A post modern dance performance led by Reggie Wilson will introduce the 14th annual Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival presented by Run&Shoot Filmworks next week, August 8 to 13. Stephanie and Floyd Rance began the Festival 14 years ago as a way to celebrate African American actors, producers and directors.

“The program is based on who is up-and-coming, and who are the most important filmmakers,” said media correspondent Kelley Jackson during a recent phone call.

This year’s collection of films will feature a range of topics, from Muhammad Ali to a friendship between two black women, to prejudice in the Olympics, to the first date of Barack and Michelle Obama. The opening film is Syl Johnson: Any Way the Wind Blows.

Ms. Jackson said she is excited for Soledad O’Brien’s film Babies Behind Bars, a documentary about a program at the Washington Corrections Center where incarcerated women are allowed to keep their babies in jail for up to 24 months.

The festival will conclude with a conversation between Spike Lee and Nate Parker, the writer, director, producer and star of Birth of a Nation, which won the grand prize at this winter’s Sundance Film Festival. The film tells the story of Nat Turner’s slave rebellion.

“The title is really a direct counter to the incredibly racist original,” said Ms. Jackson.

Each film will play at the Performing Arts Center, unless otherwise noted. For more information and to see a complete schedule, visit mvaaff.com.