The Black Film Center & Archive at Indiana University was established in 1981. It was the first and remains the ONLY repository in the world solely dedicated to acquiring, preserving, and making available historically and culturally important films by and about Black people. Our archive features over 3,300 films by Oscar Micheaux, Ousmane Sembène, Zora Neale Hurston, John Singleton, Julie Dash, Marlon Riggs, and of course many more talented filmmakers, producers, directors, actors, and actresses. Black film has a beautiful and extensive history, and we proudly preserve it, while also devoting equal attention to contemporary films and filmmakers as well.
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We rely on philanthropy to advance our mission and sustain our 40-year legacy. Your gift can allow us to continue offering students and the community educational opportunities such as master classes and workshops with filmmakers and scholars, hands-on filmmaking experience, podcast production experience, insight about archiving and preservation processes, curatorial research, and film screenings and series that connect contemporary Hollywood, independent, and experimental productions with rare historic gems. The BFCA includes many items that are not available anywhere else in the world. The BFCA is also a screening venue and a valuable resource for researchers and filmmakers.
Gifts to this fund have supported:
- Educational workshops for student groups on campus
- Opportunities for students to engage directly with writers, filmmakers, directors, actors, and actresses
- Acquisitions of one of a kind film items, materials, and collections to help the Black Film Center & Archive at Indiana University advance its critically important mission
- Increased awareness of inclusivness and the need to preserve these materials with necessary digitization efforts
- Film screening opportunities
