For years I’ve carried an argument that had no name.

My new essay, CULTURAL REFUGEE STATUS: The Cannes Conclusion and the Case for a Non-Aligned Black Cinema, examines what it means for Black independent filmmakers to exist outside Hollywood while still being categorized as part of it.

From Cannes and FESPACO to Afrofuturism, Jean-Pierre Bekolo, Black Audio Film Collective, and new distribution models like artinii.pro, this essay explores cultural displacement, film infrastructure, and the need for a global coalition of non-aligned diaspora cinema.

This is not an essay about inclusion.

It is about building outside the systems that were never designed for us.