Weeksville Heritage Center, the Crown Heights institution dedicated to the legacy of Weeksville, one of the most significant free Black communities in the country, is turning its campus on Buffalo Avenue into a screening room on Friday, Oct. 30. Weeksville Watch Night: Black Stories, Unbound is a free evening of four short films, a thriller, a documentary, a romance and an experimental piece, followed by a conversation with the woman who chose them and one of the actors on screen.

The four films

  • Negroland (2019, 13 minutes), directed by Jewel McPherson. A drama and thriller about a Black father in Flint, Mich., trying to save his daughter, who has turned into a zombie.
  • How to Sue the Klan (2025, 34 minutes), directed by John Beder. A documentary about five Black women from Chattanooga, Tenn., who took the Ku Klux Klan to court in a 1982 civil case.
  • A Stranger's Waltz (2024, 11 minutes), directed by Oluseyi Olatujoye. A romance about two young Nigerian Americans who meet on the streets of New York City.
  • The Unveiling of God / A Love Letter to My Forefathers (2022, 20 minutes), directed by Nia June. An experimental documentary in which a poet imagines her forefathers and the Black men lost from her life, told through poetry, music and portraits.

Together the four run about 78 minutes.

Who chose them

The program was curated by DeShuna Elisa Spencer of the Black Indie Creatives Coalition and kweliTV. After the screenings, Spencer sits down for a 30-minute fireside conversation with Princess Adenike, a writer, producer and actress who appears in A Stranger's Waltz.

About the center

Weeksville Heritage Center offers tours of the historic Hunterfly Road Houses on its campus, along with exhibitions, public programs and, this season, the Weeksville Green farmers and community market. Its regular hours are Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The center has another free program the following week: a book launch and panel for Before It's Gone: Archive to Survive, a book by artists Oasa DuVerney and Mildred Beltré about preserving Black and Brown Brooklyn, presented with the Brooklyn Hi-Art! Machine on Saturday, Nov. 7, from 3 to 6 p.m.

How to go

Weeksville Watch Night runs Friday, Oct. 30, from 6 to 9 p.m. at Weeksville Heritage Center, 158 Buffalo Avenue in Crown Heights. Admission is free and open to everyone; spots are reserved through the Eventbrite link on the center's event page. The A and C trains and the 3 and 4 trains stop at Utica Avenue. Questions go to the center at 718-756-5250 or info@weeksvillesociety.org.

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