March on Washington Film Festival
Thank you for making our 10th Anniversary festival an event to remember.
Please follow us on social media for updates and news. We look forward to seeing you at MOWFF23 in the fall!
Festival Schedule of Live Events
// Wednesday September 28, 2022
Opening Night Gala
Union Market Dock 5, Washington, D.C. | 6 p.m.
The Festival’s Opening Night event honors visionary leaders in the fight for civil rights. This year we celebrate the achievements of Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Broadway producer Irene Gandy, and director and playwright George C. Wolfe. The evening will be hosted by Jonathan Capehart, Washington Post contributor and host of The Sunday Show on MSNBC. This highly anticipated event welcomes 300 leaders of industry, the media, and multiple members of Congress. Special guests Congressman James E. Clyburn, Jeffrey Wright, and Emilio Sosa will present awards to the honorees.
// Thursday, September 29, 2022
The Mississippi Defenders
Union Market Dock 5, Washington, D.C. | 7 P.M.
SIGNATURE EVENT
They were few in number, with limited resources, and lost more cases than they won during the early years of the Civil Rights Movement. With the country’s conscience pricked by images of violence against marchers in the news, hundreds of lawyers from around the country became inspired to work in Mississippi…and ultimately transformed the state’s legal infrastructure.
The documentary, The Defenders, will be followed by a lively panel discussion with Rashad Robinson, Color of Change; Derrick Johnson, NAACP; Vangela Wade, Mississippi Center for Justice; and Roderick Red, filmmaker.
Moderator: Paul D. Butler, attorney and Albert Brick Professor in Law, Georgetown University Law Center.
With a performance by Rutha Mae Harris, original member of the SNCC Freedom Singers.7:00 p.m. - 7:45 pm The Defenders FILM VIEWING
8:00 p.m. - 9:00 pm PANEL DISCUSSION
// Friday, September 30, 2022
March On the World - Acting While Black
Eaton Workshop, 12th and K STS. NW, Washington, D.C. | 7 P.M.
SIGNATURE EVENT
Racially stereotypical roles, underdeveloped storylines– some say, “French Cinema is a dinosaur refusing to die or change.” But now actors, directors, journalists and activists are speaking out and changing the faces and stories portrayed on screen.
We’ll view Rokhaya Diallo’s acclaimed documentary Acting While Black. Then we’ll hear from a panel of esteemed speakers, with a spotlight on a legendary filmmaker.
Panelists: Rokhaya Diallo, journalist, Washington Post Opinion Writer and filmmaker, Steps Toward Liberty, Not Your Mama’s Movement) Dr. Imani Cheers, Associate Professor, Media and Public Affairs, George Washington University
Moderator: Maboula Soumahoro, author, Afro-feminist, and Associate Professor, English, University of Tours, France.
This ticket includes post discussion dance party, "La Grande Fête.”7:00 p.m. - 7:45 p.m. March on the World - Acting While Black FILM VIEWING
8:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. PANEL DISCUSSION
This event is made possible by the generous support of Unifrance.
The winners of the Student & Emerging Filmmaker Competition will be announced at the start of this event.
// Friday, September 30, 2022
La Grande Fête
Eaton Workshop, 12th & K St. NW, Washington, D.C.
Join us for an AfroBeats dance party with DJ Terry the Hippiie at Eaton Workshop.
9:30 p.m. - 11:30 p.m. DJ Set
Join a day of Films and workshops
// Saturday, October 1, 2022
Student & Emerging Filmmaker
Finalist Film Screenings
Eaton Workshop, 12th and K Sts. NW, Washington, D.C. | 10 A.M.
LIVE EVENT
The Student & Emerging Filmmaker Competitions give filmmakers the opportunity to use cinematic storytelling to answer important themes like “what’s your civil right?” and “speaking truth to power.” The annual short film competitions receive over 150 submissions from across the world. An esteemed jury of industry leaders and established filmmakers select the winners, and the shortlisted films are screened during the Festival. Now in its seventh year, the competitions have continued to attract industry supporters, including a diverse portfolio of funders.
The Student & Emerging Filmmaker Competitions are managed by Opal H. Bennett.
Competition Jurists: Yucong Chen, filmmaker; Yvonne Ashley Kouadjo, Op-Docs; Sheldon Scott, multi-genre artist; Jon Appel, filmmaker; Emily Keating, Kunhardt Film Foundation; Nina Chaudry, PBS Frontline.
10:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. Student Shorts FILM SCREENINGS (112 min.)
12:15 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. Emerging Shorts FILM SCREENING (101 min.)
Who’s Next? Voices Now and Soon
Eaton Workshop, 12th and K Sts. NW, Washington, D.C. | 12 P.M.
LIVE EVENT
An afternoon of contemporary theater featuring past teen winners and participants of the Next Narrative National Monologue Competition, performing monologues from commissioned plays by emerging African American playwrights.
Following performances, Director Nikki Toombs leads a hands-on student workshop on selecting, developing and practicing monologues to achieve next level performance skills in The Next Narrative Monologue Workshop.
Actors include: Jola Olojede, Dallas, TX, LaNiyah S.K. Grovell, Atlanta, GA, Alexandria Woods, Milwaukee, WI, Karamoko Kaba, New York, NY
Directed by Nikki Toombs, Former True Colors Theater Company Director of Education. The Next Narrative Monologue Competition is a production of Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theater, Atlanta, GA. Jamil Jude, Artistic Director
Monologue workshop especialy geared towards high school and early college students. All are welcome.
12:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Monologue performances and workshop
Sell/Buy/Date
Eaton Hotel, 1201 K St. NW | 8 P.M.
LIVE EVENT
Join a screening of Tony Award-winner Sarah Jones' new film, Sell/Buy/Date, takes us a journey with heart, humor and real voices of people in the sex industry, alongside interviews with Bryan Cranston, Ilana Glazer and Rosario Dawson, and the multicultural characters Sarah is know for portraying.
In-Person Only
Free Admission
Event Duration: 1hr 45 mins
Film Duration: 1hr 38 mins
Note: This film does not appear on the Virtual Watch page.
Saturday, October 1, 2022 at 8:00 pm.
VR Equity Lab and Fellowship
Eaton Workshop, 12th and K Sts. NW, Washington, D.C. | 5 P.M.
LIVE EVENT
The Virtual Reality Equity Lab & Fellowship is a landmark partnership between Meta and the March on Washington Film Festival, providing immersive technology tutelage and grant support to storytellers historically underrepresented in cutting-edge technologies.
Fellowship Artists and Projects: Cara Page with The Psalm for the Mismemoried, Bayeté Ross Smith with San Juan Hill: 360, Katja Esson with Liberty City VR
The members of the Virtual Reality Equity Lab are trained in the fundamentals of virtual reality creation centered around themes of social justice and civil rights. Their project ideas will be used to formalize creative partnerships with nonprofits, garner production funding, and enter domestic and international immersive pitch markets on the festival circuit.The Fellows of the VR Equity Lab are creatives who are already working in VR, with projects that are works in progress. The Fellows will pitch their projects before a panel of judges and the general public. Winners will receive funding to help complete their projects. The projects’ lead creators will present their projects to a jury of immersive industry at the Festival, and the jury-selected winner will receive an additional cash prize towards the completion of their project.
Pitch Judges: Alton Glass, GRX Immersive Labs; Theresa Loong, Gensler DXD and AR/VR/MR Creator; Wendy Llinas, PBS.
5:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Fellows Pitch Competition
Virtual Reality Salon
Eaton Workshop DC, 2nd Floor Salon Room A & B
LIVE EVENT
The Virtual Reality Salon will allow festival goers and the D.C. community to immerse themselves in stories of the continued Civil Rights Movement and those it inspired. Through cutting-edge technology at the intersection of art and storytelling; headsets, mixed reality, augmented reality and interactivity provide an embodied point of view to critical and urgent stories. With the addition of the VR Salon, MOWFF continues to showcase pivotal history into the future, following previous Virtual Reality activations including the showing of the Emmy-nominated VR experience, Traveling While Black and the launch of the inaugural VR Equity Lab and Fellowship in 2022.
This year’s Virtual Reality Salon will feature three titles:
News and Doc Emmy Nominated, The Changing Same;
The Choice, which had its North American premiere at SXSW 2022 where it won Audience Choice Award;
GRX Immersive Labs and Oculus VR for Good project, In Protest.
The virtual reality experiences in the Salon touch on topics integral to growing dialogue around racial justice, abortion rights, and the power of protest to confront inequality and injustice.
In-Kind Sponsorship provided by Black Public Media and Meta.
The VR Experiences will be available to view Saturday (12 PM - 9 PM) Projects available to view on a first-come-first-serve basis
This event is free and open to the public.
// Sunday, October 2, 2022
American Prophet Performance
Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St. SW, Washington, D.C. | 3 P.M.
SIGNATURE EVENT
Fresh from its successful run at Arena Stage, and serving as our closing event, we present a live performance of excerpts from this “beguiling” and “exquisitely sung” (The Washington Post) new American musical. American Prophet is powered by the life and words of 19th century writer, orator and racial justice fighter, Frederick Douglass.
Co-written and directed by Charles Randolph-Wright (Motown: The Musical) and Marcus Hummon. Cast: Cornelius Smith, Jr. as Frederick Douglass, Kristolyn Lloyd as Anna Douglass; Musical Director: Paul Byssainthe, Jr.; Narrator: Charles Randolph-Wright.
This ticket includes a discussion on the State of American Theater - The Executives' Roundtable.
3:00 p.m. - 3:50 p.m. Live Performance IN-PERSON ONLY
This event is made possible by the generous support of Tiffeny Sanchez & Reginald Brown.
State of American Theater - The Executives’ Roundtable
Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St. SW, Washington, D.C.| 4 P.M.
The performance of American Prophet will be followed by a stimulating roundtable conversation with the guiding creative and administrative lights of some of America’s most prominent regional theaters.
Panelists: Kamilah Forbes, Executive Producer, Apollo Theater, Harlem, NY, Maria Manuela Goyanes, Artistic Director, Wooly Mammoth Theater, Washington, D.C., Jamil Jude, Artistic Director, Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre, Atlanta, GA, Molly Smith, Artistic Director, Arena Stage, Washington, D.C., Nikkole Salter, Chair, Dept. of Theatre Arts, Howard University,
Moderator: Donna Walker-Kuhne, writer (Invitation to the Party), educator, community engagement strategist, and founder, Walker International Communications Group.
Thank you to our kind sponsors, whose support helps make the March on Washington Film Festival possible.
Are you interested in becoming a 2022 corporate, foundation, or individual supporter of the March on Washington Film Festival?
Please contact Anna Cline at:
