Kahlil Joseph attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival “BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions” premiere at Egyptian Theatre. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)
By Jessica Herndon
“I know what you’re thinking. But this is not a documentary.”
This quote is our entry point into Kahlil Joseph’s incredibly artistic and inventive tour de force titled BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions, a film premiering in the NEXT section of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival on January 27. Joseph’s latest work expands upon the visionary framework — a rousing collection of news and social media moments with originally produced anchored segments — he first introduced in BLKNWS (2020 Sundance Film Festival). The film invites viewers into a mesmerizing exploration of Black history, culture, and consciousness, artfully blending personal stories with historical and contemporary moments.
BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions weaves together a profound meditation on the Black experience, one that shifts between time and space, rooted in the intellectual legacy of W.E.B. Du Bois. The film includes many deft cuts between diverse moments in Black history, from ancient Egyptian architecture and photographs of cultural icons like Duke Ellington, to social posts that have gone viral. Joseph offers details on his deeply personal connection to the book and some of the material, as he invokes Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience — a lengthy work, of which Du Bois is the mastermind, that serves as the film’s foundation — highlighting both historical and present-day Black experiences in America and across the African diaspora.
Through a bold and quick-paced style, the film brings us into both the splendor and struggle of Black history. At times, Joseph slows down the film to allow moments of reflection, such as the slow-motion scenes of children playing in Harlem as jazz swirls around them. This juxtaposition of fleeting cuts and meditative pauses invites us to absorb the depth of the cultural impact of Black folks. The film’s narrative complexity is enriched by Joseph’s innovative use of text overlays, personal anecdotes, and archival images, creating a layered, sometimes fragmented, but always thought-provoking experience.
Meanwhile, we follow a subplot involving the fictional journey of a young journalist aboard the Nautica, a vessel destined for a rich cultural return to Ghana, assigned to cover the ship’s Transatlantic Biennale exhibit. The Transatlantic Biennale in the film acts as a metaphor for the reclamation of cultural identity, as well as a commentary on the generational passage of cultural and artistic artifacts back to Africa. Additionally, it feels as though Joseph is making a connection to Okwui Enwezor — the Nigerian artistic director of the 56th Venice Biennale who was the first Black person and first African-born curator to organize the international exhibition — and his work by naming the fictional exhibit in his film the Transatlantic Biennale.
When asked to discuss the vision behind this fictional choice in the film during the post-premiere Q&A, Joseph says, “Most of the film is meant to be read literally and figuratively. But I also want to avoid telling you or giving you—” He pauses for a moment before he continues. “What I think is a little awkward about this process is filmmakers are very conditioned to talk about our films where musicians are not. I don’t consider myself a musician, but I really enjoy not knowing what Stevie Wonder meant, necessarily, with Songs in the Key of Life. I really enjoy the mystery.”
Known for his collaborations with Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar, Joseph adds that he approached making BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions with his many collaborators “like an album, which I think gave a lot of people room to imagine another type of process when it came to making a movie. One of [my] prerequisites for engaging with people was I had to know them because I knew it was going to be so exploratory — it required a lot of trust. One of the things I like to do sometimes is work with people who have never done a thing because they are more naive and open to the process.” Irvin Hunt, one of the writers of the film, was one of those people. “He was amazing,” adds Joseph. “He was so down to take the ride.”
With this innovative work of cinema, Joseph constructs a strikingly emotional lens that transcends typical documentary filmmaking. He shows us not just the events, but the pulse of Black life. And the music he uses in his film — from jazz to deep house and ’70s R&B — grounds us in the message that Black is beautiful. At its core, the movie is an unapologetic affirmation of Black greatness. Through BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions, Joseph offers more than just a film; he delivers an unforgettable experience on the essence of heritage and identity.
