Purpose | AlfredasCinema

Our Mission
Alfreda’s Cinema is a Brooklyn-based micro-cinema rooted in the belief that Black and Brown stories deserve space, care, and visibility. Founded by Melissa Lyde in 2015, we create space for films that center the lived experiences, aesthetics, and imaginations of Black and non-Black people of color.

We champion historically silenced filmmakers and connect their work to local audiences through community-centered screenings that reflect the beauty, nuance, and complexity of our histories, cultures, and truths. By anchoring our work in a historically Black neighborhood, we bridge cinema and community, offering film as a site of reflection, resistance, and joy.

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Press for Alfreda's Cinema

"Alfreda’s Cinema is bringing rich, dynamic and hopeful Black stories back to the big screens of Black audiences."
— Kimberlean Donis of BK Reader

"Curated by Melissa Lyde, Protect Black Women is framed as a call to action which centers the lives and interiority of those who have “historically been the most vulnerable,” on the eve of Kamala Harris’s inauguration as vice president."
— Dessane Lopez Cassell of Hyperallergic

" The talk will feature Melissa Lyde, whose film programs have emphasized the voices of artists of color, and Ed Halter, who helped rediscover [Ed] Owens’s movies."
— Ben Kenigsberg of the New York Times

Press for Alfreda's Cinema

"Alfreda’s Cinema is bringing rich, dynamic and hopeful Black stories back to the big screens of Black audiences." — Kimberlean Donis of BK Reader

"Curated by Melissa Lyde, Protect Black Women is framed as a call to action which centers the lives and interiority of those who have “historically been the most vulnerable,” on the eve of Kamala Harris’s inauguration as vice president." — Dessane Lopez Cassell of Hyperallergic

" The talk will feature Melissa Lyde, whose film programs have emphasized the voices of artists of color, and Ed Halter, who helped rediscover [Ed] Owens’s movies." — Ben Kenigsberg of the New York Times

"Alfreda’s Cinema is bringing rich, dynamic and hopeful Black stories back to the big screens of Black audiences."
— Kimberlean Donis of BK Reader

"Curated by Melissa Lyde, Protect Black Women is framed as a call to action which centers the lives and interiority of those who have “historically been the most vulnerable,” on the eve of Kamala Harris’s inauguration as vice president."
— Dessane Lopez Cassell of Hyperallergic

" The talk will feature Melissa Lyde, whose film programs have emphasized the voices of artists of color, and Ed Halter, who helped rediscover [Ed] Owens’s movies."
— Ben Kenigsberg of the New York Times