Tuesday, August 4, 2026

Black August Film Festival Marks Fifth Year in Pasadena as Altadena Fire Recovery Anchors Program

[photo credit; Black August Film Festival]

Screenings set for the Flintridge Center and the Watercooler Room; the foundation has published conflicting dates

The Pasadena African American Film Foundation will present the fifth annual Black August Film Festival this month at venues in Pasadena, Los Angeles and, the foundation says, Altadena, with films examining the January 2025 Eaton Fire among the selections.

Every ticket the foundation is selling is dated Saturday, August 15, or Sunday, August 16. Its published dates otherwise vary: the press release announcing the fifth anniversary gives August 12 through 16, the foundation’s website gives August 14 through 16, and its promotional banner and its Pasadena Black Pages social media account give August 16 and 17.

Saturday’s thirteen screening blocks are set for the Flintridge Center, 236 West Mountain Street, Suite 106, with start times from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Sunday’s program moves to the Watercooler Room at Jazzy Jam for Empowerment, opening at 10:30 a.m. and closing with the awards ceremony. A general all-access pass costs $45.00 and single blocks cost $15.00. Ticket sales end August 16.

In the release, founder and festival director Dennis Haywood said the festival “belongs to the community,” tying its fifth year to a commitment to independent filmmakers and to stories that might otherwise go untold.

The release also lists a screening of “All the Walls Came Down,” Ondi Timoner’s 39-minute documentary about the Eaton Fire and the Altadena community, followed by a discussion of recovery efforts. Timoner, whose Altadena home burned on January 7, 2025, made the film through Interloper Films, her Pasadena-based company. It premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on August 31, 2025, and was shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film at the 98th Academy Awards. It did not receive a nomination. Timoner has twice won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize for documentary at Sundance and was nominated for an Emmy for “Last Flight Home.”

Confirmed selections include “Beneath the Ashes,” scheduled Saturday at 6:00 p.m., and “Ker.” Sunday’s awards block pairs “Alpha Centauri,” “SuperSHEro: The Journey of Johna Rivers,” “Dena Matriarchs” and “Toll” with the ceremony. Awards are presented in six categories, among them Best Feature Documentary, Most Historical Film and Best Foreign Film.

The foundation held the first Black August Film Festival in 2022. Last year’s edition screened 50 films from 22 countries for an audience of more than 400, and the foundation has said it plans to show 70 films this year.

Black August began in 1979 at San Quentin State Prison, where incarcerated men marked the deaths of brothers Jonathan P. Jackson, killed August 7, 1970, and George Jackson, killed August 21, 1971. The foundation identifies Jonathan Jackson as a Pasadena resident.

The foundation also runs the Michael Zinzun Film and Journalistic School, a 12-week program for aspiring filmmakers and journalists from underserved communities. That program culminates in a student-produced film documenting Altadena’s recovery and rebuilding after the Eaton Fire.

NEED TO KNOW 

The 5th Annual Black August Film Festival, presented by the Pasadena African American Film Foundation, holds ticketed screenings Saturday, August 15, and Sunday, August 16, 2026. Saturday’s blocks begin at start times from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the Flintridge Center, 236 West Mountain Street, Suite 106, Pasadena, California 91103. Sunday’s program begins at 10:30 a.m. at the Watercooler Room at Jazzy Jam for Empowerment, with “Dear Black Writers” at 1:00 p.m. and the awards ceremony that afternoon. Admission is $45.00 for a general all-access pass or $15.00 per block, and ticket sales end August 16. For more, call (626) 241-5714 or the Flintridge Center at (626) 449-0839, or visit blackaugustfilmfest.com.