19th ANNUAL DAY OF BLACK DOCS May 16, 2026

BLACK ASSOCIATION OF DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKERS WEST19th ANNUAL DAY OF BLACK DOCS

DAY OF BLACK DOCS

May 16 , 2026

American Film Institute (AFI) | 12:00 PM – 6:30 PM PST

Celebrate Black Stories. Support Black Filmmakers. Stand for Black Truth.

A one-day film festival celebrating Black documentary filmmakers, Saturday, May 16th in LA. DAY OF BLACK DOCS, the annual fundraising event for BADWest is back for its 19th year take place on Saturday, May 16th from 12:00 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. at the American Film Institute (AFI), Mark Goodson Theater, 2021 N. Western Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90027. The esteemed journalist and critic Tim Cogshell is the moderator.

BADWest proudly presents the 19th DAY OF BLACK DOCS—a powerful one‑day festival with four screenings split into blocks of two, guests can enjoy a full day of back-to-back Black documentary film screenings, panel discussions and Q&As with filmmakers; including three feature length films and one short film with two compelling L.A. stories that spotlight the city’s own legacy of resilience, creativity, and community.

This year’s festival explores themes of social justice, self-determination, and community, highlighting the revolutionary leaders and movements that can help inform our present moment. At a time when our narratives continue to be challenged or erased, this event stands firm in declaring:

We will not be erased.

We are still here.

We define ourselves.

Join us for an unforgettable day of films, conversations, and community.

This year’s screenings include:

The Eyes of Ghana - Directed by Ben Proudfoot, Executive Produced by Michelle & Barack Obama

A Better Way: James Lawson, Architect of Non‑Violence - Directed by Karen Hayes, Produced by Steve Williams (BADWest members)

Free Joan Little - Directed and Produced by Yoruba Richen

Trespass - Directed by Kim Walton, based on his book and photography

• Early Bird Tickets $25 (Ends March 27, 2026)
• General Admission - All-day tickets $30
• $20 Per Block
• Reserved Seating $50 (all day seating)
• *Special* Join BADWest & General Admission $60

• Due to seating, purchasing tickets in advance is highly recommended.
• Tickets purchased online only. No walk-ins.
• Tickets must be purchased by Saturday, May 16, 2026 @ 11am.
• Purchase 2026 poster to be signed by filmmakers & a commemorative poster
• Pre-Order a delicious BADWest Bag Lunch - Grab & Go!

(Sandwich, Chips & Soda - Steak, Turkey, Ham or Vegan)

• Pre-Order Desserts - MamaAunties Vegan Goodies

F or more information about the event, visit . Day of Black Docs is sponsored by the International Documentary Association (IDA) and California Association of African-American Superintendents and Admininstrators (CAAASA).

SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2026 at AFI

Three incredible feature length documentaries and a powerful short documentary film.

MODERATOR - TIM COGSHELL

DAY OF BLACK DOCS is hosted by award winning writer, director and producer Tim Cogshell. Tim is a veteran film critic and journalist with over 30 years of experience working for national print, broadcast, and internet-based media concerns, including NPR, KNBC, Spectrum News, ABC 7, Box Office Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, and Alt-Film Guide, among others. He's a regular on NPR affiliate KPCC's FilmWeek with Larry Mantle and co-host of the CineGods podcast.

THE FILMS

FREE JOAN LITTLE tells the story of the landmark 1975 M**der trial of the first woman in U.S. history to be acquitted for using deadly force to resist sexual assault. At 20 years old, Joan (pronounced Jo-Ann) Little was incarcerated in North Carolina when she killed a white jailer who she said tried to rape her. Her trial drew international attention, becoming a rallying point for civil rights, women’s rights and Pr*son reform. The case brought together activists including Angela Davis and Rosa Parks, and catalyzed an international conversation about sexual assault and racial justice that has reverberations to this day. Little’s fight for freedom remains a defining moment in American legal and social history.. Directed by Yoruba Richen (Short Documentary/US/36min)

THE EYES OF GHANA From Oscar®-winning director Ben Proudfoot, THE EYES OF GHANA is a stunning feature documentary following 93-year-old documentarian Chris Hesse—personal cinematographer to forgotten African icon Kwame Nkrumah—as he races against blindness and time to rescue and repatriate a secret trove of over 1,000 films that captured the birth of African independence in the fifties and sixties. Yet unseen by the public, these films may not only rewrite Ghanaian and African history—but world history itself. Directed by Ben Proudfoot (Feature Documentary/US/89 min)

A Better Way traces Lawson’s evolution as a minister, teacher, and master strategist of nonviolent resistance, whose guidance helped power pivotal campaigns like the Nashville Sit-ins and the Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike—where his close friend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.

Drawing inspiration from Jesus of Nazareth and Mahatma Gandhi, Lawson developed a rigorous architecture of nonviolence that he passed on to leaders including John Lewis, Diane Nash, and Bernard Lafayette. From the South to Los Angeles, where he trained new generations of activists, Lawson’s lifelong work reveals nonviolence as a disciplined, effective force for social transformation—and a blueprint for movements today. Directed by Karen Hayes (Feature Documentary/US/124 min)

12:00 PM - 6:30PM PST

BADWEST WELCOME - 12:00PM

BLOCK 1

12:06 PM FREE JOAN LITTLE (short)

-Q&A with Director, Yoruba Richen

12:54 PM THE EYES OF GHANA

– Q&A with Director, Ben Proudfoot

BLOCK 2

3:02 PM TRESS PASS

– Q&A Kim Walton

4:22 PM A BETTER WAY: JAMES, ARCHITECH OF NON-VIOLENCE

– Q&A with Director, Karen Hayes

PANELISTS SUBJECT TO CHANGE

For more information about BADWest, please visit . Become a Member. Support Black filmmakers to tell our stories.

The Black Association of Documentary Filmmakers West is a project of Fulcrum Arts' Emerge fiscal sponsorship program.

Moderator, Tim Cogshell

Tim is a veteran film critic and journalist with over 30 years of experience working for national print, broadcast, and internet-based media concerns, including NPR, KNBC, Spectrum News, ABC 7, Box Office Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, and Alt-Film Guide, among others. He's a regular on NPR affiliate KPCC's FilmWeek with Larry Mantle and co-host of the CineGods podcast.

Yoruba Richen, Producer/Director, Free Joan Little

Director and Producer Yoruba Richen is an award-winning documentary filmmaker who won a Trailblazer Award from Black Public Media. Her most recent film, “American Coup: Wilmington 1898,” was nominated for a Peabody Award. Her film “The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks” won a Peabody Award, a Gracie Award, and was honored by the Television Academy. Other recent works include the Emmy-nominated films “American Reckoning” and “How It Feels to Be Free.” Her film “The Killing of Breonna Taylor” won an NAACP Image Award. Yoruba is the founding director of the Documentary program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.

Ben Proudfoot, Producer/Director, The Eyes of Ghana

A two-time Academy Award®-winning documentary director and entrepreneur, Ben Proudfoot is the creative force behind Breakwater Studios. Proudfoot’s films have played at festivals including Tribeca, Sundance and Telluride. A watershed partnership with The New York Times produced some sixteen collaborations with over 10 million views including A Concerto is a Conversation, which was nominated for Best Documentary Short Subject at the 93rd Academy Awards®, and The Queen of Basketball, which won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject at the 94th Academy Awards®. On March 10, 2024, Proudfoot won a second Academy Award®, this time for The Last Repair Shop. Proudfoot views real-world impact as a film’s highest achievement, advocating for The Queen of Basketball’s Lusia Harris’ legacy as a unsung basketball pioneer, and inspiring a $15M capital campaign for the repair facility in The Last Repair Shop. Today, Breakwater Studios has expanded to multiple studio facilities in Los Feliz, where Proudfoot proudly leads twenty-three full-time filmmaking staff producing original documentaries with trusted partners like Google, LinkedIn, UNICEF, L’Oréal Paris, and Charles Schwab. Proudfoot was named one of Forbes "30 Under 30" for his leadership and innovation. He hails from Halifax, Nova Scotia, and is a graduate of the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts. Proudfoot is an accomplished sleight-of-hand magician and has performed at The Magic Castle in Los Angeles.

Karen Hayes, Producer/ Director, A Better Way: James Lawson, Architect of Non-Violence

Producer/Director Karen Hayes holds an M.F.A. in Film and Television Production from UCLA. She was selected for Black Public Media, the Tribeca All Access and American Film Institute’s (AFI) Directing Workshop for Women (DWW) fellowships.
She wrote, produced, and directed the short film An Incident in the Life of a Slave Girl. Based on the autobiography of Harriet Jacobs it is the story of a Black woman forced to choose between freedom of body and spirit. It screened at the Pan-African Film and other festivals nationally.
Hayes' production company, Ubuntu Motion Pictures, is devoted to telling stories that educate, create dialog about, and promote justice and healing. She has produced many documentary shorts for educational and non-profit organizations, including PSAs on HIV/AIDS Education featuring Nobel Peace Laureate Desmond Tutu. Hayes was also granted unique access to follow and film Desmond Tutu internationally over a 15-year period and is completing the resulting documentary feature, The Foolishness of God: A Forgiveness Journey with Desmond Tutu.

Kim Watson, Director, Trespass

Kim Watson is an award-winning author, filmmaker, composer, and visual artist whose work explores social justice, identity, and the untold stories found in American cities. He has written for major studios, directed over 30 music videos for Grammy-winning artists, and presented his work at institutions including the University of Southern California and UC Santa Barbara’s Center for Black Studies Research, while also teaching screenwriting at UCLA Extension.

His immersion into the world of Los Angeles’ Unhoused community began in 2019 with a camera, time, and a willingness to listen… Mutual trust and caring grew into significant relationships and unprecedented access to the lives of the Unhoused across the city. From this lived engagement came TRESPASS: Portraits of Unhoused Life, Love, and understanding, an award-winning book that laid the foundation for a larger, evolving body of work. TRESPASS expanded into a multimedia exhibition at Los Angeles’ Bestor Architecture Gallery, followed by solo shows in New York, Oakland and DTLA, California, and ultimately into the 2025 feature-length documentary TRESPASS. The documentary has screened internationally at festivals including the Teaneck International Film Festival and the Seoul International Film Festival and received the Founders Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 2026 Pan African Film Festival.

Supported by honors such as The BookFest First Place Award for Nonfiction in Society & Social Sciences – Human Rights & Political Movements, the Writers of Note Award and the Directors Grant from The de Groot Foundation, Watson continues to develop TRESPASS as an immersive, cross-disciplinary project designed to deepen public understanding of homelessness and spark urgent conversation. Through film, photography, and writing, he affirms his lifelong commitment to creating and using art as a catalyst for change, insisting that art not only reflect injustice but also helps move communities toward empathy, accountability, and action. He is now extending that commitment through his new project, Searching for Zora – The Face of America Today.

The Black Association of Documentary Filmmakers West is s project of Fulcrum Arts' Emerge fiscal sponsorship program. www.fulcrumarts.org.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher Black Association of Documentary Filmmakers West