Riverment, showing Friday August 17 at 5:05 p.m. at the 2018 D.C. Black Film Festival (Photo courtesy of DCBFF)

A year after its inaugural event, the D.C. Black Film Festival is coming back this weekend to the Miracle Theater on Barracks Row.

The event, which will screen 45 films, is meant to highlight lesser-known black filmmakers and actors, its creator Kevin Sampson told DCist before it debuted last year.

“We only get a certain amount of films each year led by an African American,” Sampson said. “I realized there are a lot of screenwriters and directors out there trying to do the work—but they don’t have the accessibility.”

The event was born out of Sampson’s frustration with mainstream releases by black filmmakers (in particular, Tim Story’s 2014 film Think LIke A Man Too). Initially, Sampson tried to raise money via a Kickstarter to create his own documentary about the lack of diversity in mainstream filmmaking, but couldn’t raise the funds.

So he switched course, deciding instead to create a film festival focused on the kind of art by black filmmakers that isn’t getting a ton of mainstream attention.

This year’s film festival is being held at the Miracle Theater in Southeast from August 16 to August 18. Sampson told WTOP that the festival received 150 submissions from “all over,” which they pared down. The full schedule is available here.

Some highlights to keep in mind: Saturday morning is the “Girl Power: Daughter & Me” block of films, where parents and guardians can get their daughter aged eight to 18 a free ticket. The showings during that block include Queens in Training, a film about two young D.C. girls who get involved in competitive chess.

The closing conversation on Saturday night is called “The Rise of the Black Super Hero,” and includes a conversation with Sanford Greene, a comic artist who has drawn for Marvel and DC comics like Black Panther, Teen Titans Go, and Justice League.

You can buy tickets for specific films here (note: some of them are only available for one more day).