ADIFF NYC 2023 is showcasing 85 films from 33 countries. The festival offers a diverse range of genres, including comedies, dramas, romances, and thought-provoking documentaries. The films are sourced from major film festivals such as Berlinale, Cannes, Toronto, FESPACO, and Durban, as well as independent filmmakers from America and around the world.

Schedule of Events: 

November 24, 2023

1:30 PM: Homecoming
Runtime: 90 minutes
Director: Norman Maake

3:20 PM: Dorpie
Runtime: 77 minutes
Director: Julia Jaki

5:00 PM: What the Soil Remembers
Runtime: 29 minutes
Director: José Cardoso

5:00 PM: Four Walls
Runtime: 56 minutes
Director: Kgosana Monchusi

7:00 PM: Opening Night: Hope of Escape
Runtime: 105 minutes
Director: Amy Gerber

Location: Teachers College, Columbia University.

November 25, 2023

1:00 PM: Yafa, Forgiveness
Runtime: 85 minutes
Director: Christian Large

3:00 PM: The Africologist
Runtime: 72 minutes
Director: Val Lopes

4:40 PM: Claude McKay de Harlem à Marseille
Runtime: 80 minute
Director: Matthieu Verdeil

6:30 PM: One Night in LA & The Black Experience (+Q&A)
Runtime: 79 minutes
Director: MeMe Kelly

9:00 PM: Goodbye Julia
Runtime: 116 minutes
Director: Mohamed Kordofani

Location: Teachers College, Columbia University.

November 26, 2023

1:00 PM: Desiree
Runtime: 96 minutes
Director: Felix de Rooy

3:00 PM: Santiago of the Women (Santiago De Las Mujeres)
Runtime: 63 minutes
Director: Rosamary Berrios Hernández

3:00 PM: Faith in Blackness: An Exploration of AfroLatine Spirituality
Runtime: 27 minutes
Director: Charles Reynoso

5:30 PM: Mandela's Secret Army
Runtime: 57 minutes
Director: Osvalde Lewat

7:00 PM: Necktie Youth
Runtime: 93 minutes
Director: Sibs Shongwe-La Mer

Location: Teachers College, Columbia University.

November 27, 2023

6:00 PM: Nothing But The Truth
Runtime: 78 minutes
Director: John Kani

Nothing But The Truth is a gripping investigation into the complex dynamic between those blacks who remained in South Africa and risked their lives to lead the struggle against apartheid and those who returned victoriously after living in exile.

In New Brighton, South Africa, 63-year-old librarian Sipho Makhaya prepares for the return of the ashes of his brother Themba, recently deceased while in exile in London after gaining a reputation as a hero of the anti-apartheid movement. Internationally recognized, multiple award-winning actor John Kani is the lead actor in this film version of the internationally acclaimed award-winning play Nothing But The Truth which he also authored.

7:45 PM: Kuessipan
Runtime: 117 minutes
Director: Myriam Verreault

The award-winning drama Kuessipan by Myriam Verreault was adapted from the acclaimed novel Kuessipan and co-written with the novel’s First Nation Canadian author Naomi Fontaine. Kuessipan means "your turn" in the Innu language, a title chosen to mark the notion that it is the Innu people's turn to tell their story.
“The Innu voice is ever present, which is so important as it offers a glimpse into their lives without a Colonial perspective. It's a feature that, while seemingly an obvious advantage, is hardly ever utilized for similar films. It means that audiences can enter the world in a respectful manner - which isn't to say the film shies away from the issues, but it does mean that those issues are approached in a confident and dignified way” writes Joel Kalkopf in his review for Switch.
The story follows two girls who grow up as best friends in a Quebec Innu community. While Mikuan has a loving family, Shaniss is picking up the pieces of her shattered childhood. As children, they promised each other to be lifelong friends. But as they mature, their lives take different paths, and their personal ambitions diverge leading them to a cultural and identity clash that tests their bond.

Location: Teachers College, Columbia University.

November 28, 2023

6:00 PM: Black Women Behind The Camera: Otiti
Runtime: 95 minutes
Director: Ema Edosio Deelen

6:00 PM: Black Women Behind The Camera: Big Little Women + Q&A
Runtime: 86 minutes
Director: Nadia Fares

6:00 PM: Otiti (+Q&A)
Runtime: 95 minutes
Director: Ema Edosio Deelen
A seamstress with commitment issues takes care of the ailing father who had abandoned her as a child while her half- brothers position themselves to take over his property.

8:00 PM: Big Little Women + Panel & Reception
Runtime: 86 minutes
Director: Nadia Fares
Three generations of women rebel against patriarchal prohibitions. In this cinematic letter, Swiss-Egyptian film director Nadia Fares pays tribute to her father as she recounts 75 years of women's struggles both in Egypt, her father's country, and in Switzerland, her mother's country, where she grew up. She explores the impact of patriarchal traditions in the East and the West, revealing them as mirror images.

Location: 179 Grace Dodge, Teachers College

November 29, 2023

11:00 AM: Minga and the Broken Spoon
Runtime: 80 minutes
Director: Claye Edou
Location:  Magic Johnson Harlem

Minga is an orphaned girl living with her stepmother Mami Kaba and her stepsister Abena. One day, when she was washing dishes in the river, she accidentally broke a spoon. A furious Mami Kaba then chased her away from the house, asking her to find the only identical spoon hidden by her late mother. A adventurous journey then begins for Minga in the forest.

6:00 PM: Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun
Runtime: 83 minutes
Director: Sam Pollard
Location: Leonard Nimoy Thalia at Peter Norton Symphony Space

Zora Neale Hurston, path-breaking novelist, pioneering anthropologist and one of the first black women to enter the American literary canon (Their Eyes Were Watching God), established the African American vernacular as one of the most vital, inventive voices in American literature. This definitive film biography, eighteen years in the making, portrays Zora in all her complexity: gifted, flamboyant, and controversial but always fiercely original.

8:00 PM: Hope of Escape (+Q&A)
Runtime: 105 minutes
Director: Amy Gerber
Location: Leonard Nimoy Thalia at Peter Norton Symphony Space

This historical docudrama tells the true story that follows the incredible journey of an enslaved mother and daughter who must escape before they are sold and separated forever. Their only hope is to connect with their free relatives in the North and convince the most powerful abolitionists of their time to help them.
Hope of Escape takes the audience through a new chapter of antebellum slavery that depicts the “above-ground railroad” or the raising of money to free enslaved loved ones.

November 30, 2023

1:00 PM: Kinshasa Makambo (+Q&A)
Runtime: 75 minutes
Director: Dieudo Hamadi
Christian, Ben and Jean-Marie are fighting for political change of power and free elections in their country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. But the incumbent President refuses to relinquish power. How can the course of events be changed? Must they join forces with the historical opposition leader and his powerful party? Is dialogue still possible or must they resign themselves to a popular uprising and the risk of a blood bath?

3:00 PM: Citizen Kwame (+Q&A)
Runtime: 81 minutes
Director: Yuhi Amuli
"Citizen Kwame" is a Kafkaesque film about travel visas. It tells the story of Kwame, an African man who wants to travel outside of his compound, but he must first get a visa from a Caucasian gatekeeper who controls movements in-and-out of the house. It is only with the help of a newly acquired Caucasian girlfriend that he succeeds.

6:00 PM: Otiti (+ Panel Discussion)
Runtime: 95 minutes
Director: Ema Edosio Deelen
A seamstress with commitment issues takes care of the ailing father who had abandoned her as a child while her half- brothers position themselves to take over his property.

Location: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

December 1, 2023

11:00 AM: Goodbye Momo
Runtime:  107 minutes
Director: Leonardo Ricagni
Location: Cinema Village

1:15 PM: The 16th Man
Runtime: 53 minutes
Director: Clifford Bestall
Location: Cinema Village

2:40 PM: A Taste of Our Land
Runtime: 84 minutes
Director: Yuhi Amuli
Location: Cinema Village

5:00 PM: The Tracker
Runtime: 90 minutes
Director: Rolf de Heer
Location: Cinema Village

7:00 PM: Gala Screening: The Survival of Kindness (+Q&A)
Runtime: 96 minutes
Director: Rolf de Heer
Location: Cinema Village

8:00 PM: Kafe Negro: Cuba & The Haitian Revolution
Runtime: 52 minutes
Director: Mario Delatour
Location: The Chapel, Teachers College

8:00 PM: Haiti is a Nation of Artists - Q&A
Runtime: 50 minutes
Director: Jacquil Constant
Location: The Chapel, Teachers College

8:30 PM: Fierceness Served! The ENIKAlley Coffeehouse
Runtime: 35 minutes
Director: Michelle Denise Parkerson
Location: 179 Grace Dodge, Teachers College

8:30 PM: Simon & I
Runtime: 52 minutes
Director: Bev Ditsie, Nicky Newman
Location: 179 Grace Dodge, Teachers College

9:30 PM: The Nubia Train
Runtime: 25 minutes
Director: Atteyat El-Abnoudy
Location: Cinema Village

9:30 PM: Big Little Women + Q&A
Runtime: 86 minutes
Director: Nadia Fares
Location: Cinema Village

December 2, 2023

12:00 PM: Aluku Liba
Runtime: 90 minutes
Director: Nicolas Jolliet
Location: Cinema Village

1:50 PM: You can read, Can't you... (Je kan toch lezen...) (+Q&A)
Runtime: 48 minutes
Director: Ananta Khemradj
Location: Cinema Village

3:20 PM: Money Freedom, a Story of the CFA Franc
Runtime: 104 minutes
Director: Katy Léna Ndiaye
Location: Cinema Village

5:30 PM: Santiago of the Women (Santiago De Las Mujeres)
Runtime: 63 minutes
Director: Rosamary Berrios Hernández
Location: Cinema Village

5:30 PM: Faith in Blackness: An Exploration of AfroLatine Spirituality
Runtime: 27 minutes
Director: Charles Reynoso
Location: Cinema Village

7:50 PM: Music Pictures: New Orleans
Runtime: 72 minutes
Director: Ben Chace
Location: Cinema Village

8:00 PM: Move When the Spirit Says Move: The Legacy of Dorothy Foreman Cotton
Runtime: 87 minutes
Director: Deborah C. Hoard, Ry Ferro
Location: Cowin Center, Teachers College

9:20 PM: Mapantsula
Runtime: 104 minutes
Director: Oliver Schmitz
Location: Cinema Village

December 3, 2023

12:00 PM: Mama Africa: Miriam Makeba
Runtime: 92 minutes
Director: Mika Kaurismäki
Location: Cinema Village

1:00 PM: Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun
Runtime: 83 minutes
Director: Sam Pollard
Location: 179 Grace Dodge, Teachers College

2:00 PM: Fantastic Negrito: Have You Lost Your Mind Yet? (+ Q&A)
Runtime: 93 minutes
Director: Francisco Núñez Capriles, Yvan Iturriaga
Location: Cinema Village

3:00 PM: Citizen Kwame (+Q&A)
Runtime: 81 minutes
Director: Yuhi Amuli
Location: 179 Grace Dodge, Teachers College

4:30 PM: The Man Who Mends Women: The Wrath of Hippocrates
Runtime: 112 minutes
Director: Thierry Michel
Location: Cinema Village

5:10 PM: Diaspora
Runtime: 62 minutes
Director: José Ramón Alamá
Location: 179 Grace Dodge, Teachers College

6:40 PM: Lumumba - The Return of a Hero
Runtime: 85 minutes
Director: Dieudo Hamadi, Quentin Noirfalisse, Benoît Feyt
Location: Cinema Village

7:00 PM: The Homes We Carry
Runtime: 89 minutes
Director: Brenda Akele Jorde
Location: 179 Grace Dodge, Teachers College

9:00 PM: Scheherazade, Tell Me a Story
Runtime: 134 minutes
Director: Yousry Nasrallah
Location: Cinema Village

December 4, 2023

11:00 AM: Filling the Gap: Forgotten Chapter of American History
Runtime: 83 minutes
Director: Tyrone Young
Location: Cinema Village

1:00 PM: Rosa Chumbe
Runtime: 75 minutes
Director: Jonatan Relayze
Location: Cinema Village

2:55 PM: Ava and Gabriel
Runtime: 100 minutes
Director: Felix de Rooy
Location: Cinema Village

5:00 PM: The First Rasta
Runtime: 86 minutes
Director: Hélène Lee, Christophe Farnarier
Location: Cinema Village

6:00 PM: Almacita, Soul of Desolato
Runtime: 110 minutes
Director: Felix de Rooy
Location: The Chapel, Teachers College

7:00 PM: Rolê - Stories of Brazilian Protests in Malls
Runtime: 82 minutes
Director: Vladimir Seixas
Location: Cinema Village

8:10 PM: Farewell Savage
Runtime: 92 minutes
Director: Sergio Guataquira Sarmiento
Location: The Chapel, Teachers College

8:50 PM: Necktie Youth
Runtime: 93 minutes
Director: Sibs Shongwe-La Mer
Location: Cinema Village

December 5, 2023

11:00 AM: Honestly Stolen
Runtime: 70 minutes
Director: Hesdy Lonwijk
Eleven-year-old Nola is doing her best to save money so that her grandmother can travel to Suriname to scatter her late grandfather's ashes, but plane tickets are expensive and saving up takes a long time. When Nola finds a bag of stolen money, she puts aside her conscience and decides to keep the loot. After all, it's for a good cause. But whether that's a wise decision.

12:40 PM: Sins of the Flesh
Runtime: 125 minutes
Director: Khaled El Hagar
Hassan and Fatma are a couple, living and working in a farm of wealthy owner Mourad. In the first days of the Jan 25th revolution, Ali seizes a security breach to break out of jail and runs to his cousin Hassan, for shelter. The latter takes him in but soon after, Mourad discovers the love that Fatma and Ali shared, years ago. This romantic history, fueled by mounting sexual frustration, will come back to haunt all those involved.

5:00 PM: Maluala
Runtime: 84 minutes
Director: Sergio Giral
In 19th century Cuba, runaway African slaves known as 'Cimarrons' hiding in settlements in the eastern mountains. But discord among the Cimarrons is sown by a limited offer of freedom from the Spanish. Maluala is part of a trilogy of films about Cuba's slave uprisings made by Sergio Giral, the best known Afro-Cuban director.

7:00 PM: The Survival of Kindness
Runtime: 96 minutes
Director: Rolf de Heer
"In the middle of the desert, BlackWoman is abandoned on a trailer, in a cage. Her captors have left her to die. But she is not ready to pass. She escapes, and walks through pestilence and persecution, from desert to mountain to city, to find  more captivity. Those responsible are reluctant to relinquish their privileges, and BlackWoman, escaping once more, must find solace in her beginnings.

9:00 PM: Goodbye Julia
Runtime: 116 minutes
Director: Mohamed Kordofani
Wracked by guilt after covering up a murder, Mona a northern Sudanese retired singer in a tense marriage tries to make amends by taking in the deceased’s southern Sudanese widow, Julia, and her son, Daniel, into her home.

Location: Cinema Village Theater

December 6, 2023

11:00 AM: Kirikou and the Sorceress
Runtime: 74 minutes
Director: Michel Ocelot
Location: Cinema Village

12:40 PM: Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Band
Runtime: 70 minutes
Director: Carol Bash
Location: Cinema Village

2:50 PM: White Lies
Runtime: 96 minutes
Director: Dana Rotberg
Location: Cinema Village

4:50 PM: Farewell Savage
Runtime: 92 minutes
Director: Sergio Guataquira Sarmiento
Location: Cinema Village

6:00 PM: Thorns of the Sahel
Runtime: 90 minutes
Director: Boubakar Diallo
Location: The Chapel, Teachers College

7:10 PM: Elephant + Q&A
Runtime: 99 minutes
Director: Maria Judice
Location: Cinema Village

8:00 PM: You Can Read, Can’t You + Q&A
Runtime: 48 minutes
Director: Ananta Khemradj
Location: The Chapel, Teachers College

9:30 PM: Music Pictures: New Orleans
Runtime: 72 minutes
Director: Ben Chace
Location: Cinema Village

December 7, 2023

11:00 AM: La playa DC
Runtime: 90 minutes
Director: Juan Andrés Arango Garcia
Location: Cinema Village

1:00 PM: Loimata: The Sweetest Tears
Runtime: 94 minutes
Director: Anna Marbrook
Location: Cinema Village

3:00 PM: Thorns of the Sahel
Runtime: 90 minutes
Director: Boubakar Diallo
Location: Cinema Village

5:00 PM: MK: Mandela's Secret Army
Runtime: 57 minutes
Director: Osvalde Lewat
Location: Cinema Village

6:00 PM: Diaspora
Runtime: 62 minutes
Director: José Ramón Alamá
Location: The Chapel, Teachers College

7:00 PM: Clashing Differences
Runtime: 73 minutes
Director: Merle Grimme
Location: Cinema Village

7:30 PM: Black Poets: Léon G. Damas
Runtime: 26 minutes
Director: Sarah Maldoror

7:30 PM: Claude McKay from Harlem to Marseille
Runtime: 80 minutes
Director: Matthieu Verdeil
Location: The Chapel, Teachers College

8:40 PM: The Black Experience & One Night in LA
Runtime: 79 minutes
Director: MeMe Kelly
Location: Cinema Village

December 8, 2023

6:00 PM: Simon & I
Runtime: 52 minutes
Director: Bev Ditsie, Nicky Newman
Location: The Chapel, Teachers College

Bev Ditsie, and Simon Nkuli are South African gay rights activists. This is the story of their lives, their meeting, and their efforts to get sexual orientation into the new South African Bill of Rights.

7:00 PM: I Am Berta (Bertha Soy Yo) + Q&A
Runtime: 135 minutes
Director: Katia Lara
Location: 179 Grace Dodge, Teachers College

Hours before her assassination, indigenous leader Berta Cáceres wrote down the names of the corrupt interests aiming to kill her. Using these clues, the documentary puts together the puzzle pieces to help Berta solve her own murder.
In the most dangerous country in the world for environmental defenders, Milton Benítez, a tenacious Honduran journalist, follows the clues written down with Berta in the meeting they held the day before her murder. With the help of Almudena Bernabeu, a renowned international lawyer, the puzzle is put together.
What killed Berta? Behind the crime, the questioned operation of companies in collusion with public officials, forges a pattern of death.

8:00 PM: Black Paris in the 1920's - Josephine Baker: Black Diva in a White Man's World
Runtime: 45 minutes
Director: Annette Von Wagenheim
Location: The Chapel, Teachers College

A tender, revealing documentary about one of the most famous and popular performing artists of the 20th century. Her legendary banana belt dance created theatre history; her song “J’ai deux amours” became a classic, and her hymn.
The film focuses on her life and work from a perspective that analyses images of Black people in popular culture. It portrays the artist in the mirror of European colonial clichés and presents her as a resistance fighter, an ambulance driver during WWII, and an outspoken activist against racial discrimination involved in the worldwide Black Consciousness movement of the 20th century.

8:00 PM: The Nardal Sisters, the Forgotten Ones of Negritude
Runtime: 52 minutes
Director: Marie-Christine Gambart
Location: The Chapel, Teachers College

We know the fathers of Negritude: Aimé Césaire, Léopold Sédar Senghor, and Léon-Gontran Damas. But would this cultural and political movement have existed without the Nardal sisters, Paulette and Jeanne? These two Martinican intellectuals, journalists, and feminists were central figures in Black Paris in the 1920s and strong symbols of anti-racist and feminist struggles. They were among the first to theorize ‘black consciousness’ and its awakening.

December 9, 2023

1:00 PM: The Africologist
Runtime: 72 minutes
Director: Val Lopes
Location: The Chapel, Teachers College

2:00 PM: Clashing Differences
Runtime: 73 minutes
Director: Merle Grimme
Location: Cowin Center, Teachers College

2:45 PM: Brenda Fasi, Not a Bad Girl
Runtime: 76 minutes
Director: Chris Austin
Location: The Chapel, Teachers College

4:00 PM: Fab 4 & the Silent Retreat + Fearless (+Q&A)
Runtime: 17 minutes
Director: Peter Sagnia
Location: Cowin Center, Teachers College

4:00 PM: Fearless - Q&A
Runtime: 68 minutes
Director: Noella Mingo
Location: Cowin Center, Teachers College

4:30 PM: Mapantsula
Runtime: 104 minutes
Director: Oliver Schmitz
Location: The Chapel, Teachers College

6:00 PM: Shantaye's World (with VIP Reception)
Runtime: 118 minutes
Director: Guillaume Rico, Mathurine Emmanuel
Location: Cowin Center, Teachers College

7:00 PM: Shantaye's World (no VIP Reception)
Runtime: 118 minutes
Director: Guillaume Rico, Mathurine Emmanuel
Location: Cowin Center, Teachers College

7:00 PM: Mapantsula
Runtime: 104 minutes
Director: Oliver Schmitz
Location: The Chapel, Teachers College

7:00 PM: Back of the Moon, Sophiatown 1958 + Q&A
Runtime: 95 minutes
Director: Angus Gibson
Location: The Chapel, Teachers College

December 10, 2023

1:00 PM: Gulpilil: One Red Blood
Runtime: 56 minutes
Director: Darlene Johnson
Location: The Chapel, Teachers College

1:30 PM: Rolê - Stories of Brazilian Protests in Malls
Runtime: 82 minutes
Director: Vladimir Seixas
Location: Cowin Center, Teachers College

2:30 PM: In Search of Bengali Harlem (+Q&A)
Runtime: 85 minutes
Director: Aladdin Ullah, Vivek Renjen Bald
Location: The Chapel, Teachers College

4:00 PM: Almicar Cabral
Runtime: 52 minutes
Director: Ana Lucia Ramos
Location: Cowin Center, Teachers College

4:00 PM: An Evening In Guinea-Bissau: Almicar Cabral
Runtime: 52 minutes
Director: Ana Lucia Ramos
Location: Cowin Center, Teachers College

4:00 PM: Closing Night Film: Nome
Runtime: 117 minutes
Director: Sana Na N'Hada
Location: Cowin Center, Teachers College

5:00 PM: I Am Berta (Bertha Soy Yo) + Q&A
Runtime: 135 minutes
Director: Katia Lara
Location: The Chapel, Teachers College

5:30 PM: Closing Night Film: Nome
Runtime: 117 minutes
Director: Sana Na N'Hada
Location: Cowin Center, Teachers College

Date: November 24 - December 10, 2023

Location: Various Location in New York, NY

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