Black Film as Protest Film Series Opens with Dewayne LeBlanc
The Californer/10325626

SAN FRANCISCO - Californer -- Black Film as Protest announces its return with a new season of monthly programming. The series kicks off with filmmaker Dewayne LeBlanc from September 12-14, 2025, beginning with a free community screening at the African American Arts and Culture Center on September 12th at 6 PM.

The series began in 2020 during the pandemic with a focus on films from the Annual Essential Black Films 101 List published by Maria Judice. The update series will include the contemporary global diaspora in the conversation, expanding the discourse of the past, present, and future of the Black canon. Filmmakers include Dewayne LeBlanc, Divad Durant, Lu Stinnette, Donovan J. Gardner, Shantre Pinkney, Mattie Loyce, Aliyah Dunn-Salahudin, Jessica Jones, Ainslee Robson, B. Monét, and Maria Judice.

The BlackMaria Microcinema is a hub for decolonial film practices. The series is anchored at the BlackMaria microcinema, which offers workshops, classes, screenings, and masterclasses using the RDA framework (Rooted in Decolonization & Abstract Thinking).

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These urgent artists are in conversation with one another, expanding the space of narrative, avant-garde garde, and experimental cinema through a Black lens. We are thrilled to relaunch this series with an incredible cohort of artists whose work is essential and urgent," said Maria Judice, founder of BlackMaria Microcinema and curator of Black Film as Protest." As we expand to a new space in the Tenderloin at 570 Larkin, we aim to return a gathering space for storytellers, especially those coming from non-dominant cultures and oppressed backgrounds, centering a space of discourse and radical action in San Francisco."

The series continues monthly on the second Friday of each month at various cinema spaces across San Francisco, including the BlackMaria Microcinema locations at 465 South Van Ness and the new Tenderloin space at 570 Larkin.

About The BlackMaria
Opened in October 2024, the BlackMaria is a 40-seat microcinema dedicated to cinema as study, discourse, and disruption. At its core are RDA (Rooted in Decolonization and Abstract Thinking) classes, which foster a radical framework for film and storytelling. In a reclamation effort to make Edison's spirit restless, the space writes its own legacy and creates cinema discourse rooted in radical self, liberation, and action.

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The BlackMaria is a project of Indigofera—a creative meditation on place, space, and community.

Learn more at instagram.com/indigof3ra

Media Contact:

Reyce Judice
Creative Director
blackmariamicrocinema@gmail.com
Tickets: https://luma.com/home/calendars

Note to Editors: High-resolution images, filmmaker photos, and film stills are available upon request. Interviews with the founder, Maria Judice, and the participating filmmakers can be arranged.