Cane River

Sunday, July 5 - Monday, July 6, 2026

CANE RIVER is a racially charged romance set in a “free community of color” in Louisiana’s Natchitoches Parish. Peter Metoyer and Maria Mathis are both descended from slaves, but the Metoyers are light-skinned, property-owning Creoles, while the Mathis descendants are darker-skinned and less prosperous. Their love affair — which both families try to prevent — exposes the subtle prejudice within the Creole community. Crafted by an entirely African American cast and crew, this lyrical and subversive film disappeared for decades because Jenkins died suddenly after the film’s completion. The 4K restoration by IndieCollect, created in collaboration with the Academy Film Archive, led to Cane River’s acclaim as a seminal film in the canon of Black cinema, as documented in Wil Haygood’s book, Colorization: One Hundred Years of Black Films in a White World.

4K Restoration by IndieCollect in collaboration with Academy Film Archive

Screening as part of our series Declaration of Independents!

See more and save! Get an Independents Pack ($30 for IFC Center members and $45 for non-members). Ticket packs are good for any three screenings in the series.

• Country USA
• Year 1982
• Running Time 104 minutes
• Format 4K Restoration
• Distributor IndieCollect
• Director Horace B. Jenkins
• Cast Richard Romain, Tommye Myrick, Carol Sutton, Barbara Tasker, Ilunga Adell
• Accessibility Assistive Listening, T-Coil

IFC Center does not generally provide advisories about subject matter or potentially triggering content in films, as sensitivities vary from person to person. In addition to the synopses, trailers and other links on our website, further information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense Media, IMDb and DoesTheDogDie.com as well as through general internet searches.