANAGEMENT
We reserve the right, but not the obligation, to: (1) monitor the Services for violations of these Legal Terms; (2) take appropriate legal action against anyone who, in our sole discretion, violates the law or these Legal Terms, including without limitation, reporting such user to law enforcement authorities; (3) in our sole discretion and without limitation, refuse, restrict access to, limit the availability of, or disable (to the extent technologically feasible) any of your Contributions or any portion thereof; (4) in our sole discretion and without limitation, notice, or liability, to remove from the Services or otherwise disable all files and content that are excessive in size or are in any way burdensome to our systems; and (5) otherwise manage the Services in a manner designed to protect our rights and property and to facilitate the proper functioning of the Services.
14. PRIVACY POLICY
We care about data privacy and security. Please review our Privacy Policy:http://theblackpeoplesguide.com/privacy-policies. By using the Services, you agree to be bound by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Legal Terms. Please be advised the Services are hosted in the United States. If you access the Services from any other region of the world with laws or other requirements governing personal data collection, use, or disclosure that differ from applicable laws in the United States, then through your continued use of the Services, you are transferring your data to the United States, and you expressly consent to have your data transferred to and processed in the United States. Further, we do not knowingly accept, request, or solicit information from children or knowingly market to children. Therefore, in accordance with the U.S. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, if we receive actual knowledge that anyone under the age of 13 has provided personal information to us without the requisite and verifiable parental consent, we will delete that information from the Services as quickly as is reasonably practical.
15. COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENTS
We respect the intellectual property rights of others. If you believe that any material available on or through the Services infringes upon any copyright you own or control, please immediately notify us using the contact information provided below (a "Notification"). A copy of your Notification will be sent to the person who posted or stored the material addressed in the Notification. Please be advised that pursuant to applicable law you may be held liable for damages if you make material misrepresentations in a Notification. Thus, if you are not sure that material located on or linked to by the Services infringes your copyright, you should consider first contacting an attorney.
16. TERM AND TERMINATION
These Legal Terms shall remain in full force and effect while you use the Services. WITHOUT LIMITING ANY OTHER PROVISION OF THESE LEGAL TERMS, WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO, IN OUR SOLE DISCRETION AND WITHOUT NOTICE OR LIABILITY, DENY ACCESS TO AND USE OF THE SERVICES (INCLUDING BLOCKING CERTAIN IP ADDRESSES), TO ANY PERSON FOR ANY REASON OR FOR NO REASON, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION FOR BREACH OF ANY REPRESENTATION, WARRANTY, OR COVENANT CONTAINED IN THESE LEGAL TERMS OR OF ANY APPLICABLE LAW OR REGULATION. WE MAY TERMINATE YOUR USE OR PARTICIPATION IN THE SERVICES OR DELETE YOUR ACCOUNT AND ANY CONTENT OR INFORMATION THAT YOU POSTED AT ANY TIME, WITHOUT WARNING, IN OUR SOLE DISCRETION.
If we terminate or suspend your account for any reason, you are prohibited from registering and creating a new account under your name, a fake or borrowed name, or the name of any third party, even if you may be acting on behalf of the third party. In addition to terminating or suspending your account, we reserve the right to take appropriate legal action, including without limitation pursuing civil, criminal, and injunctive redress.
17. MODIFICATIONS AND INTERRUPTIONS
We reserve the right to change, modify, or remove the contents of the Services at any time or for any reason at our sole discretion without notice. However, we have no obligation to update any information on our Services. We will not be liable to you or any third party for any modification, price change, suspension, or discontinuance of the Services.
We cannot guarantee the Services will be available at all times. We may experience hardware, software, or other problems or need to perform maintenance related to the Services, resulting in interruptions, delays, or errors. We reserve the right to change, revise, update, suspend, discontinue, or otherwise modify the Services at any time or for any reason without notice to you. You agree that we have no liability whatsoever for any loss, damage, or inconvenience caused by your inability to access or use the Services during any downtime or discontinuance of the Services. Nothing in these Legal Terms will be construed to obligate us to maintain and support the Services or to supply any corrections, updates, or releases in connection therewith.
18. GOVERNING LAW
These Legal Terms and your use of the Services are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania applicable to agreements made and to be entirely performed within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, without regard to its conflict of law principles.
19. DISPUTE RESOLUTION
Informal Negotiations
To expedite resolution and control the cost of any dispute, controversy, or claim related to these Legal Terms (each a "Dispute" and collectively, the "Disputes") brought by either you or us (individually, a "Party" and collectively, the "Parties"), the Parties agree to first attempt to negotiate any Dispute (except those Disputes expressly provided below) informally for at least thirty (30) days before initiating arbitration. Such informal negotiations commence upon written notice from one Party to the other Party.
Binding Arbitration
If the Parties are unable to resolve a Dispute through informal negotiations, the Dispute (except those Disputes expressly excluded below) will be finally and exclusively resolved by binding arbitration. YOU UNDERSTAND THAT WITHOUT THIS PROVISION, YOU WOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO SUE IN COURT AND HAVE A JURY TRIAL. The arbitration shall be commenced and conducted under the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association ("AAA") and, where appropriate, the AAA’s Supplementary Procedures for Consumer Related Disputes ("AAA Consumer Rules"), both of which are available at the American Arbitration Association (AAA) website. Your arbitration fees and your share of arbitrator compensation shall be governed by the AAA Consumer Rules and, where appropriate, limited by the AAA Consumer Rules. The arbitration may be conducted in person, through the submission of documents, by phone, or online. The arbitrator will make a decision in writing, but need not provide a statement of reasons unless requested by either Party. The arbitrator must follow applicable law, and any award may be challenged if the arbitrator fails to do so. Except where otherwise required by the applicable AAA rules or applicable law, the arbitration will take place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Except as otherwise provided herein, the Parties may litigate in court to compel arbitration, stay proceedings pending arbitration, or to confirm, modify, vacate, or enter judgment on the award entered by the arbitrator.
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The festival kicks off on May 1 at 6:30pm at the Africa Center with a Town Hall forum featuring multidisciplinary artists and storytellers who will be exploring and expanding on the festival’s theme. It continues at Maysles Documentary Center in Harlem from May 15 to 17 and at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) under the name FilmAfrica from May 22 to May 28 during DanceAfrica, and culminates with an outdoor screening at St. Nicholas Park on May 30.
The programs of AFF are made possible by the generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Bradley Family Foundation, Color Congress, NYC & Company, The New York Community Trust, French Cultural Services, Manhattan Portage, Organization de la Francophonie, Essentia Water, Ministre du Tourisme République démocratique du Congo, ZOPMEDIA, South African Consulate General, National Film and Video Foundation, and Motion Picture Enterprises.
FILMS & DESCRIPTIONS The Opening Night premiere of Promised Sky on May 6 will take place at
All other films will screen at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center (144 W. 65th Street).
Opening Night
Promised Sky
Erige Sehiri, 2025, France/Tunisia/Qatar, 95m
French and Arabic with English subtitles
New York Premiere
Marie, an Ivorian pastor and former journalist, has lived in Tunisia for 10 years. Her home becomes a refuge for Naney, a young mother seeking a better future, and Jolie, a student carrying her family’s expectations. With the arrival of Kenza, a little orphan girl and shipwreck survivor, Marie takes on the role of caregiver. As the four women grow closer, they navigate poverty, displacement, and the fragile bonds of a makeshift family in a tense social climate. Selected as the opening film in the 2025 Cannes Un Certain Regard program, the latest drama from director Erige Sehiri (Under the Fig Trees) features a stellar cast including César Award-nominated Aïssa Maïga (Bamako, Above Water, Toussaint Louverture) and Laetitia Ky.
Wednesday, May 6 at 6:30pm – Q&A with Aïssa Maïga and Laetitia Ky
Thursday, May 7 at 2:00pm
Centerpiece
The Eyes of Ghana
Ben Proudfoot, U.S./Ghana/U.K., 2025, 90m
English, Twi, and Ga with English subtitles
Documentarian Chris Hesse captured the birth of African independence in the 1950s and ’60s on film as personal cinematographer to Kwame Nkrumah, the iconic African leader who helped lead Ghana to independence and served as its first president. Now 93 years old and facing impending blindness, Hesse and passionate young Ghanaian filmmaker Anita Afonu race against time to rescue and repatriate a secret trove of more than 1,000 films that were long thought to be destroyed by Nkrumah. Never seen by the public, these films may not only rewrite Ghanaian and African history, but world history itself. Ben Proudfoot, a two-time Academy Award winner for Best Documentary Short Film, crafts their inspirational journey into a stunning feature documentary. The Eyes of Ghana was executive produced by Barack and Michelle Obama and won the Audience Award at the Hamptons International Film Festival.
Friday, May 8 at 5:45pm – Q&A with Ben Proudfoot
Closing Night
Shorts Program 3: The Art of Protection
109m
This program includes Shiloh Tumo Washington’s Bailey’s Blues; Justice Rutikara’s Ibuka, Justice; Catherine E. McKinley, Mamadou Tapily, and Marc Lesser’s Keïta La; Aminata Drynie Bockarie’s Where the Water Meets Us; Nimco Sheikhaden’s Exodus; Klein Ongaki’s The Land Smiles Back; Abdelkrim Boughoud’s Eauquation – Water Distribution at Douiret-Sbâa; and Marwa Eltahir’s 99 Names: My Liberation Is Tied to Yours.
Tuesday, May 12 at 8:00pm
Bailey’s Blues
Shiloh Tumo Washington, 2025, U.S., 11m
English and French with English subtitles
New York Premiere
In 1960s France, a Chicago-born jazz bassist is pulled into an impromptu filmed interview during a festival. What begins as a routine exchange quickly shifts into a tense confrontation between subject and camera. Bailey’s Blues unfolds as an unfinished document, where jazz becomes a conduit for deeper truths about resistance and identity.
Ibuka, Justice
Justice Rutikara, 2024, Canada, 23m
French and Kinyarwanda with English subtitles
New York Premiere
During the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Valentine and Jean-Claude risk everything to flee with their newborn, a journey captured in this poetic animated odyssey.
Keïta La
Catherine McKinley, Mamadou Tapily, Marc Lesser, 2025, U.S./Mali, 10m
English, French, and Bambara with English subtitles
Named after photographer Seydou Keïta’s family compound established in Bamako-Coura, Mali, in the early 1900s, on the edge of which stood his famous studio, Keïta La offers a glimpse into the world of Keïta’s artistry and his family’s efforts to steward and preserve his legacy.
Where the Water Meets Us
Aminata Drynie Bockarie, 2026, Sierra Leone, 10m
English, Mende, Krio, and Shebro with English subtitles
World Premiere
The film shines a light on the long and rich history of Bonthe, a town on Sherbro Island, and the island’s immense contribution to the formation of Sierra Leone. Beyond celebrating its heritage, the film addresses the ongoing challenges threatening the island’s survival—climate change, mangrove loss, and rising sea levels—while highlighting a new generation rising to find solutions and safeguard its future.
Exodus
Nimco Sheikhaden, 2025, U.S., 35m
English and Spanish with English subtitles
Exodus is a portrait of two women granted release after decades of incarceration, navigating the uncharted terrain of freedom and facing both its promise and its barriers in their efforts to build a dignified life.
The Land Smiles Back
Klein Ongaki, 2025, Kenya, 4m
Samburu with English subtitles
North American Premiere
For generations, the Samburu people and their livestock have had a deep connection with water, depending on the rains for their survival. The Land Smiles Back is the story of the Samburu community in Westgate Conservancy, who made the land “smile” again by returning to ancient hydrotechnology.
Eauquation – Water Distribution at Douiret-Sbâa
Abdelkrim Boughoud, 2023, Morocco, 5m
Darija and Amazigh with English subtitles
This documentary explores the ancient water system of Douiret-Sbâa, Morocco, a remarkable network fed by a local spring that has sustained the community for centuries. Highlighting the ingenuity of traditional hydro-technologies, the film examines how these systems continue to shape life in arid lands today.
99 Names: My Liberation Is Tied to Yours
Marwa Eltahir, 2025, Sudan/U.S., 11m
English and Arabic with English subtitles
New York Premiere
99 Names is an immersive, audio-visual story that combines sonic rituals of oral storytelling, recitation of the Quran, and calling on the 99 names of Allah to venerate the Divine. The film asks audiences to sit with the grief of colonization within the Afro-Arab diaspora and invites them to imagine how we can collectively hold, transmute and release this weight
Afrotōpia
David Mboussou, 2025, Gabon, 128m
French with English subtitles
New York Premiere
Ezekiel, a 25-year-old aspiring filmmaker, lives in the heart of the Congo Basin under the authority of his father, Maurice, a powerful businessman who opposes his artistic ambitions. When Ezekiel is forced to join the family logging business, he discovers that Maurice plans to exploit a sacred forest, the last refuge of an indigenous community. As he uncovers a buried colonial-era family secret, Ezekiel must choose between loyalty, personal freedom, and the fate of his people. Blending tradition and modernity to portray contemporary, cross-cultural Africa, Franco-Gabonese filmmaker David Mboussou’s “ecological manifesto” embraces the healing of historical wounds and explores the stigmatization of African cultures, the sacred link between people, nature, and spirit, and the resilience that shapes our future.
Saturday, May 9 at 2:45pm – Q&A with David Mboussou
Barni
Mohammed Sheikh, 2024, Somalia/Djibouti/U.S., 90m
Somali with English subtitles
New York Premiere
In a quaint Somali village where herding families coexist, an event disrupts the peace and 9-year-old Barni gets lost after a celebratory wedding, leaving the community in distress. Despite the exhaustive efforts of the village, Barni can’t be found, leaving her older sister Amina and her friends Hirsi and Geedi to set out on a journey to the city to locate her. Mohammed Sheikh’s directorial debut feature looks at the daily life and struggles faced by Somali communities, and its power lies in transforming a tragic disappearance into a celebration of courage, loyalty, and humanity.
Saturday, May 9 at 6:00pm – Q&A with Mohammed Sheikh
4K Restoration
Cméra arabe
Férid Boughedir, 1987, Tunisia/France, 65m
Arabic and French with English subtitles
U.S. Premiere of Restoration
Férid Boughedir’s Caméra arabe is a fast-paced documentary exploring the rise of politically engaged cinema in North Africa and the Middle East from the 1960s onward. Through film clips and filmmaker testimonies, it links this cinematic movement to major historical events like the Six-Day War and the Lebanon War, highlighting how directors grappled with questions of identity and expression. Featuring key voices such as Mohamed Lakhdar-Hamina and Youssef Chahine, the film stands as a passionate tribute to a bold, independent wave of Arab cinema. Writing in Variety upon its 1987 release, Anthony Yung says “Chahine’s intelligent, anguished battle to describe Arabs’ shaken sense of their own identity in a world rocked by dramatic political events rather sums up the film.”
Tuesday, May 12 at 5:45pm – Q&A with Férid Boughedir
2K Restoration
Caméra d’Afrique
Férid Boughedir, 1983, Tunisia/France, 95m
English and French with English subtitles
Seventy years after the invention of cinema—and after several decades of colonial cinema using Africa as an exotic setting, often denying humanity and dignity to its people—newly independent Africans finally took hold of the movie camera. Undeterred by the lack of means and infrastructure, they showed African reality in its variegated forms, seen at last through African eyes. Using extracts from significant films, interviews with filmmakers, and rare vintage footage, Caméra d’Afrique recalls the first 20 years of the new auteur cinema of sub-Saharan Africa, which bears witness to an indefatigable—and still-enduring—drive for self-expression. As a critic, historian, and filmmaker, director Férid Boughedir has played a central role in championing early African cinema, shaping how it has been preserved, studied, and understood across generations. 2K restoration from the original 16mm print done by the Laboratory of the CNC with the support of L’Institut français.
Followed by an extended conversation with Férid Boughedir and an audience-led Q&A, offering a rare opportunity to engage more deeply with Boughedir’s practice and legacy. As a key figure in this year’s festival, and as NYAFF’s honored pioneer, the expanded format creates space for reflection across his body of work. It highlights the enduring connections between sub-Saharan and North African cinemas, and revisits ongoing questions of authorship, memory, and self-representation that continue to resonate today. The conversation invites audiences into a thoughtful and sustained dialogue with one of the defining voices in the history of African cinema.
Saturday, May 9 at 12:00pm – Extended conversation with Férid Boughedir
4K Restoration
En résidence surveillée
Paulin Soumanou Vieyra, 1981, Senegal, 102m
French and Wolof with English subtitles
U.S. Premiere of Restoration
The only feature-length fiction film by pioneering Senegalese filmmaker Paulin Soumanou Vieyra, whose seminal work Afrique sur Seine (1955) was the first film made entirely by Africans, En résidence surveillée unfolds in a fictional African state caught in the grip of political and economic turmoil. Through satire and keen observation, the film follows a society grappling with corrupt leadership, media controlled by the authorities, and the forced exile of political figures. A visionary filmmaker and incisive analyst of post-independence Africa, Vieyra captures the complexities and contradictions of governance and public life with striking clarity. Decades after its release, his children championed the restoration of this extraordinary political satire, bringing renewed attention to both the film and their father’s enduring legacy.
Preceded by:
N’Dobine
Ahmad Cissé, 2026, U.S., 6m
World Premiere
N’Dobine follows a traveler navigating his heart and past, guided by ritual and spirituality, as an unforeseen obstacle tests his journey of offering.
and
Vieyra, The Innovative Pioneer
Stéphane Soumanou Vieyra, 2025, France, 9m
French with English subtitles
U.S. Premiere
Vieyra, The Innovative Pioneer imagines a virtual encounter between pioneering Senegalese filmmaker Paulin Soumanou Vieyra and his grandsons during a visit to a museum retracing his life, highlighting his childhood, his encounters, his studies, and his work.
Monday, May 11 at 8:15pm – Q&A with Ahmad Cissé and Stéphane Soumanou Vieyra
The Heart Is a Muscle
Imran Hamdulay, 2025, South Africa/Saudi Arabia, 86m
English and Afrikaans with English subtitles
New York Premiere
At his son’s fifth birthday barbecue, Ryan panics when the boy suddenly goes missing. His violent reaction to the scare sets off a chain of events that exposes long-buried secrets from his past. As tensions rise among friends and old wounds resurface, Ryan is forced to confront who he has been and who he wants to become. A redemption story deeply infused with hip-hop culture, Imran Hamdulay’s debut feature won the Ecumenical Jury Prize at 2025 Berlinale Panorama and was South Africa’s official entry for Best International Feature at the 2026 Academy Awards. Hamdulay has been featured on CNN’s Inside Africa as one of “Africa’s directors to watch.”
Monday, May 11 at 5:45pm – Q&A with Imran Hamdulay
German, English, and Yoruba with English subtitles
U.S. Premiere
Lace Relations uncovers the hidden histories of a global trade that connected Vorarlberg, Austria, to the bustling markets of Lagos, Nigeria. Through the intertwined lives of an Austrian lace exporter and a Nigerian market queen, this colorful, expansive documentary reveals how colonial legacies shaped a multimillion-dollar industry—enriching Europe while contributing to the collapse of West Africa’s indigenous textile economy. Combining on-location encounters and a powerful sociodramatic method, the film shifts the lens: Who tells the story? Who profits? Who remembers? Directed collectively by filmmakers from Austria and Nigeria, Lace Relations is not simply about textiles. It is about colonialism, memory, gendered resistance—and the patterns of power that continue to shape our world.
Sunday, May 10 at 3:30pm – Q&A with Katharina Weingartner and film subject Ireti Bakare-Yusuf
My Father and Qaddafi
Jihan, 2025, U.S./Libya, 88m
Arabic, English, and French with English subtitles
New York Premiere
When director Jihan was 6, her father, the Libyan opposition leader Mansur Rashid Kikhia, disappeared. Her first documentary, My Father and Qaddafi—which premiered at the Venice Film Festival and won the Jury Prize at the Marrakech International Film Festival—takes us on a raw and reflective journey as she sets out to piece together the life of a father she barely remembers. She retraces the 19-year journey of her mother, a strong-willed Syrian-American artist, encounters family members and her father’s peers, and revisits historical archive footage, along the way discovering the troubled history and politics of Libya. What begins as a mystery brings her closer to her father and her Libyan identity. “Making this documentary helps me understand the importance of a father figure and the impact of losing a father on a family, a community, and even a country,” Jihan has said.
Thursday, May 7 at 5:30pm – Q&A with Jihan
Rumba Royale
Hamed Mobasser, Yohane Dean Lengol, 2025, Democratic Republic of the Congo/Belgium/France/U.S., 97m
French with English subtitles
North American Premiere
In 1959 Léopoldville, the legendary Rumba Royale nightclub pulses with the rhythms of Congolese rumba in the final days of Belgian colonial rule. Daniel, a young photographer, captures the life of the club through his lens and grows close to Olive, an ambitious waitress with dreams beyond the dance floor. As personal ambitions, colonial hierarchies, and the city’s shifting political climate collide, the fragile world surrounding the nightclub begins to unravel. Congolese star Fally Ipupa, known as the “Prince of Rumba,” makes his big-screen debut in Hamed Mobasser and Yohane Dean Lengol’s captivating historical thriller.
Sunday, May 10 at 6:00pm – Q&A with Hamed Mobasser and Yohane Dean Lengol
So Long a Letter
Angèle Diabang, 2025, Senegal, 105m
French and Wolof with English subtitles
Ramatoulaye,a 50-year-old mother of seven children and headmistress of a primary school in Dakar, is shocked when her husband of 30 years decides to take a second wife—a 20-year-old. In a quest for freedom that leads to rebellion, she must find a balance between the Western ways she values and the traditions she respects. An adaptation of the seminal 1979 novel by Senegalese writer Mariama Bâ, widely regarded as one of the first feminist literary works of modern Africa, Angèle Diabang’s feature debut illustrates very different views of women’s roles in contemporary African society.
Friday, May 8 at 8:30pm – Q&A with Angèle Diabang
The Soul of Africa
Gabriel Souleyka, 2025, France/U.S./Togo, 67m
English and French with English subtitles
World Premiere
The first feature documentary by author and African historian Gabriel Souleyka delves into the heart of African spirituality, exploring its deep roots and its evolution across centuries, exploring a fundamental question: What were the spiritual beliefs and practices of African peoples before the arrival of Christianity and Islam on the Continent? It features captivating images and moving testimonies at the 10th Festival of Black Divinities, held in Togo in 2025, a cultural and spiritual event that celebrates ancestral traditions and African deities—its rituals, dances, songs, and ceremonies serve as a thread to explore the wealth of pre-colonial African spiritualities. Through expert interviews, immersive festival sequences, and philosophical reflections, The Soul of Africa highlights the resilience of spiritual tradition despite outside influences and examines its place in contemporary Africa, offering a vibrant journey into the heart of a continent where the sacred and the profane blend harmoniously. It is both a tribute to ancestral spiritualities and an invitation to discover Africa’s cultural foundations while questioning their future in a rapidly changing world.
Sunday, May 10 at 12:45pm
When Nigeria Happens
Ema Edosio Deelen, 2025, Belgium/Nigeria, 119m
English and Pidgin with English subtitles
New York Premiere
A bold, visually striking contemporary dance drama that had its world premiere at the 2025 Locarno Film Festival, When Nigeria Happens is a gripping story that follows a group of misfit dancers—Fagbo, Pokko, Lighter, Movement, Colos, and Poppy—who live for their art while defying societal expectations. Their tight-knit world is upended when Fagbo’s mother falls critically ill, leaving him in a desperate search for funds. As pressures mount, their bond and dreams are tested like never before. Amid increasing sacrifices, they must confront what it truly means to fight for love, identity, and a future in Nigeria.
Preceded by:
Akosua
Christian Saint, Mélissa Rouillé, 2023, Ghana, 7m
Twi with English subtitles
North American Premiere
In Kumasi, five lifelong friends known as “the Aunties” gather for a day of shared rituals shaped by decades of sisterhood. Through moments of dance, laughter, and prayer, their individual stories come together as one. Akosua is an intimate portrait of friendship, tradition, and the strength found in community.
Saturday, May 9 at 8:30pm – Q&A with Ema Edosio Deelen
New York African Film Festival Shorts Programs
Shorts Program 1: Crossings
90m
The program includes Tomisin Sarumi’s Departing, Johanna Makabi’s Happy Meal,Herrana Addisu’s The River, Eseoghene Obrimah’s Heartbreaks and Ocean Waves, Agathe Moubembé’s Faux Lion, Stephanie Adusei-Boateng’s Knotless, Rashida Seriki’s Leaving Ikorodu in 1999, and Chiemeka Offor’s Nwanne M Nwaanyi.
Thursday, May 7 at 8:30pm
Friday, May 8 at 3:00pm
Departing
Tomisin Sarumi, 2025, U.S., 2m
Three individuals enter a temple to summon the Yoruba Orishas through ritual, music, and dance. As colonial influence reshapes spiritual practice, these traditions begin to shift. Over time, the rituals are altered and Westernized, losing their original form. What once connected them to the divine begins to fade.
Happy Meal
Johanna Makabi, 2025, France, 18m
French with English subtitles
U.S. Premiere
Thirtysomething Dom is undergoing therapy. As the Christmas holidays come to an end, he is granted, for the first time in years, the right to spend a day alone with his daughters. A precious day… that he dreads seeing come to an end.
The River
Herrana Addisu, 2024, Ethiopia/U.S., 18m
Amharic with English subtitles
The River is a film honoring Ethiopian culture and women’s experiences, inspired by the director’s childhood home in Kebena. Through the story of the Kebena River, it explores systemic barriers women face around forced marriage, education, and water access, highlighting the vital role of water in daily life.
Heartbreaks & Ocean Waves
Eseoghene Obrimah, 2025, Nigeria, 4m
New York Premiere
Heartbreaks & Ocean Waves is an experimental short film that follows a young woman in the aftermath of emotional loss as she journeys toward rediscovery. Through the symbolic interplay of hair plaiting, dance, and spiritual reflection, the film explores the tension and harmony between the head, heart, and spirit. With a distinctive three-frame visual style and sound design inspired by ocean tides, the film invites viewers into an intimate, sensory meditation on healing, womanhood, and becoming.
Faux Lion
Agathe Moubembé, 2025, France/Senegal, 9m
Wolof with English subtitles
When he sneaks into a Simb—a festival where men dressed as lions dance to the rhythm of the sabars—Assane, a quiet young boy, sets in motion more than a simple punishment. What he experiences sends him on an initiatory journey through fear, myth, and ancestral transmission.
When a Ghanaian-American woman relocates to Ghana in search of community and belonging, a friend’s wedding seems like the perfect opportunity to build connection, until a series of unsettling encounters forces her to confront the country’s unspoken beliefs and practices.
Leaving Ikorodu in 1999
Rashida Seriki, 2024, U.K./Nigeria, 18m
English and Yoruba with English subtitles
New York Premiere
In Ikorodu, young Momo spends her final day at home, playing football and savoring familiar streets with her aunty Fade and Fade’s fiancé, Mahmoud. During the road trip to the airport, Fade questions whether her niece’s departure from Nigeria is truly for the best. Small detours and tender moments reveal the weight of leaving, the pull of home, and the bonds that hold family together.
Nwanne M Nwaanyi
Chiemeka Offor, 2026, Nigeria, 3m
Igbo with English subtitles
U.S. Premiere
Nwanne M Nwaanyi is a visual journey tracing the intangible roots two sisters share, tethered by something far stronger than blood and deeper than soil. They meet again at the first place they ever called home, the womb, to cry out the songs of their mother’s mother, a tune known only to an Igbo woman.
Shorts Program 2: Go Back and Get It
112m
This program includes Femi Bajulaye and Emmanuel Oluwaseyi Bajulaye’s Ekun Omi, Josh Bridge’s Caleb, Judy Kibinge’s Goat, Karanja Ng’endo’s Of Kimani, Cecilia Zoppelletto’s Clichés, andIdris Elba’s Dust to Dreams.
Agboogun confronts sorrow, heartbreak, and existential neurosis, aided by two apparitions, as he and the intertwined lives of Lagbaja and Omotola grapple with migration and the sacrifices that shape identity.
Caleb
Josh Bridge, 2025, U.K., 10m
English and Yoruba with English subtitles
World Premiere
A grandson attempts to connect with his Nigerian grandmother as the woman he once knew quietly begins to fade.
Goat
Judy Kibinge, 2025, Kenya, 29m
English, Swahili, and Kikuyu with English subtitles
New York Premiere
City lovebirds Suki and Benjamin travel to a remote goat farm, only for Suki to realize this isn’t the romantic getaway she imagined. Watched over by a towering Mugumo tree and an unusual cast of farm residents, vegetarian Suki is horrified by the brutal slaughter of a goat, triggering visions of an ancestral debt and a desperate race to escape what her bloodline owes.
Of Kimani
Karanja Ng’endo, 2026, Kenya, 14m
Kikuyu with English subtitles
World Premiere
Now an aging couple, Wanjiru and Kimani navigate the routines of marriage amid Kimani’s early-onset dementia. A wedding outing brings unexpected closeness, reminding them of love, memory, and shared history.
Clichés
Cecilia Zoppelletto, 2025, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 15m
French and Lingala with English subtitles
U.S. Premiere
In a Kinshasa house, a visit unfolds between two couples where everything seems in place, yet something is slightly off. At the center, Pamela navigates the expectations of love and the roles imposed on her. Fragments of a recent event begin to surface, unsettling the present.
Dust to Dreams
Idris Elba, 2025, Nigeria, 20m
New York Premiere
Dust to Dreams marks Idris Elba’s first short film, following his award-winning feature directorial debut Yardie in 2018. K.Kay’s, a Lagos nightclub pulsating with aspiring musicians, masks a family drama. Milli, the tough owner facing a terminal illness, entrusts her legacy—the club—to Bisi, her shy but talented daughter. The unexpected return of a long-lost father stirs old emotions and tensions. Could music become their path to healing? Dust to Dreams explores love, legacy, and ambition, showing how music can unite, heal, and mend even the deepest divides.
Special Programs
36 Years at NYAFF Digital Exhibition When Mahen Bonetti left her corporate career to establish African Film Festival, Inc. (AFF) in 1990, she relied not on formal training but on a deep commitment and instinct for community-building. Soon, a dynamic network of filmmakers, artists, scholars, cultural workers, and industry professionals gathered to breathe life into the first African-centered film festival in the global cultural hub of New York City. Since then, the New York African Film Festival’s (NYAFF) story has been carefully documented and stored. In recent years, AFF has begun cataloguing these materials into an archival collection that includes approximately 3,000 rare film titles from more than 90 countries; an audiovisual archive with 90 magnetic tapes, 51 audiocassettes and microcassettes, and 163 optical media; more than 300 posters and hundreds of photographs; as well as extensive printed materials and festival records.
This digital exhibition presents selected moments from NYAFF’s larger collection, featuring never-before-seen interviews, discussions, and photographs with a host of pioneering figures and friends of the festival such as Ousmane Sembène, Safi Faye, Bill Greaves, Sarah Maldoror, Harry Belafonte, Rita Marley, Danny Glover, Wole Soyinka, Miriam Makeba, and Ossie Davis, amongst others. Presented alongside the exhibition are photographs documenting the communities brought together through NYAFF’s programs, parties, and events over the years. Key Archival Collection Funder: Ford Foundation, JustFilms; Archivist: Kirk Mudle; Exhibition Curator: Taylor Dews. Select Hours on Thursday, May 7–Tuesday, May 12 – Amphitheater at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center
FILM AT LINCOLN CENTER Film at Lincoln Center (FLC) is a nonprofit organization that celebrates cinema as an essential art form and fosters a vibrant home for film culture to thrive. FLC presents premier film festivals, retrospectives, new releases, and restorations year-round in state-of-the-art theaters at New York’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. FLC offers audiences the opportunity to discover works from established and emerging directors from around the world with a passionate community of film lovers at marquee events including the New York Film Festival and New Directors/New Films.
Founded in 1969, FLC is committed to preserving the excitement of the theatrical experience for all audiences, advancing high-quality film journalism through the publication of Film Comment, cultivating the next generation of film industry professionals through our FLC Academies, and enriching the lives of all who engage with our programs.
Rolex is the Official Partner and Exclusive Timepiece of Film at Lincoln Center.
Film at Lincoln Center receives generous, year-round support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. American Airlines is the Official Airline of Film at Lincoln Center. For more information, visit filmlinc.org and follow us here for updates.
AFRICAN FILM FESTIVAL, INC. Since 1990, African Film Festival, Inc. (AFF) has bridged the divide between postcolonial Africa and the American public through the powerful medium of film and video. AFF’s unique place in the international arts community is distinguished not only by leadership in festival management, but also by a comprehensive approach to the advocacy of African film and culture. AFF established the New York African Film Festival (NYAFF) in 1993 with Film at Lincoln Center. The New York African Film Festival is presented annually by the African Film Festival, Inc. and Film at Lincoln Center, in association with Brooklyn Academy of Music and Maysles Cinema. AFF also produces a series of local, national, and international programs throughout the year. More information about AFF can be found on the Web at www.africanfilmny.org. You can follow AFF at @africanfilmfest on X and Instagram.
10. SOCIAL MEDIA