Spirit of Queens Honorees

Every year, Queens World honors filmmakers and community members who give beyond measure. Pillars of the global arts community, these leaders bring an undeniable enthusiasm for celebrating and elevating arts and culture.

2025 Spirit of Queens Honoree

WARRINGTON HUDLIN

Warrington Hudlin is a frequent juror at the Tribeca Festival, and a leading voice in the evolution of film, media, and the Metaverse. An innovator, disruptor, and truth teller throughout his career, Hudlin has always challenged the boundaries of storytelling while creating platforms for others to do the same.

He first broke ground as the founding president of the Black Filmmaker Foundation (BFF), which for more than four decades has nurtured Black filmmakers and reshaped the film industry. As a producer, he helped bring landmark films to the screen, including House Party, Boomerang, and Bébé’s Kids, as well as television specials such as Cosmic Slop and Unstoppable. As a director, his work spans from early documentaries like Black at Yale and Capoeira of Brazil to more recent projects such as Clinic Escorts, confronting reproductive justice, and VR/360° works like Kung Fu #MeToo and Cinefemme Cypher.

Hudlin has also curated the long-running Fist and Sword martial arts series at the Museum of the Moving Image, where he served as Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees for nearly two decades. His creative and organizational leadership continues in the virtual world through BFF’s Metaverse destinations and his project WeWatchTogether.us, launched in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The descendant of abolitionists and early Black filmmakers, Hudlin has carried forward a legacy of resistance, imagination, and cultural impact. Today, his work stands at the intersection of cinema, technology, and social justice, making space for new stories and new voices.

Warrington has been a champion of the festival at key moments and we are eternally grateful and honored to welcome him to Queens World as our 2025 Spirit of Queens Honoree.