ImageNation Cinema Foundation is an innovative Harlem-based non-profit created to develop cinemas and audiences for independent films and music, that depict the global Black experience. ImageNation’s goal is to empower Black communities by presenting a variety of public programs that foster media equity, media literacy, solidarity, cross-cultural exchange and highlight the humanity of Pan-African people worldwide.
Led by Moikgantsi Kgama (Founder & Executive Director) and her husband Gregory Gates (Executive Producer), ImageNation has hosted film screenings, live music performances and other cultural events for more than 200,000 people worldwide since its inception in New York City in 1997. ImageNation currently presents the quarterly social Cocktails & Sōl Cinema in partnership with the Apollo Theater. In addition to hosting year-round programs at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and New York City Parks, ImageNation has presented internationally in South Africa, Scotland and Canada and domestically at Harvard University, MASS MOCA and in Dallas, TX, Los Angeles, CA, Baltimore, MD and Washington DC. Programs have featured appearances by leading filmmakers such as Spike Lee, Lee Daniels, Stanley Nelson and Ava Duvernay.
ImageNation’s RAW SPACE, will be developed into the Sol Cinema Cafe, a boutique cinema highlighting global Black film and culture. ImageNation is a founding partner in AFFRM, a national film distribution collective, founded by Ava DuVernay.
Find out more at ImageNation.