Bloomington, IN – The Black Film Center & Archive (BFCA) and University Collections at McCalla will celebrate the opening of their new exhibition, By Their Own Hands: The Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame, on Friday, September 5 from 4:30pm-6:30pm. The opening, which serves at the BFCA’s Fall 2025 Director’s Open House & Welcome Event, will feature remarks by BFCA Director Dr. Novotny Lawrence, Archivist Dan Hassoun, and Assistant Archivist Sarah Petras.

Guests will get an exclusive first look at the new exhibit, which celebrates the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame, Inc. (BFHFI), an organization founded in Oakland, California in 1974 to honor Black filmmakers, actors, and myriad other performers. The BFHFI includes one-of-a-kind items such as Sidney Poitier’s autographed shooting script for Let’s Do It Again (1975), the Nicholas Brothers’ tap shoes, and letters from icons like Maya Angelou and Oprah Winfrey.

The exhibit’s centerpiece is a stunning wall of 42 BFHFI inductees’ handprints—a distinction comparable to receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Select examples of inductees’ handprints include Maya Angelou, Lena Horne, Eartha Kitt, Richard Pryor, and Billy Dee Williams. In summer 2024, the IU Foundation’s Black Philanthropy Circle (BPC) generously awarded the BFCA a grant to frame the handprints. The exhibit will run through Summer 2026.

This exhibit is curated by the Black Film Center & Archive and University Collections at McCalla.

The mission of University Collections at McCalla is to provide accessible exhibition and educational experiences and create opportunities for students, faculty, and the community to engage with collections, IU-generated research, and creative projects in meaningful and innovative ways.

The Black Film Center & Archive is the only archival repository in the world that is wholly dedicated to collecting, preserving, and making available historically and culturally significant films by and about Black people. The BFCA promotes scholarship on Black film and serves as an open resource for scholars, researchers, students, and the general public. They encourage creative film activity by independent Black filmmakers, and both undertake and support research on the history, impact, theory, and aesthetics of Black film traditions.