cinéSPEAK

bringing the under-represented and eclectic to the forefront of the Philadelphia cinema scene

We are a Philadelphia-based cinema and film publication that engages diverse audiences through our globally-minded contemporary and repertory independent film programming; creating space and centering the stories of individuals and communities that are often underrepresented in mainstream cinema. We promote community togetherness and global understanding by engaging film enthusiasts while cultivat

ing the next generation of discerning moviegoers; encouraging people to demand social justice both on-screen and throughout society

cinéSPEAK is an independent charitable 501(c)(3).

08/30/2026

🎥 Thursday, September 10: Catch the 5th annual People's Media Fund local filmmaker showcase ⁠
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When we’re adrift, rootless, cut off from our stories, how can we use ritual to help reclaim what’s ours?⁠
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Join us for a special People's Media Fund screening featuring work by nine Greater Philadelphia filmmakers whose films explore answers to those very questions. ⁠
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🌱 Come learn the rituals, traditions, relationships, and shared experiences that shape identity, belonging, and community across diasporic communities throughout Philadelphia and beyond. Many of us have been displaced from our home countries, yet con fuerza (with strength), we find ways to rebuild home, preserve traditions, care for one another, and carve new pathways in unfamiliar places.⁠
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🎞️ The evening will feature:⁠
✨ Stand Up for Madinah
✨ A Song for Nia
✨ Q***r Memoirs
✨ Broken: A Docu-Series on Black Men’s Mental Health
✨ Ulrick Jean-Pierre: Guardian of History
✨ Líneas Imaginarias: Perseguidos (Imaginary Lines: Chased)
✨ Our Center, Our Home: The Ukrainians of Philadelphia
✨ Miwa
✨ Love, Lusine
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Together, these films take us across communities, cultures, languages, and experiences while asking what we carry with us, what we reclaim, and how storytelling can help us create a sense of home. 💛🏠🌍⁠
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📅 Thursday, September 10, 2026⁠
⏰ 6:00 PM⁠
📍 The Rotunda, 4014 Walnut St⁠
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Come celebrate Philly filmmakers through an evening to be rooted in community through storytelling! What are you waiting for?

Get your ticket: https://cinespeak.eventive.org/schedule/6a7ca00e8628219cdda1ae18
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cinéSPEAK is proud to participate in this paid partnership with People's Media Fund. If you’d like to learn more about hiring cinéSPEAK to put on film screenings, including curating the screenings and managing the productions, please reach out to us!✉️

08/29/2026

Join us at Philadelphia Fringe Festival! ⁠
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An award-winning documentary, a photo exhibition celebrating rural LGBTQ+ life, and a homegrown drag show converge in one unforgettable night. 🚜👸⁠
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On September 17th, join cinéSPEAK and the Philadelphia Fringe Festival for Amish Country Q***r, a one-night documentary screening showcasing Lancaster's q***r nightlife and drag culture! This is a story about what it means to be unapologetically q***r in a place the world told you wasn't built for you. This is a night of celebration of q***r bodies, q***r lives, and q***r autonomy. Q***rness has never been confined to city limits, and this night proves it.🌽🏳️‍⚧️⁠
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The screening takes place at the Asian Arts Initiative Black Box Theater, a wheelchair accessible venue, at 5:00 PM and 7:00PM. Tickets are $25 sliding scale. Join us on a celebration of glamour and sisterhood. 🎟️📽️⁠
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Register: https://phillyfringe.org/events/amish-country-q***r-a-night-of-film-art-drag/

08/28/2026

🎬🍿 Philadelphia’s September film calendar is PACKED!⁠
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Back-to-school energy is in the air, and Philly’s independent film scene is getting busy. ✨ Our September 2026 Philadelphia Monthly Cinema Arts Round-Up is here with screenings, festivals, filmmaker Q&As, community events, and new film series happening across the city.⁠
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This month includes the Philly premiere of Queen Mother: Falaka Fattah and the House of Umoja, Africa’s Cultural Landmarks at Scribe, Selah & The Spades with filmmaker Tayarisha Poe, the 5th Annual People’s Media Fund Local Filmmakers Showcase, the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, the launch of cinéKIDZ, People’s Cinema Club, and more! 🎥🌟⁠
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📅 Start planning your September movie calendar and support Philly’s vibrant film community.⁠
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🔗 Read the full September round-up: https://cinespeak.org/cinema/

08/27/2026

cinéKIDZ is here, so have no fear! Come see the delightful selection of children’s programming we’ve got waiting at the West Philly libraries over the course of the fall. 👶🏽📽️⁠
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cinéKIDZ invites children ages 3 to 10 and their caregivers to discover magical worlds, unforgettable characters, and stories that inspire curiosity, kindness, and wonder. Each FREE monthly gathering transforms the libraries into a playful movie experience. 🎶🎨⁠
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Enjoy complimentary lunch, stories, art-making, films, games, movie theater popcorn...and so much more! 🍿📚⁠
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Monthly offerings:⁠
-Sept. 19: Season Kick Off at Cobbs Creek Library 🎞🐜⁠
-Oct 17: Turning Red — with YES! at Kingsessing Library 🐼🔴⁠
-Nov 21: Earwig & the Witch — in partnership with Philly Childcare Collective at 52nd Street Library 🐈‍⬛🧙‍♀️ ⁠
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The kiddos won’t want to miss this! Register: https://cinespeak.org/cinema/
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cinéKIDZ is presented thanks to generous lead support from the William Penn Foundation.

08/26/2026

2 Weeks Away! Join us for a special back-to-school screening with Philly-based filmmaker Tayarisha Poe's brilliant debut, Selah & The Spades (2019)! 🍻🍂 ⁠
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Paloma, the new girl at an esteemed prep school, is drawn into the daily aggressions of warring senior class factions. She joins the Spades and becomes friends with the Spades’ leader, an enigmatic and scheming cheerleader named Selah. 🎉🏫 ⁠
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🍻 Happy Hour 5–7 PM ($9 sangria, $1 off beer & wine, $10 specialty cocktail)⁠
🎥 7:00 PM — Film Screening (arrive early to snag your seats!)⁠—Director Tayarisha Poe in person! ⁠
🍿 Free movie theater-style popcorn from cinéSPEAK⁠!⁠
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This event is FREE to attend! If you'd like to support cinéSPEAK's work bringing independent and community-centered cinema to Philadelphia, please consider a $5+ donation. ❤️⁠😉⁠
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What are you waiting for? Tell your friends and RSVP: https://cinespeak.eventive.org/schedule/6a55009312d4540340e6b0f0

08/25/2026

🎞️✨ Join us on Tuesday, September 29 for the Philadelphia Premiere of Do You Love Me, presented by cinéSPEAK as part of People's Cinema Club! ❤️‍🔥📽️⁠
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Do You Love Me is a playful and deeply personal journey through Lebanon’s audiovisual memory, created entirely from archival footage. Spanning 70 years of film, television, home videos, and photography, the documentary is a love letter to Beirut and the people who have documented its joy, intimacy, destruction, and loss. 🇱🇧🎥⁠
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In a country without a national archive, the film pieces together a fragmented history through the eyes of citizens, filmmakers, and artists, celebrating creative expression as an act of resistance, renewal, and preserving memory. 🫶🏽✨⁠
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⏰ Event Flow:⁠
—6:30 PM: Doors Open 🚪⁠
—7:00 PM: Do You Love Me begins 🎬⁠
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📍 Village of Industry and Art⁠
📅 Tuesday, September 29⁠
🎟️ FREE + accessible admission⁠
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People’s Cinema Club is a FREE weekly film series curated by a few of Philadelphia’s beloved independent film community organizations—BlackStar, cinéSPEAK, Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival, and Philadelphia Latino Arts & Film Festival.⁠ 🍿🌟⁠
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Grab a seat. Bring your friends. This is cinema for the people. ❤️‍🔥⁠
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🔗 Register: https://cinespeak.eventive.org/schedule/6a7b609adc48ed1f53156b67

08/21/2026

Vote for us today! Under the Stars is nominated for Best Film Festival!

Time is running out to show your love, so go out and vote today!!🏆✨

Metro Philly’s Best of Philly nominations let residents show some love to the places and people that make the Philly area special. By voting for your favorite local events in each category, you can give your favorites the spotlight they deserve.❤️‍🔥🎆

Voting officially begins on Monday, 6/29 Vote until 08/31/2026 @ 12:01 PM Eastern. You can vote for Under the Stars as Best Film Festival through the following link: https://metrophillysbest.com/ #/gallery/549214510 🔗

Votes refresh daily, so come back to lift up Under the Stars until the very end of the contest! Under the Stars is a product of the wonderful community of supporters and fans that cinéSPEAK has gathered in West Philly and beyond. We could never do this without you, so use your votes to show yourselves the support and care for making something truly wonderful. Thanks for all you do!🌃🎉

08/20/2026

🎬✨ CON FUERZA, FROM THE DIASPORA: RITUALS AND RECLAIMING OUR STORIES presented by People's Media Fund and produced by cinéSPEAK ✨🌎⁠
⁠
How can rituals ground us in reclaiming our stories when we’re far from our roots?⁠
⁠
Join us for a special People's Media Fund Local Filmmaker Showcase featuring work by nine Greater Philadelphia filmmakers whose films explore the rituals, traditions, relationships, and shared experiences that shape identity, belonging, and community across diasporic and Philadelphia-rooted perspectives.⁠
⁠
🌱 Many of us have been displaced from our home countries because of political and climate instability, q***rness, gentrification, and corporate greed. Yet, con fuerza (with strength), we find ways to rebuild home, preserve traditions, care for one another, and carve new pathways in unfamiliar places.⁠
⁠
🎞️ The evening will feature:⁠
⁠
✨ Stand Up for Madinah
✨ A Song for Nia
✨ Q***r Memoirs
✨ Broken: A Docu-Series on Black Men’s Mental Health
✨ Ulrick Jean-Pierre: Guardian of History ⁠
✨ Líneas Imaginarias: Perseguidos (Imaginary Lines: Chased)
✨ Our Center, Our Home: The Ukrainians of Philadelphia⁠
✨ Miwa
✨ Love, Lusine
⁠
Together, these films take us across communities, cultures, languages, and experiences while asking what we carry with us, what we reclaim, and how storytelling can help us create a sense of home. 💛🏠🌍⁠
⁠
📅 Thursday, September 10, 2026⁠
⏰ 6:00 PM⁠
📍 The Rotunda⁠
4014 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104⁠
⁠
Come celebrate Philly filmmakers and an evening of community-rooted storytelling!

Get your ticket: https://cinespeak.eventive.org/schedule/6a7ca00e8628219cdda1ae18
⁠
cinéSPEAK is proud to participate in this paid partnership with People's Media Fund. If you’d like to learn more about hiring cinéSPEAK to put on film screenings, including curating the screenings and managing the productions, please reach out to us! ✉️

08/19/2026

🎬✨ INTRODUCING PEOPLE’S CINEMA CLUB! ✨🎬⁠
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A new weekly microcinema project is coming to the heart of Philadelphia, and cinéSPEAK is excited to be part of it! 🍿❤️⁠
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People's Cinema Club is a FREE weekly film series curated by a few of Philadelphia’s beloved independent film community organizations—BlackStar, cinéSPEAK, Philadelphia Asian American Film Foundation and Philadelphia Latino Arts & Film Festival.⁠
⁠
cinéSPEAK is especially excited to bring TWO Philadelphia premieres to the series this fall:⁠
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🎥 DO YOU LOVE ME — Philadelphia Premiere⁠
📅 Tuesday, September 29, 2026⁠
🚪 Doors: 6:30 PM | 🎬 Film: 7:00 PM⁠
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🎥 WHO MOVES AMERICA — Philadelphia Premiere⁠
📅 Tuesday, October 27, 2026⁠
🚪 Doors: 6:30 PM | 🎬 Film: 7:00 PM⁠
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📍 The Village of Industry & Art, 320 S. Broad Street⁠
🎟️ FREE to attend —Registration requested
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Join us every Tuesday at 7:00 PM (Doors at 6:30 PM) and experience the magic of movies right on the Avenue of the Arts.

Get your ticket: https://cinespeak.org/cinema/
⁠
Grab a seat. Bring your friends. This is cinema for the people. ❤️🎬

08/18/2026

Introducing cinéKIDZ—our new children’s program! 👶🏽📽️⁠
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cinéKIDZ invites children ages 3 to 10 and their caregivers to discover magical worlds, unforgettable characters, and stories that inspire curiosity, kindness, and wonder. ⁠
⁠
Each FREE monthly gathering transforms a West Philly Free Library branch into a playful movie experience with films, hands-on art activities, live music, and conversations designed just for young audiences. ⁠
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In partnership with local artists and community organizations, cinéKIDZ celebrates imagination, diverse perspectives, and the joy of storytelling while helping children build empathy, confidence, and meaningful connections with one another. ⁠
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🤗 Thanks to our inaugural season partners Asian Americans United, Philly Childcare Collective, Radical Therapy Center,Yes! to Consent, and our venue hosts at Cobbs Creek, Free Library of West Philly, Kingsessing Library and Walnut St West Library.
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📖🌳 In September, join us for our kick off outdoors Cobbs Creek Library to celebrate our inaugural cinéKIDZ season! (If it rains, we’ll move inside)⁠
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⏰ cinéKIDZ Kick Off Party Event Flow:⁠
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Saturday, September 19th⁠
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—12:00 PM: Event Start⁠
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—Throughout the event:⁠
🎶 Music by DJ Courtnee Owens ⁠
🎨 Meet the Artist: Kah Yangni ⁠
🎞️ cinéKIDZ short film program ⁠
🧃Complimentary food and cold-pressed juices by Blkberry Juice Bar ⁠
🍿 Movie theater popcorn by cinéSPEAK⁠
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—12:30 - 1:15 PM: Live Performance: Ants On A LogMusic 🐜⁠
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—2:00-2:30 PM: Story time with Cobbs Creek Library‘s Ms. Christina 📚⁠
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—3:30 PM: Event Wraps ⁠
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Bring the children for a chance to celebrate imagination, diverse perspectives, and the joy of storytelling while building empathy, confidence, and meaningful connections with the community. 🎟️❤️‍🔥⁠
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What are you waiting for? Register for FREE: https://cinespeak.org/cinema/
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cinéKIDZ is presented thanks to generous lead support from the William Penn Foundation.⁠
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🎨 2026-27 Season art by Kah Yangni 💖

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Website

http://www.cinespeak.org/

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