Global Black Voices: News from around the World
- Mother's Day program features films centered on women, family, and resilience across diverse cultural contexts.
- Lineup includes Village Keeper, Mama Africa: Miriam Makeba, Mother Suriname, and Faraw: Mother of the Dunes.
- Festival premieres include TIFF, IDFA, and Cannes, highlighting international acclaim.
- ADIFF virtual platform offers 48-hour access per film from time of purchase.
- Tickets are $10 per film; All-Access Pass $25 covers the Mother's Day series May 10 to 17, 2026.
The African Diaspora International Film Festival (ADIFF), in partnership with ArtMattan Films, announces a special virtual mini-festival running from May through September 2026, celebrating more than 30 years of film distribution by ArtMattan Films.
Presented nationwide, the series offers a rare opportunity to experience a curated selection of films drawn from the ArtMattan catalog — works that reflect a commitment to independent cinema shaped by diverse histories and lived realities.
Organized around monthly themes, the program unfolds as follows:
May — Mother’s Day
June — Father’s Day
July — Films for the Family
August — Great African Films
September — Voices from Latin America
The May program, dedicated to Mother’s Day, reflects the breadth of the catalog with films such as Village Keeper (Toronto International Film Festival), Mama Africa: Miriam Makeba, a widely celebrated classic, Mother Suriname (IDFA), and Faraw: Mother of the Dunes from Mali (Cannes 1997). Together, they bring into focus stories centered on women, family, and resilience across different cultural contexts.
“For more than 30 years, ArtMattan Films has focused on making visible stories that exist outside dominant circulation,” said Dr. Reinaldo Barroso-Spech, President of ArtMattan Films and Co-Director of ADIFF. “This series brings those films back into view — to be seen and engaged with in the present.”
Through this virtual series, ADIFF creates a space of access across the country, inviting audiences to encounter films that rarely circulate, yet remain grounded in lived experience, memory, and the complexity of everyday life.
The selection reflects ADIFF’s mission: presenting films from the United States and around the world exploring the human experience of people of color, with particular focus on people of African descent and Indigenous communities.
The ADIFF Virtual Mini Festival will be available nationwide from May through September 2026, opening with a dedicated Mother’s Day program.
Mother’s Day Virtual Film Series Line-Up:
· Village Keeper (USA/Canada, 2024) – Directed by Karen Chapman, this drama premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and centers on a mother’s journey through grief toward healing and joy.
· Rosa Chumbe (Peru, 2015) – Directed by Jonatan Relayze Chiang, this film was selected as Peru’s submission to the 90th Academy Awards and follows a woman whose life is transformed after her daughter leaves her to care for her grandson.
· Faraw! Mother of the Dunes (Mali, 1997) – Directed by Abdoulaye Ascofaré, this film was presented at the Cannes Film Festival (Critics’ Week) and tells the story of a woman struggling to provide for her family in the Sahel.
· Mother Suriname (Suriname, 2023) – Directed by Tessa Leuwsha, this documentary premiered at IDFA and traces the life of a washerwoman navigating Dutch colonial rule and independence.
· Stand Down Soldier (USA, 2015) – Directed by Jeryl Prescott, this film was featured at the GI Film Festival San Diego and explores the challenges of a veteran returning home to her family.
· Cape Verde, My Love (Cape Verde, 2007) – Directed by Ana Lúcia Ramos Lisboa, this film follows three women whose lives unfold between friendship and everyday routines in Praia. When a violent incident affects one of their daughters, their sense of stability is shaken. The film offers a critical look at the lives of women and mothers in Cape Verde.
· Mama Africa: Miriam Makeba (South Africa, 2011) – Directed by Mika Kaurismäki, this documentary explores the life and legacy of Miriam Makeba.
How to Watch
Audiences can access the series via the ADIFF virtual platform. Each film will be available for 48 hours from the time of purchase.
· When: May 10–17, 2026
· Tickets: $10 per film
· All-Access Pass: $25 (includes all films in the series)
· Where: Available online in the USA at NYADIFF.org
“These films reflect different realities of motherhood — women navigating difficult conditions while holding their families together,” says Diarah N’Daw-Spech, Co-Director of ADIFF. “We wanted to make these stories accessible to audiences across the country.”
For more information, to watch trailers, or to purchase passes, please visit NYADIFF.org.
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