Tag: Festival

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

The BlackStar Film Festival, the world’s premier celebration of Black, Brown, and Indigenous film and video artists, presented this year with lead sponsor Color of Change, is pleased to announce this year’s award-winning films.

Winners include Best Feature Documentary Stateless (Apátrida), exploring the depths of the racial hatred and institutionalized oppression that divide Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and Best Feature Narrative Miss Juneteenth, in which a former beauty queen and single mom prepares her rebellious teenage daughter for the “Miss Juneteenth” pageant. The full list of winning films is below.

This year also marks the first Vimeo Staff Pick Award at BlackStar. Short films featured in the festival are eligible for this award, which includes a $2,500 cash prize and, of course, a Vimeo Staff Pick. The winning film, Curtis Essel’s ALLUMUAH, will be available to watch worldwide for free on Vimeo starting at 10:30am EST on August 27.

Lionsgate and STARZ also partnered with BlackStar to present the first Lionsgate/STARZ Short Film Award this year. The five winners of this prize will each receive $1,000 each and have the opportunity to showcase their films on STARZ in Black. Winners include Martina Lee’s Black Boy Joy, Oniffe White’s Echoes of a Winter Sunshine, Amy Aniobi’s HONEYMOON, Suha Araj’s Rosa and Felicia Pride’s tender.

The winner of the second annual BlackStar Pitch, offering filmmakers of color the chance to propose their works-in-progress to an illustrious panel of funders, distributors and producers, was Iyabo Kwayana’s By Water. Kwayana will receive a $25,000 co-production deal with WORLD Channel and free graphic design services from Melancholy Star. Honorable Mention was awarded to Yeelen Cohen for Fighting for the Light; Cohen will receive $2,500 from IF/Then along with free graphic design services from Melancholy Star.

Finally, BlackStar members voted Legendary: 30 Years of Philly Ballroom and Daughters Of (In Our Mothers’ Gardens) as the winners of the Shine Award, given each year to films directed by Philadelphia-based filmmakers. This year 11 films were eligible for the prize, marking a steep increase in Philadelphia-based representation for the festival. Both Legendary and Daughters Of were world premieres.

This year’s BlackStar Film Festival lineup included approximately 90 films, including 24 world premieres and representing more than 20 countries. In addition to presenting an array of live programs and panels, this year also marked the debut of BlackStar Live!, a special daily morning show featuring filmmaker interviews, live performances, astrological updates and roundtable discussions of the day’s film programming, streamed exclusively on Facebook Live. The festival also featured three live drive-in screenings in the parking lot in front of Philadelphia’s Mann Center for the Performing Arts in West Fairmount Park. These screenings — Be Water, The Forty-Year-Old Version and Miss Juneteenth — were presented by Xfinity in partnership with Lyft, Red Bull and the Philadelphia Department of Parks and Recreation, as part of their new Philly Drive-In Movie Nights initiative. The Forty-Year-Old Version was presented by Netflix.

BlackStar receives support from its dedicated audience along with private foundations, public agencies, corporate, non-profit and individual sponsors. Our lead sponsor for 2020 is Color of Change. Additional supporters include (in alphabetical order): Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences, All Ages Productions, American Documentary/POV, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Annenberg School for Communication at University of Pennsylvania, Apple Original Films, Barra Foundation, Catapult Film Fund, Cinereach, Expressway Rentals, Facebook, Ford Foundation/JustFilms, IF/Then, Impact Partners, Independence Public Media Foundation, International Documentary Association, Lionsgate/STARZ, Lyft, MacArthur Foundation, MediaJustice, MING Media, Nathan Cummings Foundation, Netflix, PECO, Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development, Pennsylvania Humanities Council, Philadelphia Cultural Fund, Red Bull, Samuel S. Fels Fund, Sundance Institute, Surdna Foundation, Vimeo, WarnerMedia, Wyncote Foundation, WORLD Channel, and Xfinity.

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

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

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

Winning Films:

Best Experimental Film

Jurors: Kamal Aljafari, Filmmaker; David Hartt, Assistant Professor, Graduate Fine Arts, University of Pennsylvania, Stuart Weitzman School of Design; Meg Onli, Andrea B. Laporte Associate Curator, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania

The Giverny Document (Single Channel)

Dir: Ja’Tovia Gary

Filmed on location in Harlem, USA and in Claude Monet’s historic gardens in Giverny, France, The Giverny Document is a multi-textured cinematic poem that meditates on the safety, bodily autonomy, and creative virtuosity of Black women.

Jury Comment: A timely work that will be discussed well into the future

Best Short Documentary

Jurors: Damani Baker, Filmmaker; dream hampton, Filmmaker & Writer; Chris Hastings, Executive Producer/Editorial Manager, WORLD Channel WGBH

The Heart Still Hums

Dir: Savanah Leaf & Taylor Russell

A documentary short, following five women as they fight for their children through the cycle of homelessness, drug addictions and neglect from their own parents. Unique, yet undoubtedly familiar to many; a story on fear, sacrifice and the unconditional love between a mother and her children.

Jury Comment: The Heart Still Hums is cinematic, intimate, attentive, and empathetic, covering issues of restoration, abolition, and support with deep respect.

*Special Mention

Man of the People

Dir: Amir George

Man of the People is a political thriller centered on the legacy of the first black mayor of Chicago, Harold Washington. A complex unfolding of his two campaign runs and the moments leading to his sudden and mysterious death during his second term. Commissioned by Chicago Film Archives.

Jury Comment: Man of the People is an original approach to biopic. It takes delicate craft to make a story out of archival footage.

Best Short Narrative

Jurors: Lynnée Denise, Artist, Scholar, Writer; Raafi Rivero, Writer/Director; Tourmaline, Artist, Filmmaker, Activist

Rosa

Dir: Suha Araj

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.

Jury Comment: The filmmaker handles the punitive burdens faced by immigrants with wit, spectacular performances and unlikely connections between characters. It’s a film that moves through politically charged emotions with cinematic grace.

Best Feature Documentary

Jurors: Monika Navarro, Filmmaker and Senior Director of Artist Programs, Firelight Media; Tracy Rector, Managing Director of Storytelling, Nia Tero; Chi-hui Yang, Senior Program Officer, JustFilms, Creativity and Free Expression

Stateless (Apátrida)

Dir: Michèle Stephenson

Through the grassroots campaign of electoral hopeful Rosa Iris, director Michèle Stephenson’s new documentary reveals the depths of racial hatred and institutionalized oppression that divide Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Jury Comment: Stateless is ambitious and innovative in form, telling an important story of borders and national identity with strong characters. The director’s artistry collapses time for stateless Dominicans with Haitian heritage caught in limbo.

*Special Mention

ROCÍO

Dir: Dario Guerrero

After a sudden cancer diagnosis, an undocumented mother of three must choose between seeking treatment in her native Mexico and awaiting certain death in the US.

Jury Comment: Special jury mention goes to ROCÍO, a love letter and tender ode to the power of family, connection, and intimacy, told through a rich home video archive that documents an immigrant family’s joy and grief.

Best Feature Narrative

Jurors: Elissa Blount Moorhead, Artist, Curator, Producer; Ashley Clark, Director, Film Programming, BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music); Rajendra Roy, The Celeste Bartos Chief Curator of Film, MoMA

Miss Juneteenth

Dir: Channing Godfrey Peoples

A former beauty queen and single mom prepares her rebellious teenage daughter for the “Miss Juneteenth” pageant.

Jury Comment: We really love this film: the languid but sure pacing, the performances (and the casting of the locals), the feel for community and tradition, the intergenerational theme, the humor.

Special Prizes:

BlackStar Pitch Winners

Jurors: Opal Bennett, POV Shorts; Jamila Farwell, Netflix; Chloe Gbai, IF/Then; Alex Hannibal, CNN; Chris Hastings, WORLD Channel; Chloe Walters-Wallace, Firelight Media; Chi-hui Yang, JustFilms/Ford Foundation

By Water

Dir: Iyabo Kwayana

A brother’s journey into his own memory becomes a vehicle for reconciliation and healing for his family.

Runner Up

Fighting for the Light

Dir: Yeelen Cohen

That moment when you’re making a film about the Godfather of African Cinema who gave birth to your name but lose sight of who’s making the film.

Lionsgate/STARZ Short Film Award Winners

Black Boy Joy

Dir: Martina Lee

Black Boy Joy is an introspective slice of life story about two generations of Black men, living within the same household, juggling the demands of raising a young son with autism while adapting to their new normal after the death of a loved one.

Echoes of a Winter Sunshine

Dir: Oniffe White

A 16 year old and her 10 year old brother find themselves homeless in Harlem, NY.

HONEYMOON

Dir: Amy Aniobi

HONEYMOON tells the story of a newlywed couple on their first night together, made all the more awkward, romantic and honest, because they only just met.

Rosa

Dir: Suha Araj

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.

tender

Dir: Felicia Pride

After an unexpected one night stand, two women at very different stages of their lives, share an even more intimate morning after.

Shine Award Winner

Daughters Of (In Our Mothers’ Gardens)

Dir. Shantrelle Patrice Lewis

Daughters Of (In Our Mothers’ Gardens), powered by GirlTrek, examines the immediate and critical importance of self-care and healing for Black women through the lens of their mamas’ mamas’ mamas. So we call their names to reclaim their stories.

Legendary: 30 Years of Philly Ballroom

Dirs. Raishad Hardnett, Lauren M. Schneiderman & Cassie Owens

An inside look into the effort to preserve Philadelphia’s ballroom scene, a Black and Latinx LGBTQ safe-space that has endured for 30 years.

Vimeo Staff Pick Award

ALLUMUAH

Dir: Curtis Essel

ALLUMUAH explores the way the internet enables a lineage of aesthetics passed between African diaspora artists. Expounding on the concept of African identity and the influence technology has had on it over the decades.

BlackStar Film Festival, the world’s premier celebration of Black, Brown, and Indigenous film and video artists, presented this year with lead sponsor Color of Change, is pleased to present its slate of public programs, including three free, live, socially distanced drive-in screenings in Philadelphia.

This year’s programming includes panel discussions, conversations, digital parties, and outdoor screenings. Among the events will be a virtual opening night party featuring Philadelphia’s own DJ Jazzy Jeff, culture writers Wesley Morris and Jenna Wortham in conversation with Radha Blank on her film The Forty-Year-Old-Version, legendary producer and director Madeline Anderson in conversation with Louis Massiah and Michelle Materre, and the daily morning show BlackStar Live!, co-hosted by Black Thought, which will kick off each day of the festival at 9:15 ET with filmmaker interviews, live performances, astrological updates, roundtable discussions of the day’s film programming, and other content interspersed throughout.

All programming is free and open to the public; tickets to the festival are only required for access to the festival’s digital film screenings. Digital programs will stream live with closed captioning from the festival’s website, as well as on BlackStar’s Facebook page.

A rundown of events is below, and the full list of film screenings and programs is available at the festival schedule here.

This year will also feature three live drive-in screenings in the parking lot in front of Philadelphia’s Mann Center for the Performing Arts in West Fairmount Park. These screenings are presented with Lyft and Red Bull, in partnership with the Philadelphia Department of Parks and Recreation, as part of their new Philly Drive-In Movie Nights initiative. Tickets to the drive-in screenings are free on a first-come, first-served basis and can be signed up for here.

Be Water

9:00pm Friday, August 21

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A gripping, fascinating, intimate look at not just those final, defining years of Bruce Lee’s life, but the complex, often difficult, and seismic journey that led to Lee’s ultimate emergence as a singular icon in the histories of film and martial arts. 

The Forty-Year-Old Version

9:00pm Saturday, August 22

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Radha, a down-on-her-luck NY playwright, is desperate for a breakthrough before 40. But when she foils what seems like her last shot at success, she’s left with no choice but to reinvent herself as rapper RadhaMUSPrime. The Forty-Year-Old Version follows Radha as she vacillates between the worlds of Hip Hop and theater on a quest to find her true voice. Winner of the Directing Prize at The 2020 Sundance Film Festival, The Forty-Year-Old Version is a hilariously candid and deeply personal debut from writer/director Radha Blank. A fresh addition to the New York City slice-of-life canon shot in lush black and white 35mm, Blank’s film is an ode to the unfulfilled, and those whose adversity gives them a one-of-a-kind story to tell.

Miss Juneteenth

9:00pm Sunday, August 23

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A former beauty queen and single mom prepares her rebellious teenage daughter for the “Miss Juneteenth” pageant.

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This year’s BlackStar Film Festival lineup includes more than 80 films, including 24 world premieres and representing over 20 countries. Ticketed attendees will be able to view all the films through a single online portal, which will be available at watch.blackstarfest.org and through apps available for Apple TV and Roku. Tickets are now available on the festival’s website here, with day passes starting at $5 and a full festival pass available for $100, which is priced to include a donation to BlackStar.

Get Your Tickets to the Film Festival Now

BlackStar receives support from its dedicated audience along with private foundations, public agencies, corporate, non-profit and individual sponsors. Our lead sponsor for 2020 is Color of Change. Additional supporters include (in alphabetical order): Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences, All Ages Productions, American Documentary/POV, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Annenberg School for Communication at University of Pennsylvania, Barra Foundation, Catapult Film Fund, Cinereach, Expressway Rentals, Facebook, Ford Foundation/JustFilms, IF/Then, Impact Partners, Independent Public Media Foundation, International Documentary Association, Lionsgate/STARZ, Lyft, MacArthur Foundation, MediaJustice, MING Media, Nathan Cummings Foundation, Netflix, PECO, Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development, Pennsylvania Humanities Council, Philadelphia Cultural Fund, Red Bull, Samuel S. Fels Fund, Sundance Institute, Surdna Foundation, Vimeo, WarnerMedia, WHYY, Wyncote Foundation, WORLD Channel, and Xfinity.

For 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

BlackStar Film Festival, the world’s premier celebration of Black, Brown, and Indigenous film and video artists, is pleased to announce the full lineup of films for the 2020 program, which will take place August 20-26, 2020. In response to COVID-19, the ninth edition of the festival will be presented entirely online this year.

Ticketed attendees will be able to view all the films through a single online portal, which will be available at watch.blackstarfest.org and through apps available for Apple TV and Roku. Tickets are now available on the festival’s website here, with day passes starting at $5 and a full festival pass available for $100, which is priced to include a donation to BlackStar.

Get Your Tickets Now

This year’s lineup includes more than 80 films, including 24 world premieres and representing over 20 countries.

Among the World Premieres are:

Unapologetic, a feature documentary by Ashley O’Shay, that takes a deep look into the Movement for Black Lives in Chicago, providing an intimate peek into the personal and political battles that transform the city.

Tayler Montague’s debut short In Sudden Darkness, about a working-class family trying to stay afloat in the midst of a city-wide blackout

The short documentary You Hide Me, made in 1970 but banned widely upon completion. Ghanian filmmaker Nii Kwate Owoo examines the colonization of African Art in the British Museum, London, gaining unprecedented access into the museum’s secret underground vaults.

Shantrelle Patrice Lewis’ debut feature Daughters Of, which examines the immediate and critical importance of self-care and healing for Black women.

Raishad Hardnett, Lauren M. Schneiderman & Cassie Owens’ Legendary: 30 Years of Philly Ballroom, an inside look into the effort to preserve Philadelphia’s ballroom scene, a Black and Latinx LGBTQ safe-space that has endured for 30 years.

Other highlights include:

Martina Lee’s Black Boy Joy, a short about two generations of Black men, living within the same household, juggling the demands of raising a young son with autism while adapting to their new normal after the death of a loved one

Channing Godfrey Peoples’ feature narrative Miss Juneteenth, about a former beauty queen and single mom preparing her rebellious teenage daughter for the “Miss Juneteenth” pageant.

Coded Bias, a feature documentary from director Shalini Kantayya that follows MIT Media Lab researcher Joy Buolamwini and the fallout from her startling discovery that facial recognition does not see dark-skinned faces accurately.

Ekwa Msangi’s Farewell Amor, a feature narrative about an Angolan immigrant whose wife and teen daughter are finally able to join him in the U.S., after 17 years apart.

Nationtime – Gary, a feature documentary by William Greaves about the National Black Political Convention of 1972 in Gary, Indiana.

A Day With Jerusa from Brazilian filmmaker Viviane Ferreira, following a young medium and her 77-year-old neighbor as they travel through time and realities common to their ancestry.

Amy Aniobi’s HONEYMOON, telling the story of a newlywed couple on their first night together––made all the more awkward, romantic and honest, because they only just met.

Loira Limbal’s feature documentary Through The Night, presenting the stories of two working mothers and a child care provider, whose lives intersect at a 24-hour daycare center.

Michèle Stephenson’s Stateless, a feature documentary following the campaign of electoral hopeful Rosa Iris and revealing the depths of racial hatred and institutionalized oppression that divide Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

maɬni – towards the ocean, towards the shore, directed by Sky Hopinka. The documentary follows two characters, speaking mostly in chinuk wawa, as they contemplate the afterlife, rebirth, and the place in-between.

I ran from it and was still in it, an experimental film from Darol Olu Kae offering an intimate portrait of familial loss and separation.

Down a Dark Stairwell, a documentary from Chinese-American Filmmaker Ursula Liang. The film looks at the complicated fight for accountability and justice after a Chinese-American police officer kills an unarmed, innocent black man in a dark stairwell of a NYC public housing project.

Zeshawn Ali’s Two Gods, about a Muslim casket maker and ritual body washer in Newark who takes two young men under his wing and teaches them how to live better lives.

Right Near the Beach, Gibrey Allen’s feature narrative looking at the murder of a prominent Jamaican and the public uproar caused by rumors about the secret life he may have lived.

ROCÍO, a feature documentary from Mexican-American filmmaker Dario Guerrero. The film profiles an undocumented mother of three who, after a sudden cancer diagnosis, must choose between seeking treatment in her native Mexico or awaiting certain death in the US.

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, Impact Partners, Independent Public Media Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Nathan Cummings Foundation, Netflix, PECO, Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development, Pennsylvania Humanities Council, Philadelphia Cultural Fund, Samuel S. Fels Fund, Sundance Institute, Surdna Foundation, WarnerMedia, and WHYY.

More information on judging, sponsors, and additional programming and events will be announced soon. For 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

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

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)

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.