Alma Film Festival Brings Five Days of Cinema, Cultural Inquiry and Emerging Technology to Atlanta
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Ent-Tech (Innovation & Discovery Expo) and the Afro-Mosaic Cinema Summit will bring scholars, filmmakers, artists, innovators, and cultural leaders together September 30–October 4 for a cross-disciplinary gathering connecting Atlanta to an expanding international network.
ATLANTA — The Alma Film Festival will bring its global platform to Atlanta September 30–October 4, 2026, for five days spanning cinema, scholarship, artificial intelligence, immersive media, cultural history, music, and international exchange.
Presented through Ent-Tech (Innovation & Discovery Expo) and the Afro-Mosaic Cinema Summit, the five-day gathering will span film screenings, public conversations, think tanks and symposia, emerging technology demonstrations, live performance and international exchange—inviting audiences not simply to observe, but to participate in conversations shaping culture, storytelling and the technologies transforming entertainment.
The week opens Wednesday evening with an intimate cultural salon at Palate Atlanta Tasting Room in Castleberry Hill.
On Thursday, the focus turns to Morehouse College for Centering 1526: Symposium & Imbongi, a day of scholarship and cultural inquiry led by Dr. Samuel T. Livingston of the Department of Africana Studies and History in collaboration with the Afro-Mosaic Cinema Summit.
The program will explore Gullah Geechee and Africana history through scholarship, student research, public dialogue and community exchange, with acclaimed author, educator, performer and Gullah Geechee cultural interpreter Ron Daise delivering the day’s keynote address.
Throughout the week, featured participants will include Tallulah Patricia Bär, founder of AfroSwissters and TheSwissPanAfrican and one of the cultural leaders featured in the award-winning documentary Je Suis Noires (Becoming a Black Woman); futurist and creative technologist Anatola Araba; Grammy-winning producer Darryl Swann; Emmy-winning filmmaker Alahna Lark; emerging creators and technology companies; and virtual participants joining conversations from across Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, and the Pacific.
Underlying the five days is a central proposition: the future of storytelling cannot be separated from questions of culture, history, access, authorship, and who has the power to define the narratives that travel around the world.
Ent-Tech examines the technologies and emerging models altering entertainment—from artificial intelligence, XR and animation to independent financing, music, production and distribution—while emphasizing direct interaction between audiences and the people building those tools.
The Afro-Mosaic Cinema Summit approaches cinema from another direction, bringing filmmakers into conversation with scholars, cultural practitioners, and communities to examine the histories and cultural frameworks that shape how stories are told and understood.
Together, the two platforms connect technology with cultural intelligence—and Atlanta with a broader Alma ecosystem encompassing more than 150 stakeholders across 42 countries, with particular attention to ideas and voices emerging from the Global South. At its core, the experience connects continents, countries, and cultures, creating space for ideas, relationships, and collaborations that extend well beyond the five days in Atlanta.
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FIVE-DAY PROGRAM AT A GLANCE
The Alma Film Festival’s Ent-Tech (Innovation & Discovery Expo) and Afro-Mosaic Cinema Summit will unfold across Atlanta September 30–October 4, bringing together scholars, filmmakers, artists, innovators, technologists, and cultural leaders from Atlanta and across Alma’s international ecosystem.
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| Channel Seven brings Hampton Roads’ creative pulse to Alma with a genre-blurring mix of sound, style, and performance. |
The week begins Wednesday afternoon with a screening of Je suis noire (Becoming a Black Woman), directed by Rachel M’Bon and co-directed by Juliana Fanjul. The film received Best Documentary at the 2026 Alma Film Festival, where M’Bon became the inaugural recipient of the festival’s Dr. Cornel West Award for Global Truth & Cultural Conscience.
The screening leads into a recorded public conversation examining what Alma describes as a Renaissance of Reclamation—a broader movement across the African diaspora and Global South toward recovering obscured histories, challenging inherited narratives, and reclaiming cultural self-definition. Additional screening details will be announced.
The opening day continues that evening at Palate Atlanta Tasting Room in historic Castleberry Hill with wine, food, performance, and conversation. The gathering will feature international wine tastings conducted by Behind the Pour, a fashion feature produced by Zaccheus Miles, a boutique theater performance from Blue Bistro Theatre, a soulful vocal performance by LyriQ Lashay, plus an innovative improv experience led by Brion Gibson with his series Act A Fool.
For Complete Day 1 Details - Click Here
At Morehouse College, a day of scholarship and public dialogue will examine Gullah Geechee and Africana history through student research, panels and roundtables exploring history, sovereignty, cultural memory and Kongo-Gullah connections. Acclaimed author, educator, performer and Gullah Geechee cultural interpreter Ron Daise will deliver the keynote at the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel.
The day culminates with an African Diaspora Imbongi, a community-grounding session rooted in African traditions of oral history, reflection and cultural dialogue. The public will be invited into the exchange—not simply as observers, but as participants in a deeper conversation about history, identity, belonging and what the next 500 years might hold.
For Complete Day 2 Details - Click Here
Entertainment in the Age of AI: Leadership, Innovation & Human Potential
Join Jackie Chambers de Freitas, VP of AI Delivery & Transformation at Salesforce, for an executive conversation exploring how artificial intelligence is reshaping entertainment, creative work, collaboration, and leadership—while keeping human potential, access, creativity, and purpose at the center of what comes next.
Presented in her personal capacity, the conversation will be accompanied by a bespoke luncheon, live entertainment, and elevated networking with executives, entrepreneurs, creatives, and community leaders.
Supported by The G.L.O.W. Syndicate.
For Complete Day 3 Details - Click Here
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| Futurist, filmmaker and creative technologist: Anatola Araba |
Rather than a conventional trade-show floor, Ent-Tech is structured around interaction: audiences engaging directly with emerging technologies, platforms and the people creating them.
Featured participants include Anatola Araba and R3imagine; Sharif Bennett and CineBlock; Grammy-winning producer Darryl Swann and Moshpix XR; Cincinnati creator Tierre Hummons and the AI-powered animated project Synth City; Kandi Robinson of The Audio Plugz/Vocal Soundbox Studios; Emmy-winning filmmaker Alahna Lark and Signify TV; and Rory Walker of Urban Scenez.
Together, their work touches artificial intelligence, immersive 3D environments, animation, music, independent film financing, audience development and new approaches to distribution and intellectual-property ownership.
For Complete Day 4 Details - Click Here
The final day begins with AI, Storytelling & Community, spearheaded by Atlanta-based AI Makers Generation (AIMG), examining how artificial intelligence is altering creativity, authorship, representation, access and opportunity.
The conversation then expands beyond Atlanta.
Through Renaissance of Reclamation — Parts Two & Three, filmmakers, scholars, cultural practitioners, agencies and institutions from Alma’s international community will connect across borders, with participation spanning Fiji, Guyana, South Africa, the Dominican Republic, Kenya, Nigeria, Jamaica, Brazil, Australia, Zimbabwe, Gabon, Switzerland, Honduras and Lesotho, among others.
The week closes not simply by asking what cinema is becoming, but what a more connected global cinematic ecosystem might require—across policy, practice, cultural exchange, community and collaboration.
For Complete Day 5 Details - Click Here
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AN ATLANTA GATHERING WITH A GLOBAL REACH
The five-day program reflects the Alma Film Festival’s broader effort to use cinema as connective infrastructure—linking creative practice with scholarship, technology, cultural diplomacy and international relationship-building.
Rather than treating those disciplines as separate conversations, Ent-Tech and the Afro-Mosaic Cinema Summit place them in the same room.
The result is a week built not only around what audiences will watch or experience, but around a larger question: Who will shape the next era of storytelling—and from what cultural point of view?
Click Here to View The Full Ent-Tech Atlanta Five-Day Schedule
The individual day pages will serve as the most current source for expanded program descriptions, speakers, performances, venues, times, registration information, and newly announced participants as the program continues to develop.
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
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