Please refer to the official websites for events to ensure that you have the most up-to-date information about ticketing, reservations, delays, rescheduling, cancellations, and other guest policies for venues, including relevant COVID-19 requirements. Inclusion in the Philadelphia Monthly Cinema Arts Round-Up does not signify cinéSPEAK’s endorsement of an event or organization’s mission or political affiliations.
Despite the cold temperatures, the Philly independent film scene is heating up this month. There are screenings for Black History Month and Valentine’s Day, as well as the launch of cinéSPEAK and Vox Populi’s Third Thursdays screening series. Highlights this month include Temple University’s Diamond Screen BIPOC Film Festival, Scribe Video Center’s Body of Work: Yvonne Welbon featuring three nights of screenings of Welbon’s prolific work, and the premiere of Reelblack’s restoration of Riverbend.
Make sure to read the full round-up to plan your February Philly film calendar.
Wednesday, February 4, 2026 at 7 PM
Strange Truth: Small Town Universe
In Green Bank, WV, scientists search for extraterrestrial life with the world’s most sensitive radio telescope as locals navigate everyday life. When funding cuts threaten the telescope’s future, the town must decide what connections really matter. Stay for a post-film conversation with director Katie Dellamaggiore and radio astronomer Karen O’Neil. This screening is part of the Strange Truth 2026 series by the Hurford Center for the Arts and Humanity at Haverford College and is open to the public.
Cost: $0-$16.25
Bryn Mawr Film Institute — 824 West Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010
Friday, February 6, 2026 at 7 PM
Scribe Producers’ Forum: For Venida, For Kaliefby Sisa Bueno
This new documentary, which had its world premiere at the 2025 Tribeca Festival, follows the legacy of Kalief Browder via the poetry of his mother, Venida. The film weaves a cinematic mosaic collage of verité, poetic visuals, and rare archival imagery from 1970s New York to boldly reimagine criminal justice storytelling, as well as reveal how an individual’s life can ignite cultural change.
Cost: $4-$8
Scribe Video Center — 3908 Lancaster Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Thursday, February 12, 2026 at 5 PM
Diamond Screen Presents: BIPOC Film Festival
The 5th year of Temple University Film and Media Arts’ BIPOC Film Festival will feature amazing work that tells the stories and supports the voices of Black and brown student filmmakers and artists. The festival, which will include screenings and discussions with filmmakers, will be curated by a panel in collaboration with Temple’s Film in Color student organization.
Cost: Free
Temple University Student Center — 1755 North 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122
Thursday, February 12, 2026 at 7 PM
Scribe Storyville: Muslim Voices of Newark
Muslim Voices is a national community history project founded by Scribe Video Center to highlight and celebrate the presence, history, contributions, and challenges of African American Muslims in the United States. Express Newark’s Community Media Center (CMC), in collaboration with Scribe, launched Muslim Voices of Newark to support African American Muslim communities in developing their own documentary projects; this screening will feature two of the resulting short films.
Cost: $3-$5
Scribe Video Center — 3908 Lancaster Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Saturday, February 14, 2026 at 5 PM
My Dear Killers: A Valentine’s Day Killer Thriller Triple Feature
Join Exhumed Films, Philadelphia Film Society, MovieJawn, and Girls Like Horror for a deadly triple bill where romance and murder go hand in hand. Experience the original Canadian cult classic My Bloody Valentine (1981), Bernard Rose’s chilling adaptation of Clive Barker’s Candyman (1992), and Wicked, Wicked (1973), the only feature film ever produced in Duo-Vision. All films will be screened from original 35mm film prints. There will be themed drinks, raffles, vendors, a pre-show mixer, and more!
Cost: $25-$30
Philadelphia Film Society Center — 1412 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102
Thursday, February 19, 2026 at 7 PM
cinéSPEAK x Vox Populi Third Thursdays: The People Rise Up
cinéSPEAK and Vox Populi are kicking off their new collaborative Third Thursdays screening series with a collection of three short documentaries from Third World Newsreel, a media arts organization founded in 1968 to advance liberation movement storytelling. The films tell stories of the Black Panther Party, an anti-gentrification protest at UC Berkeley, and the Puerto Rican activist group the Young Lords in East Harlem.
Cost: $10
Vox Populi — 319 North 11th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107
Wednesday, February 25 – Friday, February 27, 2026 at 7 PM
Scribe Body of Work: Yvonne Welbon
Yvonne Welbon is an award-winning filmmaker and founder and CEO of the Chicago-based nonprofit Sisters in Cinema, inspired by her documentary of the same name, about the history of Black women feature film directors. This three-day Body of Work showcases a wide array of her films: night one features a short film program; night two features her documentary Living with Pride: Ruth C. Ellis @ 100 along with a pre-screening personal storytelling workshop; and night three features Sisters in Cinema.
Cost: $5
Scribe Video Center — 3908 Lancaster Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Thursday, February 26, 2026 at 7 PM
Reelblack Presents: Riverbend
Steve James and Oscar-nominee Margaret Avery star in this long-lost 1989 action drama about three Black Vietnam vets confronting a racist Southern sheriff. The film is newly restored in 6K by Reelblack. Mike Dennis of Reelblack describes the film as “the best movie you’ll see that you never heard of.” Stay after the film for a Q&A with director Sam Firstenberg and cast members.
Cost: $11.50-$15.50
Philadelphia Film Society East — 125 South 2nd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106
More Events:
Mondays, February 2, 9, and 23, 2026 at 6 PM
Black & White Comedy in a Color World
Cost: $5-$15
Fleisher Art Memorial — 719 Catharine Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147
Wednesday, February 4, 2026 a6 7 PM
Lightbox Presents: Love – Zero = Infinity & Kyrie Eleison
Cost: $13.24-$15.28
Bok Auditorium — 800 Mifflin Street, Philadelphia, PA 19148
Wednesday, February 10, 2026 at 8 PM
Heavy Cycle Cinema Presents: Sympathy for the Underdog
Cost: $10
Launderette Records — 3142 Richmond Street, Philadelphia, PA 19134
Friday, February 13, 2026 at 6:30 PM
VHS Club Presents: Queer Horror: Female Vampire
Cost: Free
The Arts League — 4226 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Saturday, February 14, 2026 at 7:30 PM
Mausoleum Makeout Marathon Film Festival
Cost: $10-$14
PhilaMOCA — 531 North 12th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19123
Wednesday, February 18, 2026 at 7 PM
Another Look at the Miami Convention
Cost: Free
VCAM Screening Room, Haverford College — 370 West Lancaster Avenue, Haverford, PA 19041
Saturday, February 21, 2026 at 3:45 PM
PFS x AAMP Present: I’m Gonna Git You Sucka
Cost: $11.50-$15.50
Philadelphia Film Society East — 125 South 2nd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106
*Featured Image: Still from The Coalition: Voice of the Voiceless. Courtesy of Scribe Video Center.
Sophia Abraham-Raveson is the Managing Editor for the cinéSPEAK Journal. In addition to working at cinéSPEAK, Sophia is a licensed social worker in Pennsylvania, a volunteer with the restorative justice group Let’s Circle Up, and a musician and songwriter in her band Charm School Looks.
