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Coming together through film and the arts
Unity and community at the United We Heal Film Festival
Mina Reinckens
Ebony Roberts founded the United We Heal Film Festival in 2020 after the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and the ensuing social movements fueled by grief and outrage. From its inception, United We Heal was designed to focus not only on trauma, grief, and pain, but the questions of what to do next and where those feelings lead. The festival provides a diverse array of films and filmmakers to spark conversations and personally connect with local audiences, plus opening and closing parties to celebrate creativity through movement. This year’s festival is June 18-19 at Underground Arts.
“We have to be able to tell our own stories”
Juila Mallory resonated with the festival’s focus on the Black experience, especially around healing. Her short film Grief Cosmologies: A Vibrational Field of Love is a completely hand-animated collage that combines “the whimsical nature of stop motion animation, while also recognizing the depths of loss that we experience across space and time,” and asks audiences to study and look at Black life through the lens of physics.
Seeing the media misrepresent life and people “on the inside” is what inspired Shuja Moore to bring his voice, educated by experience, to the table. “A lot of Black and brown people need outlets to tell our stories—not just from an incarceration standpoint,” he said of the festival. His documentary Changing Course follows participants in a youth diversion initiative “turning their turbulence into triumph.” They are placed into rehabilitation programs as an alternative to incarceration, and the film discusses the program’s impact and potential expansion.
Roberts emphasizes that the event is cultivated with care to make attendees feel seen and valued, celebrate independent artists, innovative stories, and curate vision. “Our festival is the one telling the story for the next 250 years,” she mused, referencing the festival’s timing before the country’ semiquincentennial. “we have stories and talent that [are] going to shape the way we want this county to look in the future.”
What, When, Where
United We Heal Film Festival. June 18-19, 2026, at Underground Arts, 200 Callowhill Street Philadelphia. (267) 606-6215 or unitedwehealfilmfestival.com
Accessibility
Underground Arts is wheelchair accessible, with an elevator and lift system and wheelchair-accessible bathrooms. For additional venue accessibility, email [email protected]. Some films will have subtitles; for more information on festival accessibility, email [email protected].
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