DAY OF BLACK DOCS is the signature annual event for the Black Association of Documentary Filmmakers West (BADWest). The mini film festival is a celebration of documentaries that center the Black experience, both behind and in front of the camera. The event features sensational documentaries that amplify Black stories from an impactful point of view.
Moderator
Tim Cogshell
Tim is a veteran film critic and journalist with over 30 years of experience working for national print, broadcast, and internet-based media concerns, including NPR, KNBC, Spectrum News, ABC 7, Box Office Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, and Alt-Film Guide, among others. He's a regular on NPR affiliate KPCC's FilmWeek with Larry Mantle and co-host of the CineGods podcast.
Saturday Film Schedule
12:00 PM - 6:30PM PST
12:00PM
BADWEST WELCOME
BLOCK 1
12:06PM
SHEPHERD'S CALLING (short)
Q&A with Director
Wubetu Shimelash
12:40PM I
T'S ALL A DREAM
Q&A TBA
BREAK
BLOCK 2
2:40PM
BILLY PRESTON:
THAT'S THE WAY GOD PLANNED IT
Q&A w/ Producers
Stephanie Allain Bray and Jeanne Elfant Festa
4:41 PM
WE WANT THE FUNK
Q&A w/ Co- Director/Producer
Nicole London
PANELISTS SUBJECT TO CHANGE
The Films
WE WANT THE FUNK
90mins
Stanley Nelson and Nicole London
Is a syncopated voyage through the history of funk music, spanning from African, soul, and early jazz roots, to its rise into the public consciousness. Featuring James Brown's dynamism, the extraterrestrial funk of George Clinton's Parliament Funkadelic, transformed girl group Labelle, and Fela Kuti's Afrobeat, the story also traces funk's influences on both new wave and hip-hop.
SHEPHERD'S CALLING
22mins
Wubetu Shimelash
From the rugged caves of Ethiopia to the dazzling lights of Hollywood, 'SHEPHERD'S CALLING' follows the remarkable journey of an Ethiopian shepherd turned filmmaker in America. This captivating documentary explores the struggles of leaving home, reconciling cultural identities, and the universal quest for belonging.
BILLY PRESTON: THAT'S THE WAY GOD PLANNED IT
105mins
Paris Barclay
Billy Preston was 5 years old when he backed gospel legend Mahalia Jackson. Over the following six-decade career, Billy contributed his signature sound to the greatest artists of his time, including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Barbra Streisand, Sly Stone, Ray Charles, Rufus, Eric Clapton, and others, while establishing himself as a GRAMMY-winning solo artist. Despite his success, Billy struggled to reconcile his deep relationship with the Black church with his sexuality, setting off a lifelong quest to find love and acceptance. Directed by Paris Barclay (Feature Documentary/US/105 min) (LA Festival Premiere)
IT WAS ALL A DREAM
79mins
dream hampton
It Was All a Dream is a feature-length archival documentary by dream hampton. An NYU film student when she began shooting in 1993, hampton was already a provocative music journalist and critic with access to rap’s emerging superstars including her neighbor The Notorious BIG, Snoop, Mobb Deep and Method Man from Wu-Tang. It Was All a Dream takes its viewers inside the studio for the making of landmark albums by rap’s greatest voices. This thirty year old archive sat in storage for three decades and is a largely vérité journey. hampton’s narration added 30 years later is actually text from articles published in the early 90s.
Day of Black Docs Directors
Nicole London
Co-Director
We Want the Funk
Nicole London (Director, Producer) is an Emmy® Award-winning and GRAMMY® -nominated producer and director who began her career as an associate producer at PBS's To The Contrary and local stations in Maryland and has gone on to work on many projects with the top directors in documentary film.
She was an associate producer for AMERICAN MASTERS Marvin Gaye: What's Going On; Sammy Davis, Jr.: I've Gotta Be Me; POV's American Promise; and INDEPENDENT LENS' The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, which was nominated for a 2016 Exceptional Merit In Documentary Filmmaking Emmy. She served as a producer on Life & Life and Netflix's Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy, directed by Stanley Nelson.
She was also the producer for Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool, for which she was nominated for a 2020 GRAMMY for Best Music Film, and which won the 2021 News & Documentary Emmy for Outstanding Arts and Culture Documentary. In 2021, she was honored as a Trailblazer at the 22nd Annual African American Women In Cinema Film Festival. She is currently directing a new project for AMERICAN MASTERS.
dream hampton
Director
It Was All a Dream
dream hampton is an award-winning filmmaker and writer from Detroit. For three decades her essays and cultural criticism helped shape a generation. Her most recent works include the award-winning short film “Freshwater” (NYT OpDocs/PBS, 2023), “Ladies First” (Netflix, 2023) and the visual memoir/feature documentary "It Was All A Dream" which debuted at Tribeca Film Festival (2024). Selected works include “Treasure“ (Frameline, 2015) and the Emmy-nominated "Surviving R. Kelly" (Netflix, 2019), which broke ratings records and earned her a Peabody Award. In 2019, hampton was named one of TIME 100's most influential people in the world.
Stanley Nelson
Co-Director
We Want the Funk
Stanley Nelson [he/him] is today’s leading documentarian of the African American experience. His films combine compelling narratives with rich historical detail to shine new light on the under-explored American past. Awards received over the course of his career include a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, five Primetime Emmy Awards, and lifetime achievement awards from the Emmys and IDA. In 2013, Nelson received the National Medal in the Humanities from President Obama. In 2019, Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool was nominated by the Grammys for Best Music Film and won two Emmy® Awards at the 42nd Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards.
Nelson’s 2021 documentary Attica, for SHOWTIME Documentary Films, was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 94th Academy Awards® and earned him the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary. Also in 2021, Nelson directed the feature film Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy for Netflix, which was a 2022 duPont-Columbia Awards Finalist, and Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre, with co-director Marco Williams, for the HISTORY Channel, which was nominated for three Primetime Emmy® Awards. Nelson also executive produced After Jackie for the HISTORY Channel in 2022 about the generation of Black baseball players who came after Jackie Robinson. Nelson’s latest film, Sound of the Police, co-directed with Valerie Scoon and produced with ABC News Studios, is now streaming on Hulu.
In 2000, Mr. Nelson and his wife, Marcia Smith, co-founded Firelight Media, a non-profit organization that provides mentorship, funding, and artist development opportunities to emerging documentary filmmakers of color. In 2008, Nelson and Smith co-founded Firelight Films, a production company focused on making documentary films and developing strategies, partnerships, and materials to reach and engage diverse audiences.
Wubetu Shimelash
Director
Shepherd's Calling
Wubetu Shimelash is an award-winning filmmaker, social entrepreneur, and Cultural Advocater redefining the intersection of storytelling, advocacy, and sustainable impact. With a lens shaped by his Ethiopian heritage and refined through Hollywood training, he creates films that amplify underrepresented voices, celebrate cultural identity, and confront urgent social and environmental issues through film and purpose-driven ventures.
A trailblazer in Ethiopian cinema, Wubetu made history as the first Ethiopian documentary filmmaker to win a Directors Guild of America (DGA) Award, and only the second Ethiopian recognized in any category in the DGA’s 89-year history. He also became the first Ethiopian filmmaker nominated for a BAFTA in its 78-year legacy, marking his rising influence on global cinema. He is a proud member of the International Documentary Association (IDA).
He is currently based in Los Angeles, CA, where he continues his filmmaking work with a focus on global impact.
Beyond filmmaking, Wubetu is the Co-founder and CEO of Simien Eco Trek, a pioneering Ethiopian social enterprise that merges eco-cultural tourism with grassroots impact. Since 2017, the company has hosted thousands of international travelers and empowered over 13,000 Ethiopians through initiatives in education, menstrual health, solar energy access, job creation, and entrepreneurship training.
In 2018, Wubetu was selected from over 50,000 applicants to represent Ethiopia as a One Young World Ambassador at the global summit in The Hague. One Young World is the world’s leading forum for young leaders from over 190 countries committed to accelerating social change. In 2019, he returned as a keynote speaker at the London Summit, sharing the stage with global changemakers including Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, Sir Richard Branson, Dr. Jane Goodall, the Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle, and J.K. Rowling, among others. His speech received international acclaim and was covered by more than 300 major media outlets, including BBC, TIME, The Guardian, CNBC, Reuters, and Vanity Fair
Wubetu holds an MFA in Producing, Directing, and Cinematography from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, and a BA in Film Studies, Communication, and Social Entrepreneurship from Wake Forest University. His films have screened at over 200 major film festivals worldwide, transcending borders to ignite dialogue and honor cultural heritage.
His acclaimed documentary Shepherd’s Calling (2024)—the first Ethiopian film to win a DGA Award—captures the resilience of Ethiopian shepherds. I Am More Dangerous Dead (2023) explores environmental crises in Nigeria, while Blackifier (2022) confronts systemic racial injustice in America. Each film has earned critical acclaim and DGA recognition.
Deeply rooted in his Ethiopian upbringing and globally engaged through cinema, Wubetu crafts transformative stories that foster cultural exchange, uplift marginalized voices, and challenge societal norms—proving that storytelling is not just art, but a force for justice, unity, and lasting change.
Paris Barclay
Director
That's the Way God Planned It
Paris Barclay is one of television's most successful and honored directors, with a resume that weaves through many of the greatest shows of the past thirty years. He has directed nearly 200 episodes of television, including episodes of such classics as NYPD BLUE, ER, THE WEST WING, LOST, THE GOOD WIFE, CSI, SONS OF ANARCHY, HOUSE, GLEE, IN TREATMENT, SCANDAL, EMPIRE, STATION 19, THE WATCHER, and AMERICAN HORROR STORY. Paris is a nine-time Emmy nominee for his producing and directing work, winning twice for directing two of NYPD BLUE’s most pivotal chapters (including Jimmy Smits’ departing episode), and nominated most recently for the “Silenced” episode of DAHMER - MONSTER: THE JEFFREY DAHMER STORY. With that nomination, Paris became one of a handful of directors to have received Emmy nominations for directing in every narrative category.
Paris also won a DGA award for NYPD BLUE, and has been nominated nine other times by the Guild for his work on GLEE, WEEDS, ER, IN TREATMENT, HOUSE and THE WEST WING. Paris has received three NAACP Image Awards, for his producing and directing work, and was inducted into the NAACP Image Awards Hall of Fame in 2014, joining such luminaries as Sidney Poitier, Oprah Winfrey, and Gordon Parks. Paris has been the recipient of two Humanitas Prizes and four Peabody Awards for his work. In 2021, Paris received the DGA Honorary Life Member Award, the Guild’s top honor.
This fall, he has episodes of the second season of MONSTER on Netflix (with Javier Bardem and Chloe Sevigny), AMERICAN SPORTS STORY: AARON HERNANDEZ on FX/Hulu, and the pilot of DOCTOR ODYSSEY on ABC, which he also serves as the Executive Producer. His first feature documentary, BILLY PRESTON: THAT’S THE WAY GOD PLANNED IT (featuring Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Billy Porter, and Olivia Harrison) premiered at the SXSW Film Festival, and is currently making rounds on the festival circuit.