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ABOUT THE FESTIVAL

The Rhode Island Black Film Festival launches in April as we mark the 50th anniversary of the assassination of civil rights leader  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Providence, the creative capital of Rhode Island - the birth of religious freedom and home to some of our nation’s iconic institutions in the arts and the New England slave trade, will serve as venues for the Screenings and Panel Discussions. venues hosting the Films.

The first and only Festival to feature a variety of documentaries and feature films with stories of experiences and culture of people of color. The festival takes place over 3 days, with workshops and film screenings happening at the Rhode Island School of Design, Beneficent Congregational Church and the Cable Car Cinema.

Rhode Island Black Film Festival

Presented by Toby Arch, LLC  in Cooperation with AS220

Purchase Tickets and Locations

Beneficent Congregational Church 300 Weybosset St, Providence, RI

Rhode Island School of Design Museum 20 N Main St, Providence, RI

Cable Car Cinema   204 South Main St., Providence, RI                               

$10 General Admission

$45 Festival Pass (includes T-shirt)  

Tickets and passes may be purchased at AS220 and online beginning March 1, 2018 Online ticketing is available at www.ribbf.org . Please note that a pass does not guarantee admission to the theatre.                Pass holders must obtain tickets at the box office prior to each screening.

Like us on Facebook for trailers, film stills, reviews, and more!

Meet the Team

Ann Clanton

Founder & CEO

Ann-Allison Clanton born and raised in Providence Rhode Island is Marketing and Public Relations with Toby Arch Communications

Brian Scott

Web Design & Marketing

Brian Scott is CEO of Brian Scott Digital. He provides business strategy, web design and digital marketing services to small businesses.

Lorraine Lalli

Film Committee

Assistant Dean Lalli is a magna cum laude graduate of Spelman College, where she majored in Philosophy and earned membership in Phi Beta Kappa. She received her Juris Doctor degree, also magna cum laude, from Roger Williams University School of Law in 2001

Reverend Cleo Graham

Committee Member

The Rev. Cleo Graham serves as the Community Minister at Beneficent Congregational Church, UCC where she also served as Sabbatical Pastor. Prior to joining Beneficent Church, Rev. Graham served as Co-Pastor at Hope Congregational Church, UCC, in East Providence, Rhode Island. Pastor Graham became the first Person of Color ordained in the RI Conference United Church of Christ (2013).

Ernestine Jennings

Committee Member

Ernestine Jennings, PhD is a staff psychologist at The Miriam Hospital and an assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.

Shey Rivera Ríos

Social Media Marketing

Chelsea Opong - Wadeer is a Journalism major with minors in Leadership Studies and Gender and Women's Studies at the University of Rhode Island. I am an aspiring broadcast journalist, and I hope to pursue a career as a multimedia news or entertainment reporter. 
She is a member of the Southern New England Association of Black Journalists and intern at the NBC10 -Rhode Island market.
The youngest member of the Film Festival team, Chelsea is a Jersey girl, hailing from the Garden State of New Jersey.

Okolo Schwinn Clanton

Committee Member

Financial Consultant- Circle Financial Group, Okolo is a native of Washington, D.C. He is an avid skier, who has helped to train African-Americans for the United States Olympic Team. The Father of four girls, he is known as Coach O, as he is active in coaching youth soccer in Northern Massachusetts. Okolo is also a classically trained Suzuki method violinist.

Anna Mangeni

Committee Member

Nissi is a family run start-up, wholy focused on the production of a range of all-natural, handcrafted beauty products using only the purest botanical ingredients nature has to offer

Don Mays

Committee Member

Director, AFRI Productions own/operate a film/video production company that specializes in working with non-profits focusing on youth development and social issues.

ARTIST BEHIND THE ARTWORK

Haitian Artist Nixon Leger is the artists providing the Poster for the Rhode Island Black Film Festival. Nixon's work has appeared in art shows in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New York. Locally, in venues at the AS220 Gallery, Roger Williams University School of Law and the Rhode Island Department of Administration Gallery space. You can check out Nixon's work for February- Black History month, in the “SONGS OF FREEDOM PLAYED ON CANVAS ”,  an Urban Arts Program Exhibit at the University of Rhode Island Feinstein Campus in Providence. Many of the Providence Creative Capital Gems - the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Beneficent Congregational Church, Cable Car Cinema and the Lederer Theater -Trinity Repertory Company are among the host sites of Screenings and Panel Discussions and Film Festival events for  the inaugural Rhode Island Black Film Festival, April 14-16.