South East Queens Film Festival

A three-day celebration of local storytelling with the moving image, the Southeast Queens Film Festival showcases films and filmmakers with a connection to Southeast Queens. This inaugural edition of the event is proudly presented by the York College Art History program in collaboration with the Southeast Queens Center for History and Culture (SEQCHC). RSVP in the form below to join us! 

The festival program will take place at York College CUNY in Jamaica, Queens from April 15th to April 17th in the Academic Core, the college’s main building at 94-20 Guy R. Brewer Boulevard.

Participate as an audience member or as a filmmaker! Screenings will include:

• films submitted by filmmakers like you to a juried open call run by Southeast Queens Center for History and Culture (SEQCHC);
• recently digitized video from Southeast Queens cultural activist Clarence Irving’s Black American Heritage Foundation Music History Archive hosted at York College;
• a special retrospective of films by playwright and filmmaker Carl Clay, director of Black Spectrum Theatre;
• oral history videos from the Corona Collection at the Louis Armstrong House Museum;
• the experimental documentary, Milford Graves: Full Mantis (2018), about artist and percussionist Milford Graves, a longtime resident of Jamaica, Queens.

Please see the full detailed schedule of events outlined in Sections 1-3 of this form. With its screenings, panel discussions, and community involvement, the festival will uplift local voices and provide a platform for filmmakers.

The Southeast Queens Center for History and Culture (SEQCHC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization committed to uncovering and highlighting the historical and cultural richness of Southeast Queens. The Southeast Queens Film Festival is part of the Jamaica Forum for Public Art Otherwise, an initiative of the York College Art History program supported by a 2024-2025 Social Practice CUNY (SPCUNY) Faculty Fellowship.