Students can travel to Kung Fu Island with the “super bad” and “outta sight” title character of “Black Dynamite.”

Along the way, they might also learn something about race.

Like a roundhouse kick to the face, the Institute for African American Studies is breaking through stereotypes with the African Diaspora Film Festival this month.

The festival began at the University in 2007 and features films and filmmakers throughout the African Diaspora — whose films depict experiences of a variety of people of African descent, and provide a correlation between those experiences, though the viewpoints are different, said Lesley Feracho, the festival director.

“I would like for there to be more of an exposure to diversity, and more of an exposure to the different kinds of debates, dialogues and representations,” Feracho said. “This year we’re sort of focusing on the United States, but part of the idea is opening it up to a larger dialogue that’s more global in a sense. I’d like people to come out with a greater awareness of these representations, of these visions and of these experiences.”

The theme for the festival this year is “Black Manhood,” Feracho said, and includes an eclectic mix of films — like “Black Dynamite” and “Antwone Fisher” — which look at the representation of masculinity and how someone would navigate it in a contemporary setting.

She emphasized the importance of showing different sides of the same theme.

“We tried to give people a little bit of everything,” Feracho said. “So our first two films look at these experiences really engaging history — the Black Panther movement in particular. But we also have films that look at these experiences through a sort of a satire, like ‘Black Dynamite,’ so there’s also a little bit of comedy. Then we have a more dramatic representation, at the end with ‘Antwone Fisher.’ So I guess we’re looking at it from a lot of different approaches.”

But the tones of the films highlight only one type of variety offered in the festival. The directors, half female and half male, provide an especially compelling take on the theme of masculinity because of the difference in gender, Feracho said.

“We wanted to have this kind of dialogue, in front of and behind the camera, on masculinity,” she said. “In previous film festivals, we’ve focused specifically on female directors, and in other festivals we’ve had a mix. So we’re looking at different kinds of aspects of it. But what connects it this time is black manhood, sort of exploitations of masculinity and representations of it.”

The festival is also an attempt to spread some light on directors of the African Diaspora who don’t usually get that much exposure. These directors bring attention to aspects of African-American life that many people might not know about through the medium of film, Feracho said, and open doors for people to learn about the culture in other ways as well.

“I would like for [these films] to be a jumping off point for maybe looking into other representations and other visions,” she said. “And, also [for students to have] an awareness of what these directors are doing.”

“BLACK DYNAMITE” (Feb. 2), “ANTWONE FISHER” (Feb. 9)

When: 7 p.m.

Where: MLC