We are excited to see the return of the BlackStar Film Festival on August 3rd-7th, 2022 in Philadelphia, PA, in-person and streaming online. Mark your calendars and get ready to be immersed in creativity, culture, and cinematography from local, national, and international artists as they share their stories and talents with us. URBN SOCIAL will be in attendance this year and hope you will too! See our past coverage of the BlackStar Film Festival HERE. Thank you again to Chris Hastings, Executive Producer and Editorial Manager at the World Channel, for sharing his experience and expressing the importance of sharing one’s story.
OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE
BlackStar Projects, the premier organization celebrating visionary Black, Brown, and Indigenous film and media artists, is proud to announce that the next edition of its annual film festival will take place August 3-7, 2022. The 2022 BlackStar Film Festival will be held in a hybrid format again in light of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.
This year marks the 11th edition of the BlackStar Film Festival. The organization celebrated the beginning of a new decade of growth and expansion with the opening of a new office space this month. Other new and continuing initiatives include the Philadelphia Filmmaker Lab, which announced its inaugural class in 2021, Seen, a journal of film and visual culture which will publish its fourth issue later this year, and Many Lumens, BlackStar’s signature podcast, which finds BlackStar founder Maori Karmael Holmes in dialogue with the most groundbreaking artists, changemakers, and cultural workers of today.
Submissions remain open until April 1st.
“Following the success of last year’s 10th anniversary festival, we are thrilled to continue building on that momentum as we support visionary Black, Brown, and Indigenous filmmakers and connect them with new opportunities and audiences,” said Maori Karmael Holmes, CEO, Artistic Director and Founder of BlackStar Projects. “We look forward to hosting another inspired gathering in-person and online this August.”
Based on the success of the day-long filmmaker symposium at the annual BlackStar Film Festival, the organization most recently hosted the second edition of the William and Louise Greaves Filmmaker Seminar from March 18-20, 2022. This three-day virtual gathering for Black, Brown, and Indigenous artists working in cinematic realms featured a keynote address on film futurism from award-winning filmmaker, artist, and technologist Violeta Ayala; live director’s commentaries with Haile Gerima (Harvest: 3,000 Years) and Jessica Beshir (Faya Dayi); a work-in-progress screening with Jude Chehab; curated programs of film screenings and workshops; panel discussions highlighting industry professionals; and much more. 183 individuals attended this year’s seminar, calling in from a dozen countries.
Last year’s 10th anniversary BlackStar Film Festival featured approximately 80 films, including 19 world premieres, and represented 27 countries. In addition to presenting an array of live programs, panels, and select in-person events and screenings, 2021 also marked BlackStar’s selection by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as a qualifying festival for both short documentary and short narrative films, making BlackStar’s Best Narrative Short and Best Documentary Short winners eligible for entrance at the Academy Awards.
Similar to last year’s festival, the 2022 BlackStar Film Festival will be hybrid, with select in-person screenings at Penn Live Arts at Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia. Information on additional Philadelphia showings and venues is forthcoming.
BlackStar Projects and its year-round programs are generously supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Ford Foundation/JustFilms, Independence Public Media Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Mighty Arrow Family Foundation, Nathan Cummings Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Open Society Foundations, Perspective Fund, The Philadelphia Foundation, PopCulture Collaborative, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Samuel S. Fels Fund, Surdna Foundation, William Penn Foundation, and Wyncote Foundation, in addition to its board of directors, community partners, and a host of generous individual donors and organizations.
Additional information on ticketing, jurors, sponsors, programming, and the slate of films that will be featured at this year’s festival will be announced soon. For overall information on BlackStar, including its festival and programs, visit blackstarfest.org.
About BlackStar Projects
BlackStar Projects is the producer of the BlackStar Film Festival, an annual celebration of the visual and storytelling traditions of the African diaspora and global communities of color — showcasing films by Black, Brown, and Indigenous people from around the world. In addition to the acclaimed festival, BlackStar presents an array of programming across film and visual culture year-round, and produces the twice-annual journal Seen.
Press Contacts
Ed Winstead
Director, Cultural Counsel
Emma Frohardt
Account Coordinator, Cultural Counsel
Sign up for the BlackStar newsletter to stay informed and follow them on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for program updates.
Source: BlackStarfest.org
