Alma Film Festival Brings Award-Winning Documentary Je Suis Noire to Atlanta for Expanded Series of Screenings and Public Conversations

Directed by Rachel M'Bon and Juliana Fanjul, the acclaimed documentary receives Alma’s Best Documentary Award and the inaugural Dr. Cornel West Award for Global Truth & Cultural Conscience as the festival expands its engagement with the film across Atlanta

ATLANTA — The Alma Film Festival will continue its ongoing engagement with the acclaimed documentary Je Suis Noire (Becoming a Black Woman), directed by Rachel M'Bon and Juliana Fanjul, with a series of screenings, conversations and cultural engagements taking place throughout Atlanta as part of Ent-Tech (Innovation & Discovery Expo), September 30–October 4, 2026.

The presentation represents far more than a traditional festival screening.

Since first engaging with the film, Alma has built an expanding conversation around Je Suis Noire—using the documentary as a catalyst for dialogue about identity, race, womanhood, belonging, visibility and the often-unspoken realities experienced by Black women across national and cultural boundaries.

That relationship began taking shape in Atlanta earlier this year.

On May 30, 2026, Alma presented a special advance screening of Je Suis Noire at Palate Atlanta Tasting Room for a select gathering of executive and professional women. The intimate presentation was followed by an expansive community conversation in which attendees reflected on the film, their own lived experiences, and the larger questions it raises about race, gender, professional life, cultural identity, and belonging.

The evening was met with an extraordinary response and reinforced Alma’s belief that the most consequential films do not end when the credits roll—they become the beginning of a larger conversation.

Je Suis Noire has since been named the 2026 Alma Film Festival Best Documentary.

In addition, Rachel M'Bon has received the inaugural Dr. Cornel West Award for Global Truth & Cultural Conscience, a distinction established by the Alma Film Festival to recognize artists, filmmakers and cultural voices whose work demonstrates the courage to confront difficult truths while creating space for deeper understanding, human connection and public discourse.

Named in honor of internationally renowned philosopher, scholar and public intellectual Dr. Cornel West, the award recognizes work that refuses intellectual or cultural complacency—work that asks audiences not simply to observe the world, but to examine it.

The award reflects a central principle of Alma’s work: that cinema can function simultaneously as art, historical record, cultural intelligence and a catalyst for meaningful civic conversation.

“Je Suis Noire is exactly the kind of film we believe deserves sustained engagement,” said Anthony R. Page, Festival Director and Cultural Architect of the Alma Film Festival. “This is not a film we wanted to screen once, applaud and move away from. Rachel and Juliana have created a work that opens doors to conversations that are deeply personal, culturally specific and, at the same time, extraordinarily universal. Every time we bring people into conversation around this film, another layer reveals itself.”

At the center of the documentary is Rachel M'Bon, whose deeply personal exploration of Black womanhood in Switzerland becomes a broader examination of race, identity and belonging within European society.

Working alongside co-director Juliana Fanjul, M'Bon transforms personal inquiry into cinematic investigation, creating a film that moves between autobiography, social observation and collective testimony.

The result is an intimate yet expansive work that challenges audiences to consider how race is seen, discussed, denied and experienced—and how Black women navigate societies in which their presence can simultaneously be highly visible and culturally marginalized.

That ability to move from the personal to the global is central to Alma’s continued interest in the film.

Rachel M'Bon in a reflective moment from Je Suis Noire (Becoming a Black Woman). Screenshot from the film.

As part of the 2026 Ent-Tech (Innovation & Discovery Expo) in Atlanta, Je Suis Noire will be presented through additional screenings and conversations at locations throughout the city, extending the dialogue into academic, professional and community environments.

The Atlanta presentations are part of Alma’s larger commitment to developing what it describes as a cinema of sustained engagement—an approach in which significant films continue to circulate through communities, institutions and conversations rather than disappearing after a single festival appearance.

Through that model, the festival seeks to connect filmmakers directly with audiences while creating opportunities for scholars, executives, students, cultural leaders and community members to participate in the conversation surrounding the work.

For Alma, Je Suis Noire has become an important part of that evolving ecosystem.

“We are interested in what happens when a powerful film is given room to live,” Page added. “What happens when you bring it to executives, students, scholars, women, young people and communities with different cultural experiences? The film remains the same, but the conversation changes. That is where cinema begins to become cultural intelligence.”

Left to right: Lori Gadson, real estate professional; Dr. Barbara Joy Jones-Parks, family physician; and Demetric Hillman, founder of G.L.O.W. Syndicate, following a private screening of Je Suis Noire (Becoming a Black Woman) at Palate Atlanta Tasting Room.

The upcoming Atlanta presentations will also further connect Je Suis Noire to the broader international work of the Alma Film Festival, whose expanding network brings together filmmakers, scholars, technologists, cultural institutions and creative professionals from across the United States, the Caribbean, Africa, Latin America, Europe, the Pacific and the wider Global South.

Additional screening locations, participating guests and public-program details for Je Suis Noire will be announced as the Ent-Tech Atlanta Innovation & Discovery Expo approaches.

ABOUT JE SUIS NOIRE

Directed by Rachel M'Bon and Juliana Fanjul, Je Suis Noire (Becoming a Black Woman) examines Black womanhood, race, identity and belonging through an intimate and deeply personal lens. Rooted in the experiences of Black women in Switzerland, the documentary expands into a larger interrogation of visibility, cultural identity and the complexities of navigating societies in which conversations about race are often unresolved or unspoken.

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

2026 Alma Film Festival — Best Documentary

Rachel M'Bon — Inaugural Dr. Cornel West Award for Global Truth & Cultural Conscience

The Dr. Cornel West Award for Global Truth & Cultural Conscience honors artists and cultural voices whose work demonstrates intellectual courage, confronts difficult social truths, and expands the possibilities for dialogue, cultural understanding, and human connection.

ATLANTA 2026

Je Suis Noire will be presented in Atlanta as part of Ent-Tech (Innovation & Discovery Expo), taking place September 30–October 4, 2026, through a series of screenings and public conversations across the city.

Additional details will be announced.

Click Here to View The Full Ent-Tech Atlanta Five-Day Schedule

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MEDIA & PROGRAM INFORMATION

For additional information, media inquiries, or program participation:

festivaldirector@almafilmfestival.com

Alma Film Festival
Ent-Tech (Innovation & Discovery Expo)
Afro-Mosaic Cinema Summit