BlackStar remains in solidarity with the Palestinian people, their ongoing resistance to genocide and settler colonialism, and the global call for an immediate, sustained ceasefire.
We were founded in Philadelphia, in a lineage of global anti-colonial struggle, on land which has been stewarded by the Lenni-Lenape people for centuries. The continuous violence inflicted on our communities — from Palestine to Puerto Rico — is immeasurable and irreparable. Still, we believe in the power of cultural work to create space for imagination, gathering, learning, and radical care.
Bringing an analysis of race, gender, and power to everything we do, we recognize the inherent intersection between all systems of oppression, including anti-Black racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, and imperialism. As stated in our values, “diversity and representation are not guiding us, liberation is. Our work is centered on shifting power and defying the perceived limits of imagination.” We need artists to be the architects of a more liberatory world, through their experiments of narration.
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BlackStar is committed to the Palestinian Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), put forth by the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, and will continue the following practices as an organization:
[dot] To support Palestinian filmmakers and visual artists whose work speaks against Israeli occupation, and to never require them to partner with Israeli counterparts as an explicit or implicit condition for such support.
[dot] To refrain from participating in any project that seeks to “normalize” the Israeli occupation of Palestine and/or dehumanization of Palestinians.
[dot] To abstain from collaborating with Israeli cultural and academic organizations that help maintain the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
[dot] To abstain from collaborating with any organizations that receive funding from the state of Israel.
The BDS movement, including PACBI, rejects on principle boycotts of individuals based on their identity (such as citizenship, race, gender, sexuality, or religion) or opinion. Mere affiliation of Israeli cultural workers to an Israeli cultural institution is therefore not grounds for applying the boycott. If, however, an individual is representing the state of Israel or a complicit Israeli institution, or is commissioned/recruited to participate in Israel’s efforts to “rebrand” itself, then their activities are subject to the institutional boycott the BDS movement is calling for.
Philadelphia, PA (December 5, 2023) — BlackStar Projects presented the 2023 BlackStar Luminary Awards at the inaugural Luminary Gala, held at the W Hotel in Philadelphia on December 4. The sold out event’s honorees included Shannon Maldonado, Founder & Creative Director of YOWIE, June Givanni, Curator & Director of the June Givanni Pan African Cinema Archive, COUSIN, a collective supporting Indigenous artists expanding the form of film, and Telfar Clemens and Babak Radboy, the founder and creative director of TELFAR.
“It’s an incredible honor to be recognized for the work that COUSIN has done,” said Adam Piron, who founded COUSIN along with filmmakers Adam Khalil, Alexandra Lazarowich, and Sky Hopinka. “BlackStar has provided a space for our own work and the artists that we’ve supported, a space in which what we’ve done has been recognized on its own terms and conditions, one that is hard to find even within our own communities, which is what has made this award such a meaningful experience for all of us.”
Shannon Maldonado, founder and creative director of YOWIE, poses with her 2023 Luminary Award. Photo by Dominique Nichole.
The night was hosted by South Side stars Bashir Salahuddin and Chandra Russell, and also featured musical performances by Durand Bernarr and Laurin Talese. The lead sponsor of the event was Comcast, with additional support from Anne Ishii & Julia Y.C. Huang, and Joe + Monroe (full list of sponsors below).
“It was very inspiring to see the dynamic community that rallies around BlackStar and their mission,” said Maldonado. “I felt honored to be recognized among such a luminary group of people.”
June Givanni (left) meets fellow honorees Telfar Clemens (right) and Babak Radboy (far right) at the 2023 Luminary Gala. Jenn Nkiru looks on (center, back). Photo by Dominique Nicole.
The Host Committee for the Gala included: Anjali Kumar, Founder, Slightly Reserved (Co-chair); Errin Haines, Founding Mother and Editor at Large for The 19th (Co-chair); Jason Ray, CEO, Zenith Wealth Partners (Co-chair); Anne Ishii, Executive Director, Asian Arts Initiative; Brandon Pankey, CEO, Artist Presented Experiences (APEX); Deesha Philyaw, Author; Isaac Ewell, Founder & Creative Director at Onehunted; James Claiborne, SVP of Exhibitions and Programs, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History; Lauren Jane Holland, Agent, Creative Artists Agency; Lindsey Scannapieco, Managing Partner, Scout; Michelle Trotter; Noura Erakat, American activist; and Tarana Burke, Founder, ‘me too’ International.
Special Visionary Leadership Awards were also handed out to BlackStar’s longest-standing board member, Denise Beek, co-chair of the board of directors and Vice President of Storytelling at Represent Justice, and to outgoing Chief Operations Officer Sara Zia Ebrahimi. See more photos in the 2023 Luminary Gala Gallery.
2023 Luminary Gala hosts Chandra Russell (right) and Bashir Salahuddin (left). Photo by Dominique Nichole
In solidarity with and in support of the people of Palestine, BlackStar Projects is honoring the call for a Global General Strike on Friday 10/20/23. Visit the link for more information on how you can get involved today.
Below we’ve also compiled a few resources, and we encourage you to read a 2021 blog by our Festival Director, Nehad Khader, titled Narrative is Everything: Palestinian Films to Watch Now — which features links to Palestinian films screened at BlackStar and elsewhere which provide necessary and relevant context.
“It’s a liberation movement fighting for justice.” In a 1970 interview from his office in Beirut, Palestinian novelist, journalist, and artist Ghassan Kanafani corrects the language of Australian journalist Richard Carleton, insisting that he stop using words like civil war and conflict. Narrative is everything. Kanafani’s stories helped us understand ourselves in the aftermath of the loss of Palestine, to gather the scattered shards of our existence and make meaning of our new reality, to resist. Our elders even taught us to sing children’s songs about him: غسان علمنا حب القضية لموله زهرة وردة جورية
“Ghassan taught us to love the cause, bring him his flowers.”
In 1972, Ghassan Kanafani was assassinated by the Israeli Mossad in a car bomb in Beirut at the age of 36, along with his 17-year-old niece Lamees Najim. As long as Israel has existed, it has attempted to silence our stories because in order for it to exist the Palestinian people must always be disappearing. But the Palestinian people and our cause endure. As I write, Palestinians are mediating our lived reality under Israeli settler-colonialism—the pernicious form of colonialism that Israel shares with the US, which requires the elimination of the Indigenous people—for the world to see.
“The entire world is being tested about the meaning of humanity and justice,” says a reporter as medical staff soothe a crying infant who, at several months old, is the sole survivor of the Abu Hatab family in the Israeli bombing of the Shati Refugee Camp in Gaza City on May 15 2021. Unfiltered images are coming directly from families resisting a second or third forced displacement in Jerusalem; parents attempting to distract their children from the terror of Israeli warplanes dropping bombs indiscriminantly over civilians in Gaza; households fighting off zionist settler lynch mobs that are breaking into their living rooms in Haifa.
Unfortunately, there is no shortage of violence and abuse inflicted by Israel against all parts of the deliberately divided Palestinian population — from Nablus, to Lydd, to Beit Hanoun. The power of the image, as well as the brutality of Israeli violence are hitting the world differently now. After 73 years of Israeli settler-colonialism and ethnic cleansing, the Palestinian narrative, our voices, and our language prevail.
This uprising is not a moment. Rather, it is the continuation of decades of sustained Palestinian resistance. We are building on a language that’s been co-created by generations of Palestinian, Indigenous, Black, and anti-colonial resistance movements around the world. In the spirit of the Black radical tradition that honors transnational anti-imperialist struggle, over the years BlackStar has screened films by filmmakers from across Palestine and the diaspora.
Palestinian stories create space for us to love each other, to love ourselves, to love our cause. They document the history of my people’s freedom struggle. Palestinian stories also do something more radical: they help us think both more broadly and deeply about racism, incarceration, resistance, resource theft, apartheid, and even climate change. Throughout my time at BlackStar, I’ve seen Palestine in Puerto Rico, in Dominican communities of Haitian descent enduring racism and living without documents, in the Indigenous struggle for clean water sources without oil pipelines running through them, in Ferguson where organizers build movements against police brutality and prisons, in Dalit people deemed outside of the human experience, in Johannesburg and Cape Town where the shadow of apartheid looms large, and in every corner of the world where injustice exists.
Below we highlight Palestinian films screened by BlackStar. We’ve also provided a small, limited list of additional Palestinian films you can watch online. Beyond what is listed below, Palestinians are creating media every moment, and you can find those on social media using the hashtags #Palestine #SaveSheikhJarrah #GazaUnderAttack #FreePalestine. Love to the people of Palestine.
A Home On a Rainbow
Directed by Rami Nihawi, Lina Alabed, Nadim Deaibes [dot] 2015 [dot] Documentary Short
The inhabitants of “Al Marj” refugee camp located in the Bikaa Valley, fled from different regions in Syria to find refuge in Lebanon. Instead of finding a safe haven, they were subjected to a sudden order of evacuation on the grounds of the tents being in proximity to a military zone. The authorities granted the refugees only 5 days to dismantle their laboriously built tents, without offering any alternative settlement option.”
Ambulance
Directed by Mohammed Jabaly [dot] 2016 [dot] Feature Documentary
A raw, first-person account of the last war in Gaza in the summer of 2014. Mohamed Jabaly, a young man from Gaza City, joins an ambulance crew as war approaches, looking for his place in a country under siege, where at times there seems to be no foreseeable future. While thousands of things are published on the recurring violence in Gaza, the stories behind them remain hidden. Not this one.
Bonboné
Directed by Rakan Mayasi [dot] 2017 [dot] Narrative Short
A Palestinian couple resorts to an unusual way to conceive, as the husband is detained in an Israeli jail where visits are restricted.
Your father was born 100 years old, and so was the Nakba
Directed by Razan AlSalah [dot] 2017 [dot] Documentary Short
“She looks down at her virtual ghost marked with an X. ‘If I were walking, I would have found it, even if it’s not here anymore.’ Oum Amin, a Palestinian grandmother returns to her hometown Haifa through Google Maps Streetview, today, the only way she can see Palestine.”
Directed by Larissa Sansour & Søren Lind [dot] 2019 [dot] Narrative Short
In Vitro is set in the aftermath of an eco-disaster. An abandoned nuclear reactor under the biblical town of Bethlehem has been converted into an enormous orchard. Using heirloom seeds collected in the final days before the apocalypse, a group of scientists are preparing to replant the soil above.
Directed by Razan AlSalah [dot] 2020 [dot] Documentary Short
“I walk on snow to fall unto the desert. I find myself on unceded indigenous territory in so called Canada, an exile unable to return to Palestine. I trespass the colonial border as a digital spectre floating through Canada Park, transplanted over three Palestinian villages razed by the Israeli military in 1967.”
Directed by Suha Araj [dot] 2020 [dot] Narrative Short
While working at her aunt’s flower shop, Rosa takes her job underground when she begins a side business of shipping undocumented bodies to their home countries for burial.
Following the lead of The Movement for Black Lives and local Black organizations on the ground across the country, we’re encouraging people to donate to bail funds, support protests, and push forward efforts to defund the police this week in response to ongoing and historic police brutality against Black communities.
We also recognize the need for rest and healing, as many of us are feeling exhausted by this all-too-familiar cycle.
Below we’ve compiled some resources for these various ways of responding right now:
Since many bail funds are receiving donations at this time, also consider supporting local mutual aid funds, which are providing essential resources in response to both COVID-19 and the curfews being implemented nationwide. This Twitter thread has links to many around the country, including in Philadelphia.
DONATE
Art for Philadelphia Community Bail Fund
Curator Meg Onli (2018 BSFF Festival Director) has organized this initiative which features Philadelphia-based artists to raise money in support of Philadelphia Community Bail Fund. Artists include Jonathan Lyndon Chase, David Hartt, Marcus Maddox, and Tiona Nekkia McClodden. For more info or to purchase a limited edition print visit artforphiladelphia.com.
ONLINE ACTION
The Movement for Black Lives
The Movement for Black Lives has specific calls to action for each day this week and ways of getting involved. Learn more here.
ONLINE ACTION
Defund the Police
Philly We Rise is calling on community members to email Philadelphia City Council members and sign a petition calling for the defunding of the police in the City’s budget, which currently includes a $14 million dollar budget increase for the Philadelphia Police Department.
Similarly, in Los Angeles, a number of groups — including Black Lives Matter LA and Dignity and Power Now — have developed People’s Budget LA, which calls on the city council to “fund services, not police.”
REST AND HEALING
Ethel’s Club Group Sessions for the Black Community
Ethel’s Club is hosting two free, one hour virtual group healing & grieving sessions open to Black people across the world. See open dates and RSVP here.
As filmmakers, artists, and media makers of color navigate the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, we’re compiling emergency funds and other resources which are seeking to provide urgent relief. [Updated 4/22]
DOCUMENTARY
American Documentary COVID-19 Artist Emergency Fund
This COVID-19 Artist Emergency Fund will provide rapid response grants up to $500 to assist artists with basic needs including food, immediate health needs and insurance premiums.
Art House America COVID-19 Relief Fund Application
The purpose of the Art-House America Campaign is to provide urgent financial relief to art house cinemas. The campaign was established with a donation from the Criterion Collection and Janus Films and is managed by Art House Convergence.
Artist Relief will distribute $5,000 grants to artists facing dire financial emergencies due to COVID-19; serve as an ongoing informational resource; and co-launch the COVID-19 Impact Survey for Artists and Creative Workers, designed by Americans for the Arts, to better identify and address the needs of artists.
The City of Philadelphia’s Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy (OACCE), the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance (GPCA), and the Philadelphia Cultural Fund (PCF) have partnered to create COVID-19 Arts Aid PHL, a new emergency support fund focused on the arts and culture sector. COVID-19 Arts Aid PHL will support individual artists as well as small arts and culture organizations (annual budgets no greater than $250,000) and mid-sized organizations (annual budgets of $250,000 – $15M) whose operations, work and livelihood have been deeply affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The $250,000 fund has been provided by both Field of Vision and Topic Studios in an effort to offer support and assistance to the incredible documentary freelancers in our field who have experienced financial hardship from loss of income or opportunity due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fund to help at least 100 queer writers of color who have been financially impacted by the current COVID-19 crisis. Priority will be given to queer trans women of color and queer disabled writers of color.
New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is partnering with the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation to administer a new emergency grant program called Rauschenberg Emergency Grants. The program will provide one-time grants of up to $5,000 for unexpected medical emergencies. The grants are available to visual and media artists and choreographers who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents in the United States, District of Columbia, or U.S. Territories.
The South Asian Arts Resiliency Fund is a direct response by the India Center Foundation to offer support to South Asian arts workers impacted by COVID-19. The South Asian Arts Resiliency Fund will distribute project grants of at least $1000 (up to $2000 depending on financial need and availability of funds) to assist United States based arts workers of South Asian descent (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka) in performing arts, film, visual arts, and/or literature.
Velocity Fund COVID-19 Artist Emergency Relief Grants
Over the coming months, The Velocity Fund will manage the distribution of individual $1,000 unrestricted, one-time grants to Philadelphia visual artists based on an open application process. Any practicing visual artist, who is currently a resident of Philadelphia and has experienced financial loss and/or hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic is encouraged to apply.
Village Gap Fund for Black Working Artists in Philly
Artists and Black people in Philly are disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 shutdown. In response, The Village has raised seed funding to make one-time grants of $500 available to Black working artists in Philadelphia who have lost critical income because of the shutdown.
Looking for something to do with the kids while you’re stuck at home? We’ve got you covered! Here’s a list of nine of our favorite short films for kids and teens that have screened at BlackStar Film Festival over the past eight years. They cover a wide range of topics and genres, from narrative shorts to music videos to documentaries. These films may be appropriate for differing age groups, so make sure you watch each before deciding if it’s right for your child. Have fun and don’t forget to pencil in the 9th annual BlackStar Film Festival, happening July 30 to August 2 in Philadelphia!
MUSIC VIDEO
BGM
DIRECTED BY SONTENISH MYERS, TEMI ONI | 4 MINS
After an uncomfortable encounter, a young girl seeks refuge in the girls’ bathroom and is transported to an underworld of Black Girl Magic.
NARRATIVE SHORT
Dream
DIRECTED BY NIJLA MU’MIN | 16 MINS
A 12-year-old girl strives to rekindle her parents’ dwindling romance at her desert town’s annual carnival, and learns hard lessons about love in the process. Adapted from the filmmaker’s short story, “The Carnival,” this film looks at dreams and reality in the mind of a young girl who associates her and her parents’ happiness with the town’s colorful, sensual carnival.
SERIES
Heroes of Color
DIRECTED BY DAVID HEREDIA | ~3 MINS EACH
An award-winning, educational whiteboard web series celebrating the outstanding achievements of people of color from different ethnic backgrounds. See all episodes here.
DOCUMENTARY SHORT
In This World
DIRECTED BY KELLY CREEDON | 15 MINS
Fifteen-year-old Courvosier “Vosiey” Cox is a triple threat: an actor, singer and comedian, destined to perform sold-out shows in L.A. He is planning the talent show he is sure will launch his career in front of hordes of adoring fans. But first he must navigate the challenging landscape of adolescence, a tumultuous time that brings a new sense of independence along with a search for self and longing for acceptance. For Vosiey, who is growing up in inner-city Durham, N.C., that means struggling to find his place in a complex and often contradictory world. As he treads the tenuous line between childhood and adulthood and between dreams and reality, he undertakes a relentless quest to escape into the spotlight, no matter what.
DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Kojo: A Short Documentary
DIRECTED BY MICHAEL FEQUIERE | 14 MINS
Kojo is about a gifted 12-year-old jazz drummer, Kojo Odu Roney. In a candid interview, Kojo reflects on his tireless work ethic, the current state of jazz music, learning from his mentor and father, jazz saxophonist Antoine Roney, and much more. Kojo’s charisma, sensibility, and passion are as mesmerizing as his drum skills and, for the first time in this documentary, he shares them with you.
DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Miasia: The Nature of Experience
DIRECTED BY YVONNE MICHELLE SHIRLEY | 30 MINS
Brooklyn teen Miasia Clark is just a few weeks shy of presenting at the first-ever Black Girl Movement National Conference. As the event approaches, we watch her prepare with her activist group, Girls for Gender Equity. She guides us through her everyday worlds as she wrestles with the personal, the political, and the fight for self-determination. Watch it here.
DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Negro Hair Petting Zoo
DIRECTED BY CARRIE HAWKS | 1 MIN
This film pokes fun at the exotic mystique of black hair.
NARRATIVE SHORT
The Jump
DIRECTED BY JAMAL HODGE | 7 MINS
As a child, Eric believed that the water was magical. In the water, there was nothing he couldn’t do. But a life-changing encounter with bullies at a pool planted seeds of self-doubt. Still haunted by the experience as an adult, Eric decides that the only way to take back control over his life is to get back into the water. If he can face his fears 30 feet above the water, then he’ll rediscover his magic and realize he has had the power to conquer his fears all along. Watch it via Amazon.
NARRATIVE SHORT
Too Black
DIRECTED BY MAYSON MINOR | 5 MINS
A young black girl receives words of wisdom from her grandmother as she struggles with bullying and attacks on her self-image.
