A film festival highlighting the creative work of Black filmmakers returns to Wilmington next weekend.
The Jet Phynx Dirty Popcorn Film Festival is in its fourth year at the Delaware Art Museum. Each year has a different theme. Organizer and filmmaker Jet Phynx says last year’s theme was tied to something personal to him as a creator.
“This imagery that I've had for many years, always calling Delaware ‘Delawood,’ because my whole mission coming back to Delaware is to bring film to Delaware to the state of Delaware," he says.
Phynx says he’s keeping this year’s theme as a surprise, but hints that it’s related to something very much on many creators’ minds these days.
The festival’s name comes from Phynx’s own experience as a filmmaker.
“Dirty popcorn - we were shooting, something we had popcorn in our hands," he said. "We were shooting this little scene and I was like, ‘what do I call this?’ And we looked down on the ground. It's like, ‘oh, it's dirty popcorn.’ And then that's how Dirty Popcorn became a thing.”
Phynx says the Dirty Popcorn Black Film Festival has been a hit since its first year.
“It's like, ‘this thing's packed out. Like, you know, we gotta keep this going every year.’ And I'm like, ‘all right,’ so we end up signing a five year contract with them to be able to know that the film festival was going to come every year," he says.
The Fourth Annual Dirty Popcorn Black Film Festival is August 9 and 10 at the Delaware Art Museum.
Delaware Public Media's arts coverage is made possible, in part, by support from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
