The Roxbury International Film Festival is the largest New England festival dedicated to celebrating films by, for and about people of color around the world. The Studios, in conjunction with the festival, presents two films, Come On In by Daniel Callahan and Paul Laurence Dunbar: Beyond the Mask by Frederick Lewis. Both screenings are followed by talkbacks with the directors.
sponsored by Boston Global Bridge Institute
Film Screenings:
Friday, February 7, 7pm
COME ON IN
Callahan’s directorial debut centers on a jaded artist who returns home after not making it in the big city, only to find a life empty of meaning and a soul-emptying job. But when he encounters a mysterious voice at work an uncanny journey ensues in which the lines between his reality and fantasy, past and present, dream and nightmare begin to blur. WATCH THE TRAILER
Directed by Daniel Callahan. Daniel Callahan is a multimedia artist, filmmaker and designer. Merging a legion of disciplines including painting, digital photography, film, music, writing and performance, Daniel works to craft immersive experiences incorporating story, ritual, and the human form to explore aspects of resilience and mysticism.
Q&A with the Director to follow.
Saturday, February 8, 7pm
Paul Laurence Dunbar: Beyond the Mask
Paul Laurence Dunbar: Beyond the Mask explores the life of the first nationally renowned African American writer, known for poems like “We Wear the Mask” and “Sympathy.” Highlighting his literary legacy and activism against Jim Crow laws, the film features Maya Angelou and examines Dunbar’s complex navigation of race and art during the turn of the century. WATCH THE TRAILER
Directed by Frederick Lewis. Frederick Lewis, a writer, director, and professor at Ohio University’s School of Media Arts & Studies, creates award-winning documentaries featured on PBS and screened at venues like the National Gallery of Art. A Presidential Teacher Award recipient, he’s taught globally, including as a Fulbright Specialist in Hungary.
Q&A with the Director to follow.
Films introduced by ROXFILM Board Member Andrea Lyman
Andrea Lyman is honored to be invited to represent ROXFILM Festival at The Studios of Key West “Riff on ROXFILM”. Andrea on the board of Roxbury International Film Festival (RoxFilm Festival). She is currently the New England Local President of SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild-American Federation Of Television and Radio Artists), a co-director of the Actors Forum of The Secret Society Of Black Creatives and on the Executive Board of the Greater Boston Labor Council. She plays the Leah, the mother, in Daniel Callahan’s award winning film COME ON IN which premiered at RoxFilm Festival. She has enjoyed appearing in several films over the years at RoxFilm Festival and is in a few films that have been submitted for consideration in the upcoming RoxFilmFestival in June 20-July 2, 2025. She can be seen in films currently touring the film festival circuit such as UGLY SWEATER which is scheduled for its first LA screening at the Pan-African Film Festival and the horror film, CROOKED FINGER and romcom PLUS 1’S (premiered at RoxFilm Festival). Andrea has played real life characters in the historical docudrama films HALF THE HISTORY: ELLEN GARRISON: AN ACTIVIST’S STORY playing Ellen Garrison (she also plays Ellen Garrison in a special film created for the upcoming 250th celebration of Concord, MA) and in NEGRO ELECTION DAY playing the Phyllis wife of the King. Andrea truly loves singing and performed in the Boston stage productions of MOMOLOGUES: THE MUSICAL. She performs her one woman musical show BROADWAY LADY. Andrea has performed in Radio City Music Hall’s CHRISTMAS SPECTACULAR, ION-TV’s A SNOW WHITE CHRISTMAS.