Hampton Roads Greenbook hosted its first-ever 7 Candle Film Festival in Virginia Beach, showcasing films that highlight Black and Indigenous stories from across the United States and internationally.
Seko Varner, lead for Hampton Roads Greenbook, organized the festival inspired by Kwanzaa principles. Varner has been celebrating Kwanzaa since 1973 and wanted to try something different this year.
"We normally use to put on big Kwanzaa events in Hampton Roads area and this year I was lead to do something different this is inspired by those principles," Varner said.
The Hampton Roads Greenbook typically focuses on spotlighting local businesses and organizations, with media being one of their biggest areas of emphasis.
"The Hampton roads Greenbook focuses on spotlighting our businesses and organizations here in Hampton roads. One of the biggest areas is media. And so decided it would be great for us to take the bull by the horns," Varner said.
The festival featured films from various locations, including Italy and Ecuador, all centered on Black and Indigenous narratives that might otherwise go untold.
Hampton Roads playwright, writer, and filmmaker Terrance Afer-Anderson was a presenter at the festival, where he spoke about the importance of storytelling in African American culture.
"African Americans we have a very rich culture a culture that is rich in the arts and in storytelling a tradition goes all the way back to the griot of ancient times. And now we have this incredible for platform cinema to not just tell our story but uh to tell our story spread across a very wide canvas," Afer-Anderson said.
The festival screened 10 films total. After each screening, judges and presenters provided feedback to filmmakers. Audience members then voted to determine winners for best documentary and best film categories.
Cheryl Berry, founder of Our Brand Media and festival judge, highlighted the importance of diverse storytelling.
"Diversity is also socioeconomic its age range and that's another reason why hearing the until story is so important me because it gives everyone a voice," Berry said.
Varner indicated that Hampton Roads Greenbook plans to host it again next year, potentially even twice annually.
