For nearly a decade, The Nova Frontier Film Festival has been illuminating screens with voices often left in the shadows of mainstream cinema. Founded by visionary filmmakers Billy Frank from the West Indies and Lydia Darly from Guadeloupe, this cultural cornerstone was born from a recognition of the glaring absence of authentic storytelling from the Middle East, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
What began as an effort to fill this representational gap has blossomed into a celebrated showcase for Black cinema from across the global African diaspora. This year, the festival proudly presents a compelling selection of African films at its new home in the historic Harlem Stage.
“The name ‘Nova Frontier’ embodies our core mission,” Frank explains. “We aim to dismantle frontiers and walls, fostering community and dialogue through carefully curated films and stories that allow us to see ourselves in each other’s experiences.”
Culture Custodian sat down with co-founder Billy Frank to discuss the festival’s significant venue change, this year’s thematic focus, and the standout films in the upcoming program.
After eight successful years, the Nova Frontier Film Festival is moving to Harlem for its ninth edition. What inspired this change of venue, and how do you feel Harlem Stage aligns with the festival’s mission of showcasing filmmakers of color from the African Diaspora, Middle East, and Latin America?
Well, Harlem, as you know, has had a long history with a lot of black liberation, there’s Harlem Renaissance, and all the poets and artists that came from Harlem. Also, Harlem is one of the neighborhoods that has the largest African American migrant population as well. So we thought it was an important step to collaborate with the Harlem Stage. A lot of our film comes from Africa, so I think the alignment was perfect because the Harlem Stage’s mission is to promote arts from the global majority. We think it’s just a natural, symbiotic relationship with two organizations that share a similar vision to promote underrepresented voices, but most importantly, voices of the global majority.
This year’s festival centers around the theme of Freedom. Could you elaborate on why you chose this particular theme for 2025, and how you see it resonating with today’s global sociopolitical climate?
The climate we’re living in today, specifically in the United States, is one where many artists, filmmakers, and freedom of expression have been curtailed. We thought it was a very important time to highlight the importance of filmmakers from the regions of the Caribbean, Latin America, the black diaspora, and the Middle East. We just continued what we’ve always been doing actually in terms of promoting films and missions around global freedom and giving opportunities and voice to the underserved and underrepresented. So this theme came out of a pressing need to continue the mission, or even to make the mission even stronger, if you will. And to continue to promote the filmmakers and the artists that the Nova Frontier Film Festival has always promoted.
Your festival is making a deliberate effort to spotlight female filmmakers this year. What motivated this focus, and what unique perspectives do you believe these women bring to the exploration of freedom through film?
Usually, the festival theme and the choices we make around the curation of the festival come from the films that we see every year. And this year, we’ve been noticing a lot of filmmakers, specifically from the Middle East, Iran, and regions underrepresented making incredible films that never really get a platform in the United States. So this year, in particular, we wanted to highlight the films of women filmmakers.
Raoul Peck’s documentary Ernest Cole: Lost and Found is one of your highlights this year. What drew you to this work about the South African photographer, and how does it embody the festival’s mission?
It does specifically with our freedom theme. His whole life has been around documenting the issues in South Africa and also in the United States through the lens of a camera, specifically around South Africa under apartheid. When he came to the United States, he experienced similar issues. And he realized there was a similarity between what was happening in South Africa and what was happening in the United States. He also spent some time in Harlem, documenting African Americans, and the black experience. But the most important thing in his work is giving voice to underrepresented people. I think his work in particular, and especially having it at the Harlem stage, really lends itself well to the kind of mission and the kind of work that we want to do and highlight at the Harlem stage this year.
As one of the film festivals dedicated to showcasing independent filmmakers of color from around the world, what gaps in the industry do you feel Nova Frontier is addressing, and how has that mission evolved over the past nine years?
Since its inception, Nova Frontier has showcased and premiered many films. I think we continue to not only showcase underrepresented voices but also give them a platform and help their career to expand. We also have a lab. The Nova Frontier Lab has been working with communities in Brooklyn since its inception, teaching filmmaking and media and mentoring young people in filmmaking. So we continue, not only through the festival but through year-round programs to uplift underrepresented voices of the global majority.
Souleymane’s Story, featuring Cannes prize winner Abou Sangare, explores the experience of an undocumented immigrant in Paris. How do you balance choosing acclaimed films with discovering new voices, and what guides your curation process?
Part of what we’re doing with this film festival is also bringing films of that kind of status to the communities that would never get to go and see those films in the film festivals they premiered, like The Lincoln Center and other big film festivals in New York. So our festival has always been grounded in community, bringing films global films to the people who never really get to see them. By balancing underrepresented filmmakers with award-winning films, the program helps audiences see the potential that exists and recognize the possibilities that filmmaking can offer.
Beyond film screenings, the festival includes Q&As and panel discussions. How do these interactive elements enhance the overall experience, and what conversations are you most looking forward to facilitating this year?
I’m really looking forward to some of the films and the conversation that we’re going to be having specifically around what’s happening today with immigration in the United States. There’s a film about a Haitian refugee living and surviving inhumane conditions in Guantanamo Bay. So all of these stories will create a global dialogue around timely issues surrounding migration as well as immigration today. One of the things I must highlight about the Nova Frontier Film Festival is that every year, these films deal with themes of identity, immigration, and exile. It creates space for conversation.
Looking ahead, what’s your vision for the future of the Nova Frontier Film Festival?
Our vision is to really continue to expand. We want to strengthen our relationship with the Harlem community, continuing to bring highly curated films and programs into that community and also to expand globally in places like France and other countries like Morocco. That has always been the vision of the Nova Frontier Film Festival. To have a global presence and to continue to break down barriers, creating cross-cultural dialogue and communication with other filmmakers and communities.
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