Diversity & Inclusion

AI predicts Delaware’s future at the Dirty Popcorn Black Film Festival

The “Delawood” exhibit imagined the state as a center for creativity — complete with its own red carpet.

The Dirty Popcorn Black Film Festival (Holly Quinn/Technical.ly)

Delaware’s first Black film festival returned to Wilmington last weekend, this time with an injection of AI.

Wilmington filmmaker Jet Phynx brought back the Dirty Popcorn Black Film Festival to the Delaware Art Museum on August 10, with a mission to make the First State a filmmaking hub for the community.

“Welcome to Delawood,” an interactive AI-generated exhibit, imagines Delaware as a global center of cinema and creativity, complete with a red carpet. 

It’s more than a theme or a narrative, Phynx said. What he and filmmaking partner OZ are building is something to give Delawareans hope. Instead of feeling like they’re stuck and need to go somewhere else to thrive creatively, Phynx and OZ want to see a local renaissance, where the only shooting is from behind a lens.

“They don’t have to leave out of here, they can be whatever they want to be,” Phynx said. His goal is to transform Delaware through filmmaking and make picking up a camera as common as picking up a basketball in the state’s Black neighborhoods. 

The day-long event included panels, local soul food, music and, of course, film screenings. Governor John Carney also made an appearance, and Mayor Mike Purzycki, who was featured in one of the screened films, sent a video message of support.

Here’s some of what we saw: 

Delawood exhibit (Technical.ly/Holly Quinn)
The red carpet (Technical.ly/Holly Quinn)
Host Blake The Brain (Technical.ly/Holly Quinn)
OZ and Jet Phynx (Technical.ly/Holly Quinn)
Phynx and Governor Carney (Technical.ly/Holly Quinn)

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Companies: Jet Phynx Films
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