Barack and Michelle Obama made a surprise appearance at a film festival this week -- perhaps not too surprising though ...

The former First Couple took the stage Friday at the Martha's Vineyard African-American Film Festival -- where they said a few words before a screening of their Netflix doc, "Descendant." As you can see, they were very warmly received ...

BO talked about the power of telling stories -- Black stories, specifically -- and praised the festival organizers for allowing African-Americans to do just that through their event.

He said, "[I]t's one of the powers of this festival, and the work that the Rances have done is to lift up stories that too often have been lost in the flow of time.

Variety: Michelle Obama makes a surprise appearance at the screening of #Descendant at #MVAAFF: "What this film shows us is that our stories are the power that makes us seen." https://t.co/HRwAU9CpIm pic.twitter.com/KPW8hC8LMV.