Category: Press Release

BlackStar Film Festival Goes Digital

BlackStar Film Festival, the world’s premier celebration of Black, Brown, and Indigenous film and video artists, is pleased to announce that the ninth edition of our annual festival will take place August 20-26, 2020. In response to COVID-19, the festival will be presented entirely online. Additional information on ticketing, judging, sponsors, programming, and the slate of films that will be featured at this year’s festival will be announced soon. The festival schedule, participants, and events will be accessible at the festival’s website here as announcements are made.

The week-long, all-digital program will be a dynamic endeavor; BlackStar will present more than 90 films, an array of live panels, and special events bringing together some of the most innovative and impactful filmmakers, producers, and thinkers working today.

“I am incredibly proud of our team and the work they have done to meet the challenges of this moment and present our festival this year,” says BlackStar Artistic Director & CEO Maori Karmael Holmes. “The format might be different, but our nearly decade-long mission of centering and celebrating the voices of Black, Brown, and Indigenous people from around the world is not. We look forward to sharing these incredible films and the immense talents behind them.”

BlackStar will work with digital distribution channel CineSend to make films easily accessible to festival goers in their own homes. Ticketed attendees will be able to view all the films through a single online portal, which will be available at watch.blackstarfest.org.

BlackStar receives support from its dedicated audience along with private foundations, public agencies, corporate, non-profit and individual sponsors. 2020 supporters include: Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Annenberg School for Communication at University of Pennsylvania, Barra Foundation, British Film Council, CineReach, Color of Change, Ford Foundation/JustFilms, Independent Public Media Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Nathan Cummings Foundation, Netflix, PECO, Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development, Pennsylvania Humanities Council, Philadelphia Cultural Fund, Surdna Foundation, WarnerMedia, and WHYY.

Last year’s festival, which drew nearly 10,000 attendees, saw the Best Feature Narrative Award go to Selah And The Spades, directed by Tayarisha Poe, and the Best Feature Documentary Award to The Infiltrators, directed by Cristina Ibarra & Alex Rivera. BlackStar’s 2019 edition also hosted a discussion between Spike Lee and #MeToo founder Tarana Burke commemorating the 30th anniversary of Lee’s Do The Right Thing, as well as the festival premiere of Solange Knowles’ film When I Get Home.

The full slate of films, parties and events will be announced in the coming weeks. For more overall information on the festival and its programs, visit blackstarfest.org.

About BlackStar Film Festival

The BlackStar Film Festival is 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.

Press Contacts

Ed Winstead
Director, Cultural Counsel
ed@culturalcounsel.com

Danellys “D.W.” Wong
Account Coordinator, Cultural Counsel
dw@culturalcounsel.com

Robert Grand
Account Coordinator, Cultural Counsel
robert@culturalcounsel.com

25 June, 2020
BlackStar Presents Revival!, a Series of Virtual Celebrations for Collective Joy and Resilience

BlackStar Film Festival is proud to present Revival! an audio-visual meditation, a three-week series of live-streamed virtual dance parties and live performances that celebrate the visual and sonic culture of shared Black spiritual experiences. The special series, part of BlackStar’s efforts to provide engaging programming that extends beyond the annual film festival, will begin next Sunday June, 14 at 2pm EST, streaming for free on BlackStar’s Twitch channel.

Revival! is an attempt to reimagine and practice what collective joy and resilience looks like in times of crisis. Subtly drawing upon José Esteban Muñoz’s notion of ecstasy as “an invitation, a call to a then-and-there, a not-yet-here… a collective potentiality,” Revival! treats ecstasy not only as a corrective balm to injury but a world-making claim to the right of life, imagination, and joyful expression, an especially critical response to our current moment.

The audio-visual meditation offers the opportunity to step out of the here-and-now and virtually tap into what is not-yet-here. Using aural- and image-based motifs from the African diaspora the artists reverberate the intimacies and pleasures of shared spiritual experiences from across time and place.

Revival! invites longtime friends and frequent collaborators DJs Lil’ Dave, Oluwafemi, and Rashid Zakat to take turns creating live sound mixes over moving image backdrops. Each accomplished cultural workers in their own right, Lil’ Dave, Oluwafemi and Rashid Zakat are deeply invested and versed in crafting stories across genre. David ‘Lil’ Dave’ Adams is the producer and host of the podcast Excellent Reception, Rashid Zakat is a prolific portraitist and cinematographer, and Oluwafemi’s trajectory as a visual artist and illustrator situate them perfectly as a unit for this kind of cross-disciplinary, experimental work.

Funding for this series is provided in part by the Pennsylvania Humanities Council. Full schedule is below:

Episode 1: Rashid Zakat
June 14, 2020, 2pm EDT

Episode 2: Lil’ Dave
June 21, 2020, 2pm EDT

Episode 3: Oluwafemi
June 28, 2020, 2pm EDT

You can RSVP for each episode in the series on Eventbrite here. More information is available at blackstarfest.org/revival

About BlackStar Film Festival

The BlackStar Film Festival is 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.

Press Contacts

Ed Winstead
Director, Cultural Counsel
ed@culturalcounsel.com

Danellys “D.W.” Wong
Account Coordinator, Cultural Counsel
dw@culturalcounsel.com

Robert Grand
Account Coordinator, Cultural Counsel
robert@culturalcounsel.com

8 June, 2020
BlackStar Hosts Exclusive Screenings of A LOVE SONG FOR LATASHA on Anniversary of L.A. Uprisings

BlackStar Film Festival and Sophia Nahli Allison announced today that they would be hosting three exclusive online screenings of Allison’s A Love Song for Latasha this weekend, in recognition of the 28th anniversary of the L.A. Uprisings. Allison’s 19-minute experimental documentary, which won Best Documentary Short at the 2019 BlackStar Film Festival, centers on the life of Latasha Harlins, the 15-year-old whose 1991 murder in Los Angeles set the stage for the racial justice protests that swept the city the following year.

This weekend’s screenings will culminate in a live conversation at 5pm ET on May 3rd between Sophia Nahli Allison, Insecure producer Deniese Davis, artist Lynnée Denise, Surviving R. Kelly executive producer dream hampton, and scholar Marcus Anthony Hunter, on the links between visual art, collective memory, and Black liberation.

The film will be streamed three times consecutively over the course of an hour, beginning at the following times:

Friday, May 1 – Beginning 7:00pm ET / 4 pm PT

Saturday, May 2 – Beginning 7:00pm ET / 4 pm PT

Sunday, May 3 – Beginning 4:00pm ET / 1 pm PT

followed by

5:00pm ET / 2pm PT Live Conversation

The live streams will be accessible on BlackStar’s Facebook page, here. A Facebook account is not required to view the streams.

“We are currently living through history, an unprecedented time for us all. Art has always been a tool to reimagine, radically dream, dismantle, and heal. As we approach the 28th anniversary of The 1992 L.A. Riots, how do we engage with the past in a way that is healing and radically transforms our own understanding of time and black liberation? How does engaging with the past allow us to persevere through the present and envision a new future? How does art, the archive, collective memory, and the power of dreaming challenge and dismantle how our stories have been remembered and recorded?,” said Allison. “Latasha Harlins is a name that is synonymous with the riots, but too often nuanced stories of black women and black girls go unnoticed and their trauma becomes their full existence. To commemorate this time in LA history we hold space for Latasha Harlins, celebrating her life and the women who’ve kept her memory alive.”

A Love Song for Latasha premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival and was an official selection of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, in addition to winning Best Documentary Short at the 2019 BlackStar Film Festival. BlackStar will stream the film on their Facebook page three times consecutively at 7 pm ET on May 1st and 2nd, and three times again at 4 pm ET on May 3rd. The third and final screening on May 3rd will be followed by the live conversation, at 5 pm ET, also on BlackStar’s Facebook page.

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Sophia Nahli Allison is an experimental documentary filmmaker, photographer and dreamer. A native of South Central Los Angeles, she disrupts conventional documentary methods by reimagining the archives and excavating hidden truths. Her work is a meditation of the spirit. She conjures ancestral memories to explore the intersection of fiction and non-fiction storytelling. She is a 2020 United States Artists Fellow in Film and has held residencies at The MacDowell Colony, The Camargo Foundation in Cassis, France., The Center for Photography at Woodstock, and POV Spark’s African Interactive Art Residency. She is a recipient of a 2014 Chicago 3Arts Award and has received grants from the Sundance Institute New Frontier Lab Programs, Glassbreaker Films, and Getty Images. In 2017 she was named the Student Video Photographer of the Year by the White House News Photographers Association. She has a Master’s Degree in visual communication from UNC. Past projects have been featured on The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Root, with Los Angeles Filmforum at MOCA, and more. Her short documentary A Love Song For Latasha premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival, the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, and received the Grand Jury Documentary Prize at AFI Fest, along with Best Documentary Short awards at the New Orleans Film Festival, BlackStar Film Festival, and more including an IDA Documentary Awards Nomination.

Deniese Davis got her start in entertainment by producing indie low-budget projects including music videos, short films and digital content. In the web-series realm she is best known for producing Issa Rae’s award-winning web series, The Mis-Adventures of Awkward Black Girl. She is currently a Producer on the HBO comedy series Insecure and an Executive Producer on the upcoming HBO limited series The Dolls while continuing to produce and oversee content for Issa Rae Productions. She also serves as COO of ColorCreative, which provides access and opportunities for diverse and emerging writers and recently sold their first feature film Love in America to Universal. Originally from Las Vegas NV, Deniese is an alum of CUNY-Brooklyn College and the American Film Institute Conservatory.

Lynnée Denise was shaped as a DJ by her parents’ record collection. She’s an artist, scholar, and writer whose work reflects on underground cultural movements, the 1980s and electronic music of the African Diaspora. Lynnée Denise coined the phrase ‘DJ Scholarship’ to reposition the role of the DJ from party purveyor to an archivist, cultural custodian and information specialist.

dream hampton is a writer and filmmaker from Detroit.

Marcus Anthony Hunter is the Scott Waugh Endowed Chair in the Division of the Social Sciences, Professor of sociology, and Chair of the department of African American Studies at UCLA. He is author of three books: Black Citymakers: How The Philadelphia Negro Changed Urban America (Oxford University Press, 2013), Chocolate Cities: The Black Map of American Life (University of California Press, 2018) coauthored with Zandria F. Robinson, and The New Black Sociologists (Routledge, 2018).

About BlackStar Film Festival

The BlackStar Film Festival is 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.

Press Contacts

Ed Winstead
Director, Cultural Counsel
ed@culturalcounsel.com

Danellys “D.W.” Wong
Account Coordinator, Cultural Counsel
dw@culturalcounsel.com

Robert Grand
Account Coordinator, Cultural Counsel
robert@culturalcounsel.com

29 April, 2020
Major New Grants and Full-Time Staff Announced

The BlackStar Film Festival is pleased to announce several new developments that highlight our growth as the world’s premier celebration of film and video artists of color: the hiring of five full-time, year-round staff members, a first for the organization; the receipt of two substantial grants from the Surdna Foundation and the Philadelphia Cultural Fund; and the welcoming of a new Board of Directors. Together, they are emblematic of the great strides the festival has made in recent years, drawing national and international acclaim and bringing together some of the most innovative and impactful filmmakers, producers, thinkers, and distributors working today. This years’ festival, the ninth, remains scheduled to take place from July 30–August 2 in Philadelphia, PA, with more information to be announced in mid-May.

The Surdna Foundation has awarded BlackStar Film Festival a significant three-year, $500,000 grant and the Philadelphia Cultural Fund has awarded the festival over $11,000 in additional funding for this year. The support from these organizations will go towards expanding BlackStar’s yearlong programming, going beyond the festival model to support creatives and communities of color around the country and wider world. BlackStar’s robust slate of initiatives includes an Annual Filmmaker Seminar, that invites participants to explore the technical and creative aspects of mediamaking, and a Production Lab, offering fellowships, equipment, mentorship, funding, and critical feedback to young and emerging Philadelphia-based filmmakers. There are also plans for an Exhibition Program and a periodical Journal of Film and Visual Culture, which aims to extend the critical discourse of BlackStar’s to a wider audience while also creating a platform for writers of color and critics with a racial justice analysis.

The organization has also welcomed five full-time staff members, who join Founder, Artistic Director, and CEO, Maori Karmael Holmes: Nehad Khader, Program Director; Lauren Hunter, Operations Director; Imran Siddiquee, Communications Director; and Kira Rodriguez, Administrative Coordinator. The newly constituted team will help BlackStar in its mission to showcase the varied and nuanced landscapes of communities of color, while also expanding upon and illuminating the global experience.

BlackStar’s board also boasts stellar additions, bringing with them a wealth of knowledge to further the organization’s growth, including Holmes, Denise C. Beek, Chief Communications Officer of ‘me too.’ International; Amanda Branson Gill, Co-Founder of Kilo Films; Sekou Campbell, Partner at Culhane Meadows PLLC; Michael Garden, Principal of Michael Garden Group; Sunanda Ghosh, Director of External Relations at Philadelphia Contemporary, Ted Passon, President of All Ages Productions, Tayyib Smith, Principal of organizations Little Giant, Smith&Roller, and Pipeline Philly; along with an Advisory Board consisting of Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter from The Roots.

Lauded as the “Black Sundance,” the BlackStar Film Festival is scheduled to take place from July 30–August 2 in Philadelphia, PA. Now in its ninth year, attendance to the festival continues to increase with each iteration. BlackStar receives support from its dedicated audience along with private foundations, public agencies, corporate, non-profit and individual sponsors. Past and current supporters include: Barra Foundation, CAA, CineReach, Color of Change, Comcast/Streampix, Critical Minded, Firelight, Ford Foundation, Fractured Atlas, HBO, Independence Media Foundation, Knight Foundation, Leeway Foundation, Lionsgate/STARZ, Lomax Family Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Nathan Cummings Foundation, Netflix, PECO, Pennsylvania Department of Economic Development, Philadelphia Cultural Fund, William Penn Foundation, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Annenberg School for Communication, Wyncote Foundation and Visit Philadelphia.

Learn more about BlackStar’s staff here.

Learn more about BlackStar’s board here.

About BlackStar Film Festival

The BlackStar Film Festival is 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.

About the Surdna Foundation

The Surdna Foundation seeks to foster sustainable communities in the United States––communities guided by principles of social justice and distinguished by healthy environments, strong local economies, and thriving cultures. Learn more at www.surdna.org.

About the Philadelphia Cultural Fund

Established in 1991 to support and enhance the cultural life and vitality of the City of Philadelphia and its residents, the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, through the combined efforts of the Philadelphia City Council and the Mayor, promotes arts and culture as engines of social, educational and economic development and has played a key stabilizing role for numerous organizations by providing much needed general operating funding. Learn more at www.philaculturalfund.org and follow along using the hashtag #PHLArtsSayThnx and @PhilaCulturFund on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Press Contacts

Ed Winstead
Director, Cultural Counsel
ed@culturalcounsel.com

Danellys “D.W.” Wong
Account Coordinator, Cultural Counsel
dw@culturalcounsel.com

Robert Grand
Account Coordinator, Cultural Counsel
robert@culturalcounsel.com

7 April, 2020
2019 Festival Award Winners Announced

The BlackStar Film Festival (BlackStar) announced the winners of the 2019 Festival awards. The Festival, which took place August 1-4, 2019 in Philadelphia, continued its legacy of discovery and excellence, presenting a stellar slate of black, brown and indigenous films from around the globe. In addition to packed film screenings, BlackStar 2019 lineup featured a sneak preview of Hip-Hop: The Songs That Shook America, a new documentary series from executive producers Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter, Shawn Gee, and Alex Gibney. The fest also featured the highly anticipated artist conversation with award-winning filmmaker Spike Lee and activist Tarana Burke.

“It has been another festival year of warm reunions, new connections and powerful films. It has been an honor to share these stories and perspectives with our festival audience. As we continue to grow BlackStar, I look forward to seeing more work from these artists.” said Maori Holmes, BlackStar Director.

Dr. Yaba Blay and Rashid Zakat hosted the awards ceremony at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, following the Closing NIght Film presentation of three short films: As Told To G/d Thyself, directed by The Ummah Chroma (Bradford Young, Terence Nance, Jenn Nkiru, Marc Thomas & Kamasi Washington); BLACK TO TECHNO, directed by Jenn Nkiru; and When I Get Home, directed by Solange Knowles.

Best Feature Narrative Award was given to Selah And The Spades, directed by Tayarisha Poe. And the Best Feature Documentary was given to The Infiltrators, directed by Cristina Ibarra & Alex Rivera.

During the ceremony, Program Director Nehad Khader presented the Richard Nichols Luminary Award to Marcia Smith, President of Firelight Media; a non profit production company dedicated to using historical film to advance contemporary social justice causes, and to mentoring, inspiring and training a new generation of diverse young filmmakers committed to advancing underrepresented stories.

This year also marked the launch of the inaugural BlackStar Pitch. 8 filmmakers were selected to pitch their projects in front of a live audience and a panel of esteemed judges to receive feedback and have an opportunity to win a cash prize of $1,000.This first BlackStar Pitch was focused on feature documentary projects and was open to any filmmaker who identifies as a person of color. The 2019 BlackStar Pitch prize went to Higher 15 from filmmaker Ameha Molla.

Full list of nominated films and winners are as follows:

Best Feature Documentary Nominees

Always in Season (Director: Jacqueline Olive)

The Infiltrators (Directors: Cristina Ibarra & Alex Rivera) ** winner

Titixe (Directors: Tania Hernández Velasco)

Best Feature Narrative Nominees

Jezebel (Director: Numa Perrier)

Selah and the Spades (Director: Tayarisha Poe) ** winner

Temporada (Long Way Home) (Director: André Novais Oliveira)

Best Experimental Nominees

Bereka (Director: Nesanet Teshager Abegaze) ** winner

The Cancer Journals Revisited (Director: Lana Lin)

Fainting Spells (Director: Sky Hopinka)

Only When It’s Dark Enough Can You See The Stars (Director: Charlotte Brathwaite)

Best Short Documentary Nominees

America (Director: Garrett Bradley)

BLACK TO TECHNO (Director:Jenn Nkiru)

A Love Song For Latasha (Director: Sophia Nahli Allison) ** winner

Oklahoma is Black (Directors: Melinda James, Tatyana Fazlalizadeh (Co-Director))

Practice (Director: Iyabo Kwayana)

Best Short Narrative Nominees

CAP (Director: Marshall Tyler)

Liberty (Director: Faren Humes)

Me Time (Director: Iyabo Boyd)

Sega (Director: Idil Ibrahim) ** winner

Suicide By Sunlight (Director: Nikyatu Jusu)

Best Youth (11-17) Nominees

Code Red (Directors: Eva Bassel, Rickeyna Fields, Estrella Lopez, Erika Martinez and Celeste Vaca)

The Next Stop (Director: Jalyssa Jimenez) ** winner

We Are Black: A Cinematic Experience (Directors: Darien Woodard and Aneesah Parker)

Best Youth (18-22) Nominees

The Last Day (Director: Zsaknor R. Powe)

Wash Day (Director: Jaida Salmon) ** winner

Where the Dahlias Grow (Director: Jayden Gillespie)

2019 Special Recognition Award: Narrative

Presented by HBO

Feathers (Director: A.V. Rockwell)

2019 Special Recognition Award: Documentary

Presented by HBO

Respect and LOVE (Director: Angelique Webster)

2019 Lionsgate/STARZ Producer Award

Test Pattern (Producers: Pin-Chun Liu & Shatara Michelle Ford)

2019 Richard Nichols Luminary Award

Marcia Smith

Audience Awards:

2019 Favorite Documentary Feature: Warrior Women (Directors: Elizabeth A. Castle and Christina D. King)

2019 Favorite Narrative Feature: Sprinter (Director: Storm Saulter)

2019 Favorite Experimental Film: The Cancer Journals Revisited (Director: Lana Lin)

2019 Favorite Documentary Short: Finding Elijah (Director: Yolonda Johnson-Young)

2019 Favorite Narrative Short: T (Director: Keisha Rae Witherspoon)

2019 Favorite Youth Film (11-17): Closeted (Directors: George Hollyer and Danielle Ridgeway)

2019 Favorite Youth Film (18-22): PETAL (Director: Derek Yancey Jr.)

2019 BlackStar Pitch Lineup:

Armenina: This Too (Director: Artina Nimpson)

Ave Maria (Director: Tristan Seyek)

Black Zombie (Director: Maya Annik Bedward)

The Department of Space and Land Reclamation (Directors: Darren Wallace, Shani Akilah, and Domonique London)

A Good Man (Director: Michael Fequiere)

Higher 15 (Director: Ameha Molla) ** winner

Murders That Matter (Director: Marco Williams)

Traces of Home (Director: Colette Ghunim)

Feature Documentary Jury:

Asad Muhammad (Vice President of Impact and Engagement Strategy – AmDoc)

Gessica Geneus (Actress, Cousines)

Lyric Cabral (Director, (T)ERROR)

Feature Narrative Jury:

Dana Gills (Director of Production and Development – Lionsgate)

Michael Gillespie (Scholar & Professor – City College of New York)

Opeyemi Olukemi (Vice President of Digital Production and Innovation – AmDoc)

Experimental Jury:

Deana Haggag (President & CEO – United States Artists)

Kamil Oshundara (Cultural Executive – Monkeypaw Productions)

Rea Tajiri (Artist & Professor – Temple University)

Youth Jury:

Bryan Oliver Green (Director, The Philadelphia Bicycle Vignette Story)

Chloe Walters-Wallace (Documentary Lab Manager – Firelight Media)

Marie Alarcón (Director, Witness)

Short Documentary Jury:

Amer Shomali (Artist & Filmmaker)

Jamila Farwell (Manager, Original Nonfiction Series – Netflix)

John L. Jackson (Walter H. Annenberg Dean – Annenberg School for Communication

Richard Perry University Professor – University of Pennsylvania)

Short Narrative Jury:

D’Lo (Actor & Writer, TV series Mr. Robot, Bruising For Besos)

Racquel Gates (Scholar & Professor – College of Staten Island)

Rhea Combs (Curator of Film & Photography)

6 August, 2019
2019 Closing Night Film Announced

The BlackStar Film Festival (BlackStar) is thrilled to announce the Philadelphia premiere of When I Get Home, a film from visual artist and singer/songwriter Solange Knowles. The extended director’s cut will feature new scenes and musical arrangements of her interdisciplinary performance art film “When I Get Home”.

Maori Holmes, Director of BlackStar, shares, “I continue to be impressed with Solange’s multi-disciplinary artistic practice in its unapologetic commitment to a radical black aesthetic. She is a force, imbued by both reverence to her creative ancestors and a futuristic swagger. I am excited that she has chosen BlackStar for her festival debut; When I Get Home takes on a much more layered meaning!”

When I Get Home will screen on August 4th, as part of BlackStar’s Closing Night Film Presentation of films that examine cultural history through music, and/or collaborations with musicians who are also directors. Program lineup is as follows:

As Told To G/d Thyself (2019)

Directors: The Ummah Chroma (Bradford Young, Terence Nance, Jenn Nkiru, Marc Thomas & Kamasi Washington)

The story of the sacred youth and the stakes of a cosmic journey, where the embodiment and the pain, pleasure and sublimation there-in are non-negotiable.

Short Narrative

BLACK TO TECHNO (2019)

Director: Jenn Nkiru

BLACK TO TECHNO is a music documentary charting the anthropological, socio-economical, geopolitical roots of techno from Detroit and how it travelled and translated into becoming the soundtrack to the fall of the wall in Berlin.

Short Documentary

When I Get Home (2019)

Solange Knowles

Synopsis: Visual artist and singer/songwriter Solange Knowles presents an extended directors cut featuring new scenes and musical arrangements of her interdisciplinary performance art film “When I Get Home”. The film will premiere across renowned Museums and Contemporary Arts Institutions across USA and Europe from 17 July before closing as part of Chinati Weekend on 13 October 2019

The film was directed and edited by Solange Knowles with contributing directors Alan Ferguson, Terence Nance, Jacolby Satterwhite, and Ray Tintori. Additional art courtesy of Houston artists Autumn Knight and Robert Pruitt and collage work by Gio Escobar of Standing on The Corner. The film also features new sculptural work by the artist, “Boundless Body” (2019), an 8 by 100 ft. rodeo arena displayed in the desert of Marfa, which sits alongside many architectural wonders in the film, such as the Rothko Chapel at the Menil Collection and the I. M. Pei designed Dallas City Hall.

When I Get Home is an exploration of origin and spiritual expedition. The film confronts how much of us have we taken or left behind in our evolutions, and how much fear determines this? The artist returned to her home state of Texas to answer this through an expedition of a futurist rodeo uplifting the narrative of black cowboys and honoring her Houston lineage through this visual meditation.

The BlackStar Film Festival (BlackStar) runs August 1-4, 2019, in various venues across Philadelphia. The 8th edition of the festival continues a legacy of film presentations and conversations that celebrate black, brown and indigenous films from around the globe. For more information on the film details, tickets, attending filmmakers, and special receptions, please visit BlackStarFest.org

If you are interested to cover the festival, and require a media credential, please email your request to: media@blackstarfest.org.

12 July, 2019
BlackStar to Bring Common Field Convening to Philadelphia

We are proud to announce our partnership with Common Field — a national network of experimental, independent, visual arts organizations and organizers — to bring the annual Convening to Philadelphia, PA from April 25 – 28, 2019. The Common Field Convening is an itinerant gathering that brings together 500+ local and national arts organizers to explore the state of the field of artists organizations and to share resources, knowledge and methods for artist-led, artist-run, and artist-centered projects, spaces and practices.

Over the past year, Common Field has worked with BlackStar as part of a group of 14 local organizing partners as well as a growing network of 80+ Philadelphia arts organizations and organizers in order to connect the local contexts and conditions with the interests of the national Common Field Network.

As a platform for gathering the many artist centered organizations, the Convening recognizes the value of their contributions as a critical and central part of the city’s cultural fabric. It builds awareness for these practices that often take place in unique contexts, and serve and represent more diverse communities. Together we understand there is an urgency to gather around issues of social justice and equity, as well as practical needs and tools for many organizations in our network.

Find out more about the Convening and get Your Tickets to the 2019 Common Field Convening online. Check out the program, presenters and full schedule. Follow Common Field on social media (IG | FB | TW) and sign up for their newsletter for regular updates.

29 March, 2019
BlackStar Film Festival Announces 2018 Award Winners

BlackStar Film Festival proudly announces the winners of the 2018 Festival awards. The Festival, which took place August 2-5, 2018 in Philadelphia, attracted thousands of film enthusiasts with multiple sold-out events.

This year’s festival featured over 80 films from around the world, including the debut of Terence Nance’s HBO late-night series Random Acts of Flyness. Juried awards were presented at the BlackStar Awards Ceremony at World Café Live. Audience favorite awards are determined by audience member ballots. 2018 award winners include:

JURIED AWARDS

Best Feature Documentary
Douvan Jou Ka Leve (Gessica Généus)

Best Narrative Feature
Jinn (Nijila Mu’min)

Best Short Documentary
Nuuca (Michelle Latimer)

Best Short Narrative
Where the Water Runs (Dubois N. Ashong)

Best Experimental Film
Fucked Like a Star (Stefani Saintonge)

Best Youth Film (Ages 11-18)
blu blak (King Ali Emeka)

Best Youth Film (Ages 19-22)
I Have Something to Tell You (Tshireletso Phalatse, Kagiso Baloyi, Rethabile Milisi)

21st Century Global Inclusion Awards for Emerging Voices: Narrative
War Paint (Katrelle Kindred)

21st Century Global Inclusion Awards for Emerging Voices: Documentary
Birth of Afrobeat (Opiyo Okeyo)

AUDIENCE AWARDS

Favorite Experimental Film: Fucked Like a Star (Stefani Saintonge)

Favorite Documentary Feature: The Feeling of Being Watched (Assia Boundaoui)

Favorite Narrative Feature: Jinn (Nijila Mu’min)

Favorite Documentary Short: Black 14 (Darius Clark Monroe)

Favorite Narrative Short: Where the Water Runs (Dubois N. Ashong)

Favorite Youth Film (11-18): Beyond My Skin (Aniya Wolf)

Favorite Youth Film (19-22): Hot and Bothered (Leah Byrd)

About the BlackStar Film Festival

BlackStar is a highly visible platform for independent black filmmakers and films about black people from around the world, providing genre-defying and beautifully crafted works to a diverse audience thirsty for fresh perspectives. The only event of its kind in Philadelphia—focusing on cinema of the African Diaspora and global indigenous communities—the four-day weekend festival provides an opportunity for filmmakers, patrons and enthusiasts from all over the world to come together.

The 2018 BlackStar Film Festival is generously supported by John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Wyncote Foundation, Barra Foundation, Ford Foundation | JustFilms, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, 21CF Global Inclusion, PECO, Streampix, University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice, Visit Philadelphia, Fractured Atlas, Color of Change, SAG-AFTRA, Annenberg School for Communication at University of Pennsylvania, and individual donors; as well as a gracious network of partners including The Barnes Foundation, Institute of Contemporary Art, Lightbox Film Center, Pearlstein Gallery at Drexel University, World Cafe Live, and Johnny Brenda’s, as well as a generous host of individual donors, members, and community partners.

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To request photos, interviews and more information, contact: Moxy Public Relations, 267.788.2196 | erin@moxypr.com

7 August, 2018
Announcing the 2018 BlackStar Film Festival Lineup

The seventh annual BlackStar Film Festival, announces its full lineup of films for the 2018 program. The celebration of black cinema will take place in Philadelphia on Thursday, August 2 through Sunday, August 5.

Festival favorite and multidisciplinary artist Terence Nance will debut his new HBO comedy series Random Acts of Flyness on Friday, August 3 at 8pm at Lightbox Film Center, followed by a premiere reception at the Institute of Contemporary Art. This year’s lineup of over 80 films also includes:

World Premieres

Menelek Patrice Lumumba’s feature 1 Angry Black Man, about a college senior drawing inspiration from favorite writers to navigate his emotional reality

Four Days in May, a short documentary about state violence in Jamaica

Naima Ramos-Chapman’s short narrative film Piu Piu, about a young woman’s surreal trip to the city.

Other Highlights

Jenn Nkiru’s afrofuturist short Rebirth is Necessary

Alaska is a Drag, Shaz Bennett’s tale of a drag performer in rural Alaska

Khalik Allah’s documentary Black Mother about Jamaica’s gender dynamics and cultural contradictions

The Black Museum, Oliver Hardt’s documentary about the National Museum of African American History and Culture

Faraday Okoro’s Nigerian Prince, about a Nigerian-American teenager who joins forces with an internet scammer

Roni Nicole Henderson’s bridge/refrain, an experimental short about a young woman traveling to the land of her ancestors

Douvan Jou Ka Leve, Gessica Généus’ documentary about life in Haiti

A Drop of Sun Under the Earth, Shikeith Cathey’s experimental short about trauma and compassion

Assia Boundaoui’s documentary The Feeling of Being Watched, about FBI surveillance in an Arab-American community in Chicago

Ephraim Asili’s Fluid Frontier, an experimental short about the African Diaspora in Detroit and Windsor

French Fries, Janine Sherman Barrois’ short about a couple‘s creative interplay and emotional conflicts

Fucked Like A Star, Stefani Saintonge’s experimental short about women’s work

Mariama Diallo’s short Hair Wolf, about gentrification and a black hair salon in Brooklyn

Happy Birthday Marsha, a short about transgender artist and activist Marsha Johnson, legendary inciter of the Stonewall Riots in New York

Mr. Soul!, a feature documentary about Ellis Haizlip, producer and host of the public television show SOUL!

The full festival schedule can be viewed at blackstarfest.org/2018schedule. Screenings take place at Lightbox Film Center and Pearlstein Gallery at Drexel University, with panel discussions at the Institute of Contemporary Art, the Opening Reception at Johnny Brenda’s on Thursday, August 2, and the Closing Awards Show on Sunday, August 5 at World Cafe Live.

16 July, 2018
2018 BlackStar Film Festival to be Held in Philadelphia, August 2-5

Mark the calendar: The seventh annual BlackStar Film Festival, celebrating independent black cinema returns to Philly Thursday, August 2 through Sunday, August 5, showcasing films that capture the black experience and the visual and storytelling traditions of the African diaspora and indigenous communities from around the world.

“We are incredibly excited to enter our 7th edition with new work and fresh perspectives from filmmakers from all over the globe!” says founder and artistic director Maori Karmael Holmes. “We can’t wait to announce the premieres and special programming we’ll roll out over the four days of the festival.”

This year’s pre-Festival event, to be held on July 1 from 3 -4:30 pm at the Barnes Foundation, will feature senior program manager Nehad Khader in conversation with past Festival filmmakers about their vision and work.

Festival All-Access Passes are available for pre-sale for $120 until June 30.

Screenings take place at Lightbox Film Center and Pearlstein Gallery at Drexel University. The Opening Night dance party on Thursday, August 2, will be held at Johnny Brenda’s. The juried Youth Program will also be held at Pearlstein Gallery on Saturday, August 4. Other highlights include the Awards Ceremony at World Cafe Live, held this year on Sunday, August 5.

The full slate of films, parties and events will be announced in the coming weeks. For more information on the festival and its programs, visit blackstarfest.org or facebook.com/BlackStarFest.

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25 June, 2018