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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