Ahead of the inaugural HBCU film festival in Detroit established by the Autumn Sun organization, founder and Detroit native, Bruce Clifton said the idea for the festival started in 2018 while visiting an HBCU in North Carolina.

“I was visiting Greensboro and I went up to North Carolina A&T to do some work in the Office of Advancement because I wanted to give back,” Clifton said. “While I filled out the paperwork for that, The woman in advancement asked me, well, what do you do for a living? She says, you know what? We don’t have the infrastructure at this time to, you know, have any kind of like filmmaking program within our curriculum, but we love to work with you to build kind of like an initiative that the kids can participate in.”

Clifton began working on ways to create opportunities for students. A film showcase process began with A&T from 2018-2020 and was set to launch in Fall 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic began earlier that year, which resulted in shutdowns of many things across the globe.

Throughout that process, Clifton said partnerships were developed which helped launch a virtual award show in 2022. With a different experience under his belt, the HBCU film festival is set for Aug. 23 and 24 in Detroit.

Why just HBCU students for this festival? Clifton said it’s because that’s where the original concept began.

“These students have so much enthusiasm,” Clifton said. “They just want opportunities. So it made sense. They cool. We’ll focus on this and maybe I’ll build out in the future. I want to get to a place where we, when we create platforms and showcase the creativity on these campuses and the enthusiasm on the campuses; I believe every HBCU, no matter the size, can be a communications powerhouse.”

Following the peak of COVID-19 and the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike, Clifton said “It’s never been a more and more important time to really kind of explore independent filming.”

He highlights the importance of ownership for the students and the ability to pull resources together.

“You see places like KevOnStage and things like that, where they now have these filings where they can do these projects, people are loving these projects, I want them to have those same, those same type of resources, those same type of resources and access.”

The HBCU film festival will help with those things, given the time to connect with others and a monetary prize. However, judging art can be a tricky thing. There are different layers to what a person may like to watch or create, but Clifton’s focus is deeper than that.

“When you’re quantifying art, it’s not about whether it’s good or bad. Does it  leave an impact?” Clifton said. “Am I thinking about it afterward? You can be as aggressive or extrovert as you want, but make sure you’re making what you want to make, take creative risk. And, you know, don’t be worried about failing. It’s like saying, you fail this, guess what? You’re still getting your degree. You’re not going to stop. You’re not going to lose out on anything. But you learn from that.”

Leaving an impact is what led Clifton to bring the HBCU film festival to his hometown of Detroit. With support of from the City of Detroit Office of Arts, Culture, and Entrepreneurship, The Skillman Foundation, Ally Financial, 313 Presents, and Alabama A&M University, Autumn Sun’s HBCU film festival will soon be underway in one of the most prosperous Black cities in America.

See the Top 25 finalists here.

Clifton hopes to be able to bring 50 finalists next year or in 2016. He also plans to host another event that will have 25 Black short film finalists between the ages of 18-30, as well as turn this festival international.

“I’m from here. I know the city, I know the culture,” Clifton said. “I want to turn my home to the foundation for like the next generation of filmmakers and creators in general and be an annual event where people could fly to the city and just be amongst Black art and just celebrate Blackness and Blackness across the board.

Contact:

Website: www.autumnsunfest.org

Instagram: @Autumnsunfest

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