A comb tugs a little too hard through a young girl’s curly hair as her eyes begin to water. It’s a small moment most viewers can understand, but one that carries a familiar sting for those who’ve experienced it themselves. That sense of audience recognition is part of what sets the Black Auteur Film Festival apart.
“Something as simple as someone doing a Black girl’s hair and combing it a little too hard, and the whole audience is like, ‘Oh no, no, no’ because they understood the experience,” said Alex Chew, BAFF co-founder and festival director. “That’s just not going to be the case at a mainstream festival.”
Those moments of collective recognition are exactly what Chew and Ryan Darbonne, fellow co-founder and festival director, hoped to create when they launched BAFF in 2024. Now in its third year, the festival returns June 20 to AFS Cinema as Austin’s only Black film festival currently, creating space for Black filmmakers and audiences to gather around stories that might otherwise go unseen.
The founders’ backgrounds in filmmaking shaped their vision for the festival. Chew and Darbonne have screened their own work on the festival circuit and spent years programming for other organizations. These experiences helped inform the organization, which not only showcases Black cinema but also supports the artists behind it.
“Seeing your film screen in front of an audience is what you shoot for,” Darbonne said. “We do feel responsible in some ways of nurturing new talent and giving people chances where maybe other festivals won’t.”
The festival receives roughly 70 to 100 submissions annually and selects only a handful for its showcase. But even filmmakers whose work isn’t chosen receive personal feedback from the programming team. “We just want to make sure that we’re encouraging the filmmakers who submit to our festival,” Darbonne said. “We hope to foster relationships with these Black artists who need to be celebrated.”
This year’s lineup showcases a diverse array of films, including work from two returning directors. UT-Austin graduate student Prince Adablah brings “Fugu,” which follows a young African immigrant who begins transforming into an alien after accepting the label “non-resident alien,” forcing him to confront questions of identity. Also returning is Kevin Anderson with “Southern Son Shine,” an intergenerational documentary following Black queer men living with HIV in the South.
Beyond its shorts program, the festival will feature filmmaker Jason Perez, director of Peacock’s High Horse: The Black Cowboy. Perez will participate in a conversation alongside one of the docuseries’ featured subjects. “Flying in someone from L.A. whose work we love … and [to] have him connect directly to our filmmakers – those little steps each year make it more of a bigger film festival,” Chew expressed. “It makes me excited. I know that we’re going to keep doing that every single year.”
BAFF continues to expand since its inaugural year, and while it’s a celebration of cinema, Chew and Darbonne also see it as part of a broader commitment to keeping Black culture visible and thriving. “You see all these articles about Austin being the fastest-growing city, but the Black population has been steadily dwindling,” Darbonne explained. “I love the city, but I also think that we have to preserve that culture.”
This article appears in June 19 • 2026.