The First Amendment doesn’t just exist in history books or courtrooms. It lives on stages, in galleries, on screens, in rehearsal rooms, in classrooms, in public squares, and in the stories we choose to tell.

The Queens World First Amendment Film & Arts Festival will take place November 13 and 14 in the Historic Kaufman Astoria Arts District. The two-day festival will explore the five freedoms protected under the First Amendment: speech, assembly, petition, religion and press. Through film, poetry, performance, conversation, and community gathering, the festival asks what these freedoms look like in practice and why they matter to artists, filmmakers and the communities they serve.

Please see the schedule of events below.