A Film Festival For HBCU Students Is Coming To Detroit This Summer

A film festival for HBCU students is being hosted at Michigan Central Station in August. The Autumn Sun film festival will take place on Aug. 23 and 24 and includes film screenings, panel discussions and gala, according to Axios . 2024 marks the event’s third installment.

Student filmmakers from 107 HBCUs are expected to attend. The screenings will be hosted at Newlab at Michigan Central, a newly renovated train station. The winner will be announced on Aug. 24 and given a $10,000 award. The festival will conclude with a gala honoring the students at Michigan Central.

“We believe that artists are innovators and that great innovation requires great inspiration. So we need the help of our artists and our filmmakers to offer critique,” Nate Wallace, who serves as head of civic partnerships for Michigan Central, said in an interview with Axios . “We need that human element that arts provide to create the type of place we want to build.”

“The arts, especially film and cinematography, has played a critical role in the fight for justice,” City Council President Mary Sheffield said. “African American filmmakers, actors and actresses have been at the core.”

The news comes as HBCUs face critical underfunding across the U.S. As Blavity reported, since 2023, the disparity between HBCUs and PWIs has been the focus of Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack. They addressed letters to 16 governors, noting that HBCUs have been subject to a $12 billion disparity in funding.