Under Lana Garland, the Hayti Heritage Film Festival Makes Sure the South Won’t Be Edited Out of Black Cinema

Anyone who knows me know that I love film festivals, especially festivals that are dedicated to lifting up the voices and images of Black folks. The Hayti Heritage Film Festival is one of the few film festivals that feature work from artists from the African Diaspora with a particular focus on filmmakers in the South. I had the great pleasure in working with Lana Garland, the Festival Director, and capturing the significance of the festival under her leadership for Indy Week. Here’s an excerpt:

Photo courtesy of Lana Garland

Garland earned her chops on the festival circuit as a producer for HBO, where she became a critical advocate and partner for the American Black Film Festival, Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival, and Urbanworld Film Festival. Primarily, she experienced festivals that cater to the industry or to artists who live in major film hubs. The Hayti Heritage Film Festival stands out because of its commitment to uplifting local stories about the American South.

“When you talk about Black content, there is no film festival that is trying to forefront Black Southern storytelling,” Garland says. “That has to happen. Why? The South is ancestral land for African Americans.”

The significance of the festival being held at the original St. Joseph’s AME Church, now run as the Hayti by St. Joseph’s Historic Foundation, cannot be overstated. A national historic landmark, the former church anchors the Hayti district of Durham, which, from the 1880s to the 1940s, was an independent and self-sufficient Black community. But the advent of “urban renewal” in the 1950s began to disrupt and displace businesses and neighborhoods in the district. Fast-forward to the present day, Durham is once again undergoing gentrification and rapid change. With the rise of new development, neighborhoods such as Hayti are again affected. Garland, however, is intent on holding onto its resilient spirit.

“I feel like there are so many places that do not have a Hayti, something that has lasted as long as it lasted,” she says. “It is really important. It almost feels like whenever we have an institution like Hayti, we almost have to grab on to it even more and uphold it.”

Garland hopes the festival can put Black Southerners on the film-industry map and help them receive the support that they need.

“Coming back down South for African Americans is like coming to the village,” Garland says. “This is where you get your sustenance. This is where you get your light. If there is anything that the African-American community needs, it’s that. We need to come back, circle the ranks, and support who we are and what we have.”

This article was originally published on Indy Week on February 19 2019. Read the full article here.