When cinephile and Germantown resident Stephanye R. Watts entered the world of independent cinema, she discovered a troubling pattern.
“I started to notice there were no other Black people in the theater, unless they were like 60-plus,” Watts says. “Black millennials are on the internet, talking about wanting to see more Black films, and … I’m going to all these different independent cinemas but … people aren’t here.”
It was then, amid the #OscarsSoWhite movement, that she decided to form BeReel Black Cinema Club, a group dedicated to amplifying independent, archival and previously inaccessible Black films, one meetup at a time. “We’re just trying to let the world know independent Black cinema exists,” Watts says. “It is vast, it is deep, and it’s playing around you all the time.”
BeReel began in February 2017, while Watts was living in New York City, through a partnership with Gina Duncan, then-head of the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s film department. In 2022, Watts returned to her hometown of Philadelphia, where she has expanded the club’s reach. The group promotes local screenings of Black-led and -directed films and encourages Black film lovers throughout Philadelphia to attend screening meetups, helping ensure Blackness is reflected in the audience as well as onscreen. “Our members are people who genuinely care about the future of Black arts and culture,” Watts explains. “They understand the importance of the Black film canon, and that in order for it to sustain, we have to show up for it. These are people who are committed to shoring up the future of Black filmmaking outside of the Hollywood system.”
The Philadelphia Film Society (PFS) is the club’s official institutional partner, following its status as a primary screening location. BeReel also works with other Black-led community engagement groups through PFS, including Greedy In The City, a boutique culinary event club founded by Jae Rich. The two groups collaborated this year to hold a screening of “Soul Food” as part of Rich’s annual “Wine and Watch” series at PFS. “In my full-time job, I work in public history and museums, so my part in that was bringing some archival ephemera that connected to the film,” Watts says.
Jasmine Hawkins, director of community engagement at PFS, says the partnership began in early 2023. “What Stephanye was looking for aligned with our mission to make films accessible, to showcase diverse voices and amplify representation,” she says. Through her camaraderie with other PFS affiliates, Watts’ work has been instrumental in helping PFS build demographics in its audiences that it hasn’t traditionally reached. “I think the partners coming together has definitely expanded PFS’s awareness with Black audiences throughout Philadelphia,” Hawkins says.
BeReel’s summer lineup highlights multiple upcoming screenings that show that “Black cinema is alive in Philadelphia!” as announced on its Instagram. The group has also expressed excitement for the upcoming Blackstar Film Festival, which Watts says BeReel supports every year. The festival will take place from Aug. 6-9, showcasing films made by Black, Brown and Indigenous filmmakers from across the globe.
BeReel also attends the New York African Film Festival annually, according to Watts, where she has started to see more younger folks in attendance. “I think [the Philly film scene] still has a ways to go in terms of growing Black audiences, but I have faith that we’ll get there. The ecosystem is set, there’s places in the area beyond just PFS even, like Scribe, cinéSpeak, Bryn Mawr, etc. The infrastructure is here, so I just hope we get to a place where Black audiences take hold of what’s being offered to us,” she says.
When it comes to Philly’s engagement with Black cinema, Watts hopes to see more of these screenings sell out. “When I go see independent Black films by myself, I don’t like being the only Black person in the theater. I want to see us in the room, I want us to be more aware and support the arts. The reason why Philadelphia has been such a capital in terms of Black art and culture for over 250 years — because we’ve had a free Black community here for that long — is because people show up. What I want to see is millennials and Gen Z showing up and supporting, not just people over 60, so that we can continue to have this rich legacy of Black art in the city.”
To learn more about the club, visit their Instagram @bereelblackcinemaclub.
