The African Diaspora International Film Festival (ADIFF) finds great films about the struggles and triumphs of the African Diaspora. The ADIFF tells wonderful stories, many of which haven’t been told yet.
#NYADIFF
The African Diaspora International Film Festival is the only Film Festival where I want to see every movie
because it shows Black Culture in many ways and places you didn’t expect.”
Iroko “Kíko” Keith Widyolar, New York Latin Culture Magazine
African Diaspora International Film Festival ~ Black History Month 2026
The African Diaspora International Film Festival ~ Black History Month 2026 Edition; is at Teachers College at Columbia University in Morningside Heights, Manhattan; from February 27 – March 1, 2026. From $13. 🇧🇷 🇨🇩 🇭🇹 🇯🇲 🇵🇷 🇿🇦 🇪🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇾
This season includes stories by or about African American, Brazilian, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haitian, Jamaican, Puerto Rican, South African, Spanish, Uruguayan people and culture.
The Opening Night Program focuses on African Diasporic contributions to Latin music, most of which have long been denied, but whose truths are now more accepted, especially by young people.
“Candombe,” by Rafael Deugenio (1993), explores the Afro-Uruguayan drum, song, and dance tradition that has become the soul of Uruguay.
When I first looked into candombe, I was surprised that white people were actively participating in Black culture, because it seems like all Uruguayans do it. But that was the ignorance of my American cultural background. Most Uruguayans don’t see candombe as a white or Black thing. They see it as an Uruguayan thing.
It’s the heart of Uruguayan Carnival, the world’s longest, which lasts from late January to early March, and is a beautiful expression of humanity.
Candombe is an important step in a bigger story. Of course, the story begins in Mother Afrika, but lands in the Americas as Brazilian Candomblé, one of the three main African Diasporic religions that developed in the Americas. If you know Cuban Lucumí, Candomblé is similar, with its own variations of the traditions.
Uruguay is wedged between Brazil and Argentina. Brazilian Candomblé became Uruguay candombe, which became the Argentine candombe dance, which became milonga dance, which blended with European traditions to become Argentine tango.
The African roots are still there if you know how to see them. Tango is a walking dance. The circle of dance is counterclockwise because the circle in the Yowa cosmological diagram of the Kongo people (representing the soul’s journey through life and the sun’s daily journey) is counterclockwise. So dancing tango is a ritual reenactment of the soul’s journey in Kongo tradition. (This is my own scholarship, as a 20-year global tango dancer and student of Lucumí and 21 Divisiones. So if you quote this, please quote me, Iroko “Kíko” Keith Widyolar, New York Latin Culture Magazine Founder. Interestingly, it was La Altagracia, the patron saint of the Dominican Republic who taught me this, while staying just a few feet from the 500-year old sacred trees at Plaza Colón in Santo Domingo. Why a Catholic saint would point me to African culture is beyond me.)
Tango Nuevo, the club tango that emerged in the 2000s has strong Uruguayan influences. Argentines claim tango nuevo as their own, but many of the originators of the style were Uruguayan, and you can hear the candombe rhythms in it.
“Gurumbe: Afro-Andalusian Memories” by M. Angel Rosale (2016) explores the Black contribution to Spanish flamenco. Flamenco is from Andalusía, the southern tip of Spain, about 8 miles (13 km) from Africa. Since the ancestors left Africa, there has always been migration in both directions.
The Romani originators of flamenco took two paths to Andalusiá, north of the Mediterranean through Europe, and south through Arab lands and North Africa. They picked up traditions all along the way. The quejío, the flamenco cry, derives from the call to prayer in Islam, one of the great African religions.
Human culture usually originates in the most marginalized communities. In Andalusía, those included the Romani and Africans, both free and enslaved. It’s worth noting that Spain had free Africans, including the first Africans in the Americas who came with the early Spanish explorers.
These Opening Night films show our common humanity. There are many more great stories that you want to see.