Tag: Festival

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.

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

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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BlackStar has announced the appointment of Meg Onli as Festival Director and Patrice Worthy as Managing Director to join the part-time team. The creation of the Festival Director position was an intentional shift to focus on expanding administrative capacity as the organization evolves. Patrice Worthy steps into the role of Managing Director after serving as Operations Manager for the last two years.

“We are excited to welcome Meg to the BlackStar family, and to see Patrice in this new role as the festival continues to grow,” says founder and Artistic Director, Maori Karmael Holmes. “They will bring a new energy to the organization’s administration and festival operations that will ultimately improve the filmmaker and audience experience.” Current staff will remain in place: Maori Karmael Holmes, Artistic Director; Denise Beek, Communications Director; Nehad Khader, Senior Program Manager; and Swabreen Bakr, Social Media Manager.

Meg Onli is currently the Assistant Curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) at the University of Pennsylvania. Her recent exhibition Speech/Acts explored experimental black poetry and how the social and cultural constructs of language have shaped black American experiences. Prior to joining the ICA, she was the Program Coordinator at the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts. She worked on the exhibitions Architecture of Independence: African Modernism and Barbara Kasten: Stages. In 2010, she created the website Black Visual Archive for which she was awarded a 2012 Creative Capital/Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant. In 2014 she was the recipient of a research grant from the Graham Foundation for the collaborative project Remaking the Black Metropolis: Contemporary Art, Urbanity, and Blackness in America with curator Jamilee Polson Lacy. Onli holds a Master’s degree in art history from the Courtauld Institute of Art. Her writing has appeared in Art21, Daily Serving, and Art Papers.

Patrice Worthy is an educator and producer who works with emerging creatives of color. She is a graduate of Florida State University and Drexel University, with both a bachelor’s and master’s in biochemistry. Born in Agana, Guam to two military parents, she has lived around the world, which has influenced her approach to her creative work and teaching. Patrice has worked with the festival since 2012 and currently resides in Philadelphia, PA.

The 7th Annual BlackStar Film Festival is scheduled to take place August 2 through August 5 in Philadelphia. Submissions are open until April 22. For more information please visit blackstarfest.org and join us on social platforms @blackstarfest.

About the BlackStar Film Festival

BlackStar is an annual celebration of the visual and storytelling traditions of the African diaspora and of global indigenous communities, showcasing films by people of color from around the world. The only event of its kind in Philadelphia, the four-day weekend festival provides an opportunity for filmmakers, patrons and enthusiasts from all over the world to come together.

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