The 2026 Denton Black Film Festival will include films about Quakertown, Christian rapper and UNT graduate LeCrae and Stax Records, the label known for distributing Otis Redding’s music.
The festival will take place Jan. 28 through Feb. 1, and this year’s programming centers on the theme “Hope & Courage.”
“Hope is all about having a vision [of] what you want to see happen,” said Linda Eaddy, festival associate director and director of film for DBFF. “But courage is that element of action. There has to be some action that goes with that hope. So, we thought it was just a perfect combination for this year.”
This festival will host the premiere of Quakertown USA, a documentary about the freedmen community that was forced by bond vote to relocate to what is now Southeast Denton.
“There have been books written about this,” said Neil Foote, director of public relations for DBFF. “But there was never really a documentary ... that really chronicles this story.”
The festival will also include The Inquisitor, a film about Barbara Jordan, the first Black person elected to the Texas Senate post-Reconstruction and the first Black woman from the South in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Another documentary, called Unashamed, chronicles University of North Texas graduate and Grammy winner LeCrae as he and the 116 Clique made their mark on the genre of Christian rap.
There will be a few free community screenings, including a screening of the first two episodes of Stax: Soulsville U.S.A., an HBO documentary series about Memphis soul label Stax Records.
Director Jamila Wignot and Deanie Parker, Stax Records’ first publicist, will both be at the screening for an extended Q&A. This is just one of several screenings where a filmmaker will be in attendance.
“I think I only have maybe one film block that does not have a filmmaker that will be present,” Eaddy said. “We’ll have some robust, really good conversations with the people that created this content.”
There will also be narrative films like Can You Stand the Rain. When a children’s author unexpectedly passes away, his group of childhood friends reunite at his funeral and face grief, lost hopes and hidden tensions between them.
The festival will also include the Laugh Out Loud Comedy Showcase, a live musical performance by Nashville-based jazz and soul musician Kandace Springs, art exhibitions at UNT CoLab and Texas Woman’s University and much more.
“DBFF is really a next-generation film festival,” Festival Executive Director Harry Eaddy said. “When you look at most film festivals, they include film. Ours, as we’ve already detailed, has much, much more. So, we really think that’s an important part of really telling that cultural story, if you will.”
DBFF also hosts workshops and panels for filmmakers and members of the public. There will be panels focusing on voiceover work, the impact of artificial intelligence in creative fields, the state of Black churches and more.
“This is the most content-rich festival, in my mind, that we’ve ever had,” Harry Eaddy said. “There’s just so many amazing things.”
Plus, the festival doesn’t technically end on Feb. 1, it just becomes virtual. From Feb. 1 at 8 p.m. through Feb. 8, most of the films featured at the festival will be available to watch online.
The festival draws filmmakers and attendees from Texas and beyond. Linda Eaddy said the festival will feature filmmakers from Los Angeles, New York and Brazil.
She also said there are several attendees who have come to the festival every year since it began.
“Even though you’ve been one year, the next year is going to be different,” she said. “There’s going to different films. We’re going to have different opportunities and different things for you to see and do. So it’s never the same each year.”
For a full list of programming, visit dbff26.eventive.org/films to see all almost 100 screenings in narrative features, documentaries, music videos and student films.
For more information about the festival and to purchase tickets and passes, visit dbff26.eventive.org/passes/buy. Passes are available now.
CAMILA GONZALEZ can be reached at 940-566-6830 and cgonzalez@dentonrc.com.
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