SPECIAL SELECTIONS | 40TH ANNIVERSARY
A young musician, tormented by an abusive situation at home, must contend with a rival singer, a burgeoning romance, and his dissatisfied band, as his star begins to rise. FREE
U.S. (Director: Albert Magnoli)

OPENING NIGHT FILM | DC PREMIERE
The film follows a singer-songwriter in a downward spiral as she takes a last-effort gig at a motorcycle rally in South Dakota where she meets Casey, a guitarist who walked away from his dream long ago.
U.S. (Director: Nicole Riegel)

CENTERPIECE FILM
“James Brown: Say It Loud” traces the incredible trajectory of Brown’s life and career from a 7th-grade drop-out arrested and jailed at the age of 16 for breaking into a car in the Jim Crow-era South, to an entertainment legend whose groundbreaking talent and unique perspective catapulted him to become a cultural force.
U.S. (Director: Deborah Riley Draper)

CENTERPIECE FILM | 35TH ANNIVERSARY
On the hottest day of the year on a street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, everyone's hate and bigotry smolders and builds until it explodes into violence.
U.S. (Director: Spike Lee)

CLOSING NIGHT FILM
When 93-year-old Thelma Post gets duped by a phone scammer pretending to be her grandson, she sets out on a treacherous quest across the city to reclaim what was taken from her.
U.S. (Director: Josh Margolin)