Category: Press Release

BlackStar Projects, the premier organization celebrating visionary Black, Brown, and Indigenous film and media artists, today announced the films selected for inclusion in this year’s 11th annual BlackStar Film Festival. 

The festival will take place August 3-7, 2022 in a hybrid format, with select in-person screenings, live programs, and panels at Penn Live Arts at Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia, and online events accessible to a global audience. It will include narrative features and shorts, documentary features and shorts, and experimental films. Festival attendees will also have access to a range of programs, conversations, and parties across the city. 

Passes for the festival are now available for purchase here. An all-access pass is currently available for an early bird rate of $200 (normally $250), and a virtual festival pass is currently available for an early bird rate of $100 (normally $125). Individual tickets for virtual and in-person screenings, which go on sale in early July, will be $5 and $15, respectively.

The 2022 BlackStar Film Festival is set to feature a total of 76 films representing 27 countries, including 16 world, 8 North America, 12 East Coast, and 8 US premieres. 25 films will be Philadelphia premieres. 

“Following the success of last year’s 10th anniversary celebration, we are thrilled to present this year’s festival and hope it allows filmmakers of the global majority to forge new connections with their audiences,” says BlackStar Founder, Artistic Director, and CEO Maori Karmael Holmes. “We curate every aspect of our events to be intentional community building efforts, centered on joy, radical care, and thriving, and we are excited to witness how this year’s festival embodies that spirit.” 

“We are excited to continue connecting with and welcoming our community in-person and virtually. This festival is a storytelling celebration with programming that has lots of people in mind—from yoga for families to parties to issue-based documentaries and horror films,” added Festival Director Nehad Khader. 

Stills from (clockwise from top left): Jasmine is a Star, ᎤᏕᏲᏅ (What They’ve Been Taught), The Spirit God Gave Us, and Tug of War.

Selections from this year’s lineup include: 

Aftershock—a feature documentary directed by Paula Eiselt and Tonya Lewis Lee—follows two families as they galvanize activists, birth-workers, and physicians to reckon with the US maternal health crisis after having lost loved ones due to childbirth complications.

Blackalachia—an experimental film by Moses Sumney featuring a live conceptual performance with a 7-piece band atop the Blue Ridge Mountains—captures the intersection between nature, music, dance, and cinematography.

Conspiracy—an experimental film co-directed by Simone Leigh and Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich—was shot in Leigh’s studio on the occasion of her historic exhibition in the United States Pavilion at the 2022 Venice Biennale.

Jasmine is a Star—a feature narrative directed by Jo Rochelle—follows the journey of a determined 16-year-old with albinism (lack of pigment in the hair, skin, and eyes) who makes it her mission to become a professional model in her hometown of Minneapolis, while attempting to go unnoticed in every other aspect of her teenage life.

Let the Little Light Shine—a feature documentary directed by Kevin Shaw—follows parents, students, and educators as they fight for the survival of a thriving, top-ranked Chicago African American elementary school that is threatened to be closed and replaced by a new high school that favors the community’s wealthier residents.

Mars One—a feature narrative directed by Gabriel Martins—chronicles a Brazilian family coping with an uncertain future as a far-right conservative leader rises to power. Through this time of turbulent change, the family’s optimism and deep capacity for love guides them.

Rewind & Play—a feature documentary directed by Alain Gomis—spotlights Thelonius Monk recording a French TV show in 1969. 

Selahy “My Weapon”—a short narrative directed by Alaa Zabara—follows a young, deaf Arab girl, born in the ravages of a war zone, whose only weapons are her hearing aids and an old video camera.

Storming Caesar’s Palace—a feature documentary directed by Hazel Gurland-Pooler— uplifts the story of Las Vegas activist Ruby Duncan and a band of ordinary mothers who launched one of the most extraordinary, yet forgotten, feminist, anti-poverty movements in U.S. history.

Sub Eleven Seconds—a short documentary directed by Bafic—ruminates on time, loss, and hope; it offers a poetic imagining of the quest of Sha’Carri Richardson, a young track and field athlete, to achieve her dream of qualifying for the Olympic Games.

The Panola Project—a short documentary directed by Rachael DeCruz and Jeremy S. Levine—highlights the heroic efforts of Dorothy Oliver to keep her small town of Panola, Alabama safe from COVID-19, chronicling how an often-overlooked rural Black community came together in creative ways to survive.

The Spirit God Gave Us—a short narrative directed by Michael Donte—is a love story about the intersection of faith and queer love. Following two young Black men who volunteer as ushers for their Baptist church, it chronicles their journey towards love, connection and spirituality.

Tug of War—a feature narrative directed by Amil Shivji—is a coming-of-age political love story set in the final years of British colonial Zanzibar. Denge, a young freedom fighter, meets Yasmin, an Indian-Zanzibari woman, in the middle of the night as she is on her way to be married. 

We Still Here / Nos Tenemos—a feature documentary directed by Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi— showcases the aftermath of Hurricane Maria for the young residents of Comerio, Puerto Rico, who empower themselves to transform their lives and communities despite the disregard of the government and poor relief management.

ᎤᏕᏲᏅ (What They’ve Been Taught)—a short documentary directed by Brit Hensel and filmed on the Qualla Boundary and Cherokee Nation—explores expressions of reciprocity in the Cherokee world, brought to life through a story told by an elder and first language speaker.

This edition of BlackStar Film Festival also marks the world premiere of short films created through BlackStar’s Philadelphia Filmmaker Lab, presented by Black Experience on Xfinity, following the announcement of the Lab’s inaugural cohort last fall. An opportunity designed to uplift emerging and mid-career artists in the Greater Philadelphia area, the Lab has supported four filmmakers by making equipment, space, crew, mentorship, funding, and critical feedback available over the course of the past year. The Lab’s 2021–2022 fellows are Bettina Escauriza, Jasmine Lynea, Xenia Matthews, and Julian Turner.

Bettina Escauriza’s project, Tonight, We Eat Flowers, centers on a person who sells hold music to companies, employing magical realism and the absurd to disrupt expectations. Jasmine Lynea’s hybrid film, The Love Machine, is set in 2036 North Philadelphia in a dominantly Black neighborhood and focuses on cultivating a new perspective on love. Julian Turner’s short, The Big Three, engages a conversation surrounding Black representation and artistic ownership through a musical setting. Xenia Matthews’s film Ourika! utilizes surrealism, animation, and multimedia elements to further the ongoing conversation on the colonization of Black women’s bodies in art and material culture.

In addition to hybrid film screenings, there will be a slate of festival programming—both online and in-person in Philadelphia—this year. Select highlights include:

• [dot] A conversation with Mira Nair, the 2022 recipient of BlackStar’s Luminary Award (Virtual)
• [dot] Nightly episodes of The Daily Jawn—a talk show hosted by Maori Karmael Holmes and Rashid Zakat featuring interviews with filmmakers, music, and much more—live with an audience at Penn Live Arts (In-Person)
• [dot] Opening and closing night parties, plus a co-hosted First Friday! at the Barnes Museum, featuring live music by Omar’s Hat (In-Person)
• [dot] A panel on disability justice and filmmaking with visionary cultural workers, moderated by  Andraéa LaVant (Virtual) 

 

BlackStar Projects has seen considerable and continued growth over the past decade, both in the scope and reach of its festival and with new and continuing initiatives for the organization year-round. Last year’s 10th anniversary BlackStar Film Festival featured approximately 80 films, including 19 world premieres, and represented 27 countries. It was attended by more than 3,000 in Philadelphia and reached nearly 1 million viewers virtually around the world. 

In addition to presenting an array of live programs, panels, and select in-person events and screenings, 2021 also marked BlackStar’s selection by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as a qualifying festival for both short documentary and short narrative films, making BlackStar’s Best Narrative Short and Best Documentary Short winners eligible for entrance at the Academy Awards. 

Among BlackStar Projects’ continuing initiatives are Seen, a journal of film and visual culture that will publish its fourth issue this summer, the William and Louise Greaves Filmmaker Seminar, and Many Lumens with Maori Karmael Holmes—BlackStar’s signature podcast, which finds BlackStar founder Maori Karmael Holmes in dialogue with the most groundbreaking artists, changemakers, and cultural workers of today. The organization also celebrated the beginning of this decade of expansion with the opening of a new headquarters this spring.

Information on judging, sponsors, additional programming, and events will be announced soon. For more information on the festival and its programs, visit https://www.blackstarfest.org.

The lineup of films is as follows, with additional films to be announced in the coming weeks:

A Morsel of Love, directed by Helia Behrooz and Sana Norouzbaki

The African Desperate, directed by Martine Syms

Aftershock, directed by Paula Eiselt and Tonya Lewis Lee

Ãjãí: The Headball Game of the Myky and Manoki, directed by Typju Myky and André Lopes

Angakusajaujuq: The Shaman’s Apprentice, directed by Zacharias Kunuk

Another Story (with esperanza spalding), directed by Adrien Gystere Peskine and Anthony Peskine

Barry the Beekeeper, directed by Ikram Ahmed

Big Three, directed by Julian Turner

Black Beauty, directed by Elle Moxley

Blackalachia, directed by Moses Sumney

Body Language, directed by Odu Adamu

Bonded, directed by Shobhit Jain

By Water, directed by Iyabo Kwayana

Clones, directed by Letia Solomon

Conspiracy, directed by Simone Leigh and Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich

Echolocation, directed by Nadia Shihab

The Fire This Time, directed by Mariam Ghani

For Love, directed by Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor

Foreign in a Domestic Sense, directed by Sofía Gallisá Muriente and Natalia Lassalle Morillo

Forgotten Paradise: Dream the Other Side of the River, directed by Charlotte Brathwaite

The Fourfold, directed by Alisi Telengut

Freedom Hill, directed by Resita Cox

Freshwater, directed by dream hampton

The Game God(S), directed by Adrian L. Burrell

Glitter Ain’t Gold, directed by Christian Nolan Jones

Golden Jubilee, directed by Suneil Sanzgiri

Half-Day, directed by Morgan Mathews

Hazing, directed by Byron Hurt

Hoop Dreams, directed by Kasey Elise Walker

Jasmine Is A Star, directed by Jo Rochelle

Kash Kash, directed by Lea Najjar

Let the Little Light Shine, directed by Kevin Shaw

Lingui, The Sacred Bonds, directed by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun

Losing Joy, directed by Juliana Kasumu

The Love Machine, directed by Jasmine Lynea

Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power, directed by Geeta Gandbhir and Sam Pollard

Mars One, directed by Gabriel Martins

Men Nan Men, directed by Wilson Edmond

My Parents’ Bazaar, directed by Rakesh Narwani

My Saints Recognize Your Saints, directed by Rodrigo Antonio

Night, directed by Ahmad Saleh

Night Shift, directed by Bim Ajadi

One Magenta Afternoon, directed by Vernon Jordan, III

One Take Grace, directed by Lindiwe Matshikiza

Ourika, directed by Xenia Matthews

The Panola Project, directed by Rachael DeCruz and Jeremy S. Levine

The Passion of Remembrance, directed by Isaac Julien

PATTY vs. PATTY, directed by Chris Strikes

Piiksi/Huia (Bird), directed by Cian Elyse White and Joshua Manyheads

Pili Ka Moʻo, directed by Justyn Ah Chong

Quarantine Kids, directed by Bilal Motley and Bria Motley

Rewind & Play, directed by Alain Gomis

The Ritual to Beauty, directed by Shenny De Los Angeles and Maria Marrone

The Season of Burning Things, directed by Gouled Ahmed Asmaa Jama

Selahy “My Weapon,” directed by Alaa Zabara

Show Me Other Places, directed by Rajee Samarasinghe

Silent Beauty, directed by Jasmín Mara López

The Spirit God Gave Us, directed by Michael Donte

Still Waters, directed by Aurora Brachman

Storming Caesars Palace, directed by Hazel Gurland-Pooler

Strictly Two Wheel, directed by Ania Freer

Sub Eleven Seconds, directed by BAFIC

Sunday Morning, directed by Bruno Ribeiro

The Syed Xmas Eve Game Night, directed by Fawzia Mirza

Teine Sā – The Ancient Ones, directed by Matasila Freshwater, Mario Gaoa, Miki Magasiva, Anapela Polataivao, and Mario Faumui

Tomorrow Is Another Day, directed by Ng’endo Mukii

Tonight, We Eat Flowers, directed by Bettina Escauriza

The Town, directed by Lindiwe Makgalemele

Tug Of War, directed by Amil Shivji

ᎤᏕᏲᏅ (What They’ve Been Taught), directed by Brit Hensel

Vortex, directed by Rikkí Wright

We Still Here / Nos Tenemos, directed by Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi

Weidle’s, directed by Kevin Jerome Everson

Wisdom Gone Wild, directed by Rea Tajiri

Woman of the Earth, directed by Evelyn Mercedes Muñoz Marroquín

You Can Always Come Home, directed by Juan Luis Matos

This year’s festival is presented with the support of the following sponsors: America ReFramed and POV, Annenberg School For Communication, Black Public Media, Catapult Film Fund, Center For Cultural Power, Drexel Westphal College of Media Arts, Expressway Grip, Eventive, Firelight Media, Gotham Film & Media Institute, Impact Partners, Indego, ITVS, Leeway Foundation, Lionsgate/STARZ, MediaJustice, NEON, Open Society Foundations, PBS, PECO, Philadelphia Foundation, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Red Bull, Scattergood Foundation, Temple University Film and Media Arts Department, The Study Hotels, Unique Photo, Urban Affairs Coalition, Urban Outfitters, Warner Bros/Discovery, WestxEast, and the Wyncote Foundation.

BlackStar Projects and its year-round programs are generously supported by Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Ford Foundation/JustFilms, Independence Public Media Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Mighty Arrow Family Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Nathan Cummings Foundation, Perspective Fund, Pew Center for Arts and Heritage, Philadelphia Foundation, Samuel S. Fels Fund, Surdna Foundation, Wallace Foundation, William Penn Foundation, and Wyncote Foundation, in addition to its board of directors, community partners, and a host of generous individual donors and organizations.

About BlackStar Projects

BlackStar Projects is the producer of the BlackStar Film Festival, an annual celebration of the visual and storytelling traditions of the African diaspora and global communities of color — showcasing films by Black, Brown, and Indigenous people from around the world. In addition to the acclaimed festival, BlackStar presents an array of programming across film and visual culture year-round, including the twice-annual journal Seen, the podcast Many Lumens, the William and Louise Greaves Filmmaker Seminar, and the Philadelphia Filmmaker Lab, among other initiatives. 

Press Contacts

Ed Winstead

Director, Cultural Counsel

ed@culturalcounsel.com

Sam Riehl 

Senior Account Executive, Cultural Counsel

sam@culturalcounsel.com 

Emma Frohardt

Senior Account Coordinator, Cultural Counsel

emma@culturalcounsel.com

BlackStar Projects, the premier organization celebrating visionary Black, Brown, and Indigenous film and media artists, is proud to announce that the next edition of its annual film festival will take place August 3-7, 2022. The 2022 BlackStar Film Festival will be held in a hybrid format again in light of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.

This year marks the 11th edition of the BlackStar Film Festival. The organization celebrated the beginning of a new decade of growth and expansion with the opening of a new office space this month. Other new and continuing initiatives include the Philadelphia Filmmaker Lab, which announced its inaugural class in 2021, Seen, a journal of film and visual culture which will publish its fourth issue later this year, and Many Lumens, BlackStar’s signature podcast, which finds BlackStar founder Maori Karmael Holmes in dialogue with the most groundbreaking artists, changemakers, and cultural workers of today.

Submissions remain open until April 1st.

“Following the success of last year’s 10th anniversary festival, we are thrilled to continue building on that momentum as we support visionary Black, Brown, and Indigenous filmmakers and connect them with new opportunities and audiences,” said Maori Karmael Holmes, CEO, Artistic Director and Founder of BlackStar Projects. “We look forward to hosting another inspired gathering in-person and online this August.”

Based on the success of the day-long filmmaker symposium at the annual BlackStar Film Festival, the organization most recently hosted the second edition of the William and Louise Greaves Filmmaker Seminar from March 18-20, 2022. This three-day virtual gathering for Black, Brown, and Indigenous artists working in cinematic realms featured a keynote address on film futurism from award-winning filmmaker, artist, and technologist Violeta Ayala; live director’s commentaries with Haile Gerima (Harvest: 3,000 Years) and Jessica Beshir (Faya Dayi); a work-in-progress screening with Jude Chehab; curated programs of film screenings and workshops; panel discussions highlighting industry professionals; and much more. 183 individuals attended this year’s seminar, calling in from a dozen countries.

Last year’s 10th anniversary BlackStar Film Festival featured approximately 80 films, including 19 world premieres, and represented 27 countries. In addition to presenting an array of live programs, panels, and select in-person events and screenings, 2021 also marked BlackStar’s selection by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as a qualifying festival for both short documentary and short narrative films, making BlackStar’s Best Narrative Short and Best Documentary Short winners eligible for entrance at the Academy Awards.

Similar to last year’s festival, the 2022 BlackStar Film Festival will be hybrid, with select in-person screenings at Penn Live Arts at Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia. Information on additional Philadelphia showings and venues is forthcoming.

BlackStar Projects and its year-round programs are generously supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Ford Foundation/JustFilms, Independence Public Media Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Mighty Arrow Family Foundation, Nathan Cummings Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Open Society Foundations, Perspective Fund, The Philadelphia Foundation, PopCulture Collaborative, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Samuel S. Fels Fund, Surdna Foundation, William Penn Foundation, and Wyncote Foundation, in addition to its board of directors, community partners, and a host of generous individual donors and organizations.

Additional information on ticketing, jurors, sponsors, programming, and the slate of films that will be featured at this year’s festival will be announced soon. For overall information on BlackStar, including its festival and programs, visit blackstarfest.org.

 

About BlackStar Projects

BlackStar Projects is the producer of the BlackStar Film Festival, an annual celebration of the visual and storytelling traditions of the African diaspora and global communities of color — showcasing films by Black, Brown, and Indigenous people from around the world. In addition to the acclaimed festival, BlackStar presents an array of programming across film and visual culture year-round, and produces the twice-annual journal Seen.

 

Press Contacts

Ed Winstead

Director, Cultural Counsel

ed@culturalcounsel.com

 

Emma Frohardt

Account Coordinator, Cultural Counsel

emma@culturalcounsel.com

BlackStar Projects, producer of the acclaimed BlackStar Film Festival, is thrilled to announce several new hires and staff promotions this January. Six new individuals are joining the team, bringing their respective expertise to the rapidly growing organization. This organizational growth represents the culmination of BlackStar’s tenth anniversary celebrations over the past year.

New additions to BlackStar include Akili Davis as Administrative Coordinator, Ashley Ijoema Omoma as Program Coordinator, Autumn F. Valdez as Business Manager, Dessane Lopez Cassell as Editor-in-Chief of Seen, Mariam Dembele as Marketing Associate, and Patrice Worthy as Director of Programs.

Dessane Lopez Cassell’s hire was previously announced last November with the debut of Seen Issue 003. Issue 004, the first with Cassell in the role of Editor-in-Chief, will be released this Spring.

Several team members have also been promoted, including Leo Brooks, who will assume the role of Design Manager. Imran Siddiquee will assume the role of Chief Communications Officer and Sara Zia Ebrahimi will become Chief Operations Officer this January.

“We’re thrilled to have these incredibly talented individuals joining our team as we continue to expand the scope of our organization and vision,” said Maori Karmael Holmes, Artistic Director and CEO of BlackStar. “I am also delighted to have Sara and Imran join me in leading the organization as we move into the second decade of BlackStar, leveraging our collective expertise and imagination for another transformative decade.”

BlackStar has opened festival submissions this week for their 2022 iteration, set to take place August 3-7. To be eligible for consideration, films must be directed by a person who identifies as Black, Brown, or Indigenous, or tell a story of Black, Brown or Indigenous experiences. Last year’s festival featured approximately 80 films, including 19 world premieres and representing 27 countries. Submissions may be uploaded via FilmFreeway.

For more information on festival submissions, please visit blackstarfest.org/submissions/.

In 2021, BlackStar presented the 10th annual BlackStar Film Festival, launched the Philadelphia Filmmaker Lab, presented a new limited-edition print each month through the BlackStar 10th Anniversary Print Sale, shared the first season of the Many Lumens podcast, and published two editions of Seen, their signature journal of film and visual culture. In 2022, this expansion will continue with additional signature programming alongside new events. More information on this year’s festival, and other BlackStar programs, will be announced soon.

For more information about the BlackStar team, please visit blackstarfest.org/staff.

 

About BlackStar Projects

BlackStar Projects is the producer of the BlackStar Film Festival, an annual celebration of the visual and storytelling traditions of the African diaspora and global communities of color — showcasing films by Black, Brown, and Indigenous people from around the world. In addition to the acclaimed festival, BlackStar presents an array of programming across film and visual culture year-round, and produces the twice-annual journal Seen.

 

Press Contacts

Ed Winstead

Director, Cultural Counsel

ed@culturalcounsel.com

 

Emma Frohardt

Account Coordinator, Cultural Counsel

emma@culturalcounsel.com

BlackStar Projects, the premier organization celebrating visionary Black, Brown, and Indigenous film and media artists, today announced the programs accompanying this year’s 10th annual BlackStar Film Festival, as well as the addition of a new world premiere to the film slate.

The BlackStar Film Festival is also proud to announce it has been selected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as a qualifying festival for both documentary and narrative short films, making BlackStar Best Narrative and Documentary Short Award-winners eligible for entrance at the Academy Awards®.

This year’s Festival will take place virtually, with select in-person presentations, screenings, and events, August 4-8, 2021. Tickets for the festival are available for order here. An all-access pass is $125, a virtual festival pass is $100, and an in-person screening pass is $45. Requests for press credentials are available here.

In advance of this years’ Festival, BlackStar has announced the late Menelik Shabazz as the recipient of the 2021 Richard Nichols Luminary Award, recognizing outstanding contributions in the arts and social change. Director of the acclaimed Burning an Illusion, among many other films, Shabazz was also the founder and publisher of Black Filmmaker Magazine. Shabazz, who passed away in June, was one of the most groundbreaking filmmakers of our time, eternally changing Black, Caribbean, British, and global cinema as we know it. Past recipients of the Luminary Award include Haile Gerima, Julie Dash, RZA, Ava DuVernay, dream hampton, and Marcia Smith.

In addition to the 80 films already announced for the festival, BlackStar is proud to partner with HBO to present the world premiere of feature documentary Eyes on the Prize: Hallowed Ground, which will be screened at the Mann Center at 6pm on August 8th, in advance of its streaming availability on HBO Max, which will begin on August 19. Honoring Henry Hampton’s masterpiece Eyes on the Prize, the film conjures ancestral memories, activates the radical imagination, and explores the profound journey for Black liberation through the voices of the movement. A portal through time, Eyes on the Prize: Hallowed Ground is a mystical and lyrical reimagining of the past, present, and future.

In addition to the digital screening slate, the BlackStar Film Festival will also feature conversations, programs, roundtable discussions, and more, highlighting the voices and visions of filmmakers, thinkers, and leaders across the field.

Each morning, at 9:30am ET, the festival will kick off with The Daily Jawn, a morning talk show co-hosted by BlackStar founder Maori Karmael Holmes, filmmaker-artist Rashid Zakat, and a rotating crew of special guest hosts. The show features interviews with filmmakers and panelists, astrological updates, insightful social critique, and much more.

The run of the festival will also include conversations and roundtables with leading voices in the culture, live-streaming online. Participants include producer, filmmaker, and publisher Sacha Jenkins; Grammy Award-winning musician Meshell Ndegeocello; acclaimed interdisciplinary artist Rashaad Newsome; writer and scholar Imani Perry; curator and writer Legacy Russell, award-winning score composer Tamar-kali (Mudbound, Shirley, The Assistant); and many more. The topics of these conversations span candid discussions of mental health and filmmaking; what actors and filmmakers need to know about forming and being in relationship with literary, film, and casting agents; and non-extractive, healing-centered approaches to storytelling, in pursuit of a framework for values-based filmmaking.The full list of live streamed conversations, which will be aired on Facebook, is available here, and reproduced below.

In addition to the conversations and panels, there will be a number of outdoor in-person events in Philadelphia this year. These include morning group yoga sessions at Drexel Square; opening and closing night parties; and nightly film screenings at Eakins Oval, in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, from 8pm to 11pm, August 4 – 7. The parties, yoga sessions, and Eakins Oval screenings are all free and open to the public — free registration is available for both the opening and closing night parties on the Festival site.

On August 8, all-access and BlackStar @ the Mann pass holders can attend a full day of outdoor screenings at the Mann Center in Philadelphia featuring food vendors, an open lawn, and covered seating options. Screenings will begin at 11:00am ET, with Best Feature Narrative nominee Waikiki, and conclude with closing night film Hallowed Ground, featuring a post-screening Q&A with director Sophia Nahli Allison, executive producer Mervyn Marcano, and venerable artist and cultural worker Sonia Sanchez.

Returning for the third year, and in keeping with the Festival’s maker-centric approach, will be BlackStar’s Pitch Session, which brings eight filmmakers to pitch short doc projects to a panel of experts from foundations, distributors, and production houses. The Pitch Session will take place August 3, and is open to invited guests and festival passholders.

Live-Streamed Conversations

BlackStar Pitch Session

August 3, 12-2:30pm

Presented by WarnerMedia/OneFifty

The Daily Jawn, Presented by PBS and World Channel 

August 4-8, daily at 9:30am, Facebook Live

With Laiya St. Clair, D’Lo, Ethel Cee, Anne Ishii, Dr. Yaba Blay, and more

Nuotama Bodomo and Fox Maxy in Conversation With Tina Campt

August 4, 12-1pm

Glitch and the Moving Image 

August 4, 2-3pm

Co-presented by MediaJustice

With Legacy Russell, Cameron A. Granger, E. Jane and Jazmin Jones; moderated by Imran Siddiquee

Composers Roundtable

August 4, 4-5pm

With Sultana Isham, Jlin, Tamar-Kali, and Amanda Jones; moderated by Dave “DJ lil’ dave” Adams

Sacha Jenkins in Conversation with Dyana Williams

August 4,  6-7pm

Co-presented by Showtime

Meshell Ndegeocello in Conversation with Imani Perry

August 5, 12-1pm

Mental Health and Filmmaking

August 5, 2-3pm

Co-presented by American Documentary (POV), PBS, Scattergood Foundation, and WORLD Channel

With Michèle Stephenson, Lyric Cabral, Gessica Généus, and Nicole Naone; moderated by Yolo Akili

Lower-Frequency Politics

August 7, 4-5pm

With Rashaad Newsome, Maya Cozier, Leilah Weinraub, Aziah “Zola” Wells and Vashni Korin; moderated by Samantha Noël

R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Balancing Power and Care in Doc Filmmaking

August 5, 6-8 pm

In Partnership with the Doc Accountability Working Group

With Natalie Bullock-Brown, Sonya Childress, Michelle Lanier, Twiggy Pucci-Garcon, Poh Si Teng and Dr. Kameelah Rashad

Caribbean Film and Relational Poetics

August 7, 10:30-11:30 am

In partnership with Third Horizon

Co-presented by Black Public Media

With Wally Fall, Jason Fitzroy Jeffers, Shari Petti, and Nino Martínez Sosa; moderated by Dessane Lopez Cassell

On a Move!

August 6, 6-7 pm

Co-presented by Leeway Foundation and Temple University Department of Theater, Film and Media Arts

With Debbie Africa, Mike Africa, Mike Africa Jr., Louis Massiah, Maori Karmael Holmes, and Ephraim Asili; moderated by Krystal Strong

Going Back to Get It: On Cinematic Archival Practice 

August 7, 12-1pm

Co-presented by Black Public Media and Impact Partners

With Darius Clark Monroe, Tzutzu Matzin, Mahasen Nasser-Eldin, and Emily Jacir; moderated by Savannah Wood

Agent’s & Manager’s Roundtable

August 7, 2-3pm

Co-presented by CAA

With Adesuwa McCalla, Noel Tedla Mesfin, Talitha Watkins and Rukayat Giwa; moderated by Brandon Pankey

Love + Grit Podcast at BlackStar

August 6, 2-3pm

Coral Messam in Conversation With Jasmine Johnson

August 8, 11am-12pm

In-Person Events and Screenings

Nightly Outdoor Screenings at Eakins Oval

August 4-7, 8pm, Eakins Oval (2451 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia)

Free with Registration

August 4: Beans

August 5: Eyimofe (This Is My Desire)

August 6: Shorts: Phototropism, featuring six short films

August 7: Bitchin’: The Sound and Fury of Rick James

Opening Night Party: Revival! with Rashid Zakat, lil’ dave, and Oluwafemi, Co-presented with Firelight Media

August 4, 8pm-12am, Bartram’s Garden, (5400 Lindbergh Blvd., Philadelphia)

Festival Happy Hour  by Color of Change 

August 8, 5-7pm at Attico (219 S Broad St., Philadelphia)

Yoga 

August 6-8, 8:30am at Drexel Square (3001 Market St., Philadelphia, PA)

BlackStar @ the Mann (ticketed)

August 8, 11am-8pm at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts, TD Pavilion (5201 Parkside Ave., Philadelphia, PA)

Closing Night Party: Kiss-n-Grind, featuring Vikter Duplaix and Rich Medina, hosted by Laiya St. Clair

August 4, 8-11pm, Cira Green, (129 S 30th St., Philadelphia, PA)

All times in ET. To register for these events, visit www.blackstarfest.org/2021festival/

This year’s Festival is presented with the support of the following sponsors: Annenberg School for Communication, Facebook, Lionsgate/STARZ, Open Society Foundations, WarnerMedia, Eventive, Color of Change, MediaJustice, Netflix, PECO, Philadelphia Foundation, REI Coop Studios, Urban Affairs Coalition/Ending Racism Partnership, The Study Hotel, American Documentary/POV, Catapult Fund, Creative Artists Agency, Firelight Media, Impact Partners, ITVS, The Gotham Film & Media Institute,  Leeway Foundation, PBS, Scattergood Foundation, Temple University Department of Theater, Film and Media Arts, Vimeo and WORLD Channel.

BlackStar Projects and its year-round programs are generously supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Ford Foundation/JustFilms, Independence Public Media Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Mighty Arrow Family Foundation, Nathan Cummings Foundation, Open Society Foundations, Perspective Fund, PopCulture Collaborative, Samuel S. Fels Fund, Surdna Foundation, William Penn Foundation, and Wyncote Foundation, in addition to its board of directors, community partners, and a host of generous individual donors and organizations.

For more information on festival programming, visit www.blackstarfest.org/2021festival/.

About BlackStar Projects

BlackStar Projects is the producer of the BlackStar Film Festival, an annual celebration of the visual and storytelling traditions of the African diaspora and global communities of color — showcasing films by Black, Brown, and Indigenous people from around the world. In addition to the acclaimed festival, BlackStar presents an array of programming across film and visual culture year-round, and produces the twice-annual journal Seen.

Press Contacts

Ed Winstead
Director, Cultural Counsel
ed@culturalcounsel.com

Emma Frohardt
Account Coordinator, Cultural Counsel
emma@culturalcounsel.com

(Philadelphia, PA — July 6, 2021) — BlackStar Projects, the premier organization celebrating visionary Black, Brown, and Indigenous film and media artists, today announced the films selected for inclusion in this year’s 10th annual BlackStar Film Festival. The festival will take place virtually August 4-8, 2021, with select in-person screenings in Philadelphia, and include narrative features and shorts, documentary features and shorts, and experimental films. Festival attendees will also have access to a range of programs, conversations, and events, which will be presented digitally alongside the festival.

Tickets for the festival are now available for order here. An all-access pass is $125, a virtual festival pass is $100, and an in-person screening pass is $45.

The 2021 BlackStar Film Festival will feature a total of 80 films, representing 27 countries, including 18 world, 2 North American, and 7 US premieres. Twenty-nine additional films will be Philadelphia premieres.

“So much of BlackStar’s magic is in the people, and the opportunity to bring incredible independent filmmakers together. In ten years we have seen so much of that togetherness, of filmmakers finding each other and their audiences, and I can’t wait to see what the next ten bring,” says BlackStar Artistic Director & CEO Maori Karmael Holmes. “And while we remain mostly distanced, with a primarily digital festival again this year, we are excited to share this incredible film slate, which is global in scope, with the global audience the digital format allows.”

“This year’s films speak to a tremendous breadth of experiences, geographies, histories, aesthetics, and visions,” says Festival Director Nehad Khader. “These films address eternal preoccupations and pressing issues alike, and do so with grace, humor, beauty, and intelligence, and we are so excited to celebrate these filmmakers and their work.”

Strength, a feature documentary by Jorge Díaz Sánchez chronicling an indigenous youth basketball team in Oaxaca, Mexico, in its world premiere

Friendzone L.A., a short narrative by Angel Kristi Williams, in which two friends, one of whom is quietly in love with the other, spend a day exploring Los Angeles, in its world premiere

Madame Pipi, a short documentary by Rachelle Salnave following the lives of Haitian bathroom attendants working the nightclubs of Miami amidst the uncertainties of COVID-19 and rising costs of living, in its world premiere

The Inheritance, a feature narrative by Ephraim Asili, which weaves the history of the West Philadelphia-based MOVE Organization, the Black Arts Movement, and a narrative based on the filmmaker’s younger years when he was a member of a Black radical collective

Teeth, an experimental film by Jennifer Martin, in which a couple are forced by UK immigration officials to provide increasingly performative evidence their relationship’s legitimacy, a gruelling audition of acceptability that quickly escalates into surreal horror, in its US premiere

The Silent Protest: 1929 Jerusalem, a short documentary by Mahasen Nasser-Eldin chronicling a 1929 protest launched by a Palestinian women’s movement in Jerusalem who held a silent demonstration in protest of the British colonization, in its US premiere

Their Algeria, a feature documentary by Lina Soualem about her grandparents’ separation after 62 years together, their lives in Algeria and their experiences as immigrants living in a small medieval town in central France, in its US premiere

Eyimofe (This Is My Desire), a feature narrative by Arie and Chuko Esiri that follows the stories of a pair of Lagosians, Mofe, a factory technician, and Rosa, a hairdresser, on their quest for what they believe will be a better life on foreign shores, in its Philadelphia premiere

Bitchin’: The Sound and Fury of Rick James, a feature documentary by Sacha Jenkins that tells the story of the legendary funkster’s extraordinary and tumultuous life, times and musical legacy, in its Philadelphia premiere

Pink Carnations, an experimental film by Nadia Hironaka & Matthew Suib reflecting on a Japanese American family’s history at an internment camp during World War II, in its Philadelphia premiere

Writing with Fire, a feature documentary by Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh profiling India’s only newspaper run by Dalit women, a group of journalists who break traditions on the frontlines of India’s biggest issues and within the confines of their homes, in its Philadelphia premiere

Beans, a feature narrative by Tracey Deer about a 12-year-old torn between innocent childhood and delinquent adolescence; forced to grow up fast to become the tough Mohawk warrior she needs to be during the Indigenous uprising known as The Oka Crisis, which tore Quebec and Canada apart in the summer of 1990, in its Philadelphia premiere

Waikiki, a feature narrative by Christopher Kahunahana about a hula dancer’s fight for survival and sanity in the shadows of Waikiki, an unflinching glimpse into paradise where there remains hope through human connection and reconnection to ʻaina (nature), in its Philadelphia premiere

Melting Snow, an experimental film by Janah Elise exploring the coloniality of Puerto Rico’s labor force through the symbol water

In addition to the digital screenings, there will be a slate of in-person events in Philadelphia this year. These include opening and closing night parties, which are free and open to the public, and free, nightly film screenings at Eakins Oval, in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, from 8pm to 11pm, August 4 – 7.

• Opening Night Party: Revival! with Rashid Zakat

August 4, 8pm-12am, Bartram’s Garden 

• A full day of in-person film screenings (ticketed)

August 8, at the Mann Center

• Closing Night Party: Kiss-n-Grind with Vikter Duplaix 

August 8, 8-11pm, Cira Green

More information about festival programs and in-person screenings will be announced soon.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the BlackStar Film Festival, which has seen considerable and continued growth over the past decade, both in the scope and reach of the festival itself and with new and continuing initiatives for the organization year-round. Among these new initiatives are Seen, a print journal of film and visual culture focused on Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities globally published twice each year; and the podcast Many Lumens, which finds BlackStar founder Maori Karmael Holmes in dialogue with the most groundbreaking artists, change makers, and cultural workers in the game.

Another new initiative is The William and Louise Greaves Filmmaker Seminar, whose inaugural edition took place virtually from March 19-21, 2021. Based on the success of the day-long filmmakers’ symposium at the annual festival, this three-day gathering for artists of color working in cinematic realms featured a keynote address from Ghanaian filmmaker Nuotama Bodomo, a special work-in-progress screening with Adam Khalil & Zack Khalil, a live Director’s Commentary event with Yance Ford, along with curated programs of short films, panel discussions involving industry professionals, and much more.

In celebration of this year’s major anniversary milestone, BlackStar has also launched a print portfolio fundraiser, through which BlackStar supporters can purchase limited-edition prints—a new print is made available each month. Prints by Cauleen Smith, Damon Davis, Garrett Bradley, Kevin Jerome Everson, Louis Massiah, and Michelle Angela Ortiz are currently available. The organization will continue to release an exclusive, limited edition, 8.5 x 11-inch print on the 15th of each month, featuring artworks by Haile Gerima, Arthur Jafa, Kahlil Joseph, Terence Nance , Fahamu Pecou, and Andrea Pippins. More information on purchasing options and the print series is available on BlackStar’s website here.

This year’s Festival is presented with the support of the following sponsors: Annenberg School for Communication, Facebook, Lionsgate/STARZ, Open Society Foundations, WarnerMedia, Eventive, MediaJustice, Red Bull, Netflix, PECO, Philadelphia Foundation, REI Coop Studios, Urban Affairs Coalition, The Study Hotel, American Documentary/POV, Creative Artists Agency, Firelight Media, Impact Partners, ITVS, The Gotham Film & Media Institute,  Leeway Foundation, Scattergood Foundation, Temple University Department of Theater, Film and Media Arts, Vimeo and WORLD Channel.

BlackStar Projects and its year-round programs are generously supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Ford Foundation/JustFilms, Independence Public Media Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Mighty Arrow Family Foundation, Nathan Cummings Foundation, Open Society Foundations, Perspective Fund, Samuel S. Fels Fund, Surdna Foundation, William Penn Foundation, and Wyncote Foundation, in addition to its board of directors, community partners, and a host of generous individual donors and organizations.

Last year’s festival included approximately 90 films, including 24 world premieres, and represented more than 20 countries. In addition to presenting a wide-ranging program of live programs and panels online, the festival also featured three drive-in screenings at Philadelphia’s Mann Center for the Performing Arts in West Fairmount Park.

More information on judging, sponsors, and additional programming and events will be announced soon. For more information on the festival and its programs, visit blackstarfest.org.

About BlackStar Projects

BlackStar Projects, home of the annual BlackStar Film Festival, celebrates and provides platforms for visionary Black, Brown, and Indigenous artists. We do this by producing year-round programs including film screenings, exhibitions, an annual film festival, a filmmaker seminar, a film production lab, and a journal of visual culture. These programs provide artists opportunities for viable strategies for collaborations with other artists, audiences, funders, and distributors.

Press Contact

Ed Winstead
Director, Cultural Counsel
ed@culturalcounsel.com