BlackStar Projects, the premier organization celebrating visionary Black, Brown and Indigenous film and media artists, is thrilled to announce the full schedule of programs, jury and award nominees for the 2025 BlackStar Film Festival, taking place from July 31-August 3, 2025. Click here to browse the full schedule. All individual program tickets are now on sale here, with festival passes also available here.
The festival is an annual celebration of independent cinema from the global majority and a one-of-a-kind gathering of diverse audiences centered on connection, discussion and learning, with nearly every screening followed by a Q&A. The world premiere of TCB – The Toni Cade Bambara School of Organizing, directed by Louis Massiah and Monica Henriquez, will be the festival’s opening night screening and THE GREAT NORTH, directed by Jenn Nkiru and making its North American premiere, will be the closing night screening. Other highlights include a special screening of Kahlil Joseph’s BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions and the 4K restoration of Charles Burnett’s Killer of Sheep, with both filmmakers expected in-person for Spotlight Conversations.
The Daily Jawn will return at this year’s festival as a live morning show. Co-sponsored by NEON and hosted by Maori Karmael Holmes, Rashid Zakat and Anne Ishii, the show presents conversations with featured filmmakers, festival programmers and other special guests. Additionally, panels featuring industry experts and thought leaders will be held throughout the festival, challenging attendees to consider new perspectives as they engage with the work. Notable guests and speakers at this year’s festival include Letitia Wright, Charles Burnett, Kahlil Joseph, Saidiya Hartman, Cauleen Smith, Elegance Bratton, Adam Piron, Kevin Jerome Everson, Rachael Abigail Holder, Stanley Nelson, JT Takagi and Meg Onli.
“Each festival has been very special, but this year’s lineup feels especially epic,” said Chief Executive and Artistic Officer, Maori Karmael Holmes. “I’m looking forward to communing with filmmakers and audiences, sharing a collective laugh or cry. I think at this moment in time the restorative and liberatory power of cinema is essential.”
In addition to film and panels, there will be a variety of other festival programming in-person. Selections include the return of BlackStar Pitch, presented in partnership with Blackbird—a live competition open to public attendance, which will award $75,000 in production funds to a winning short documentary—along with First Friday at The Barnes Foundation, featuring an evening of art, live music, cocktails and light fare, co-presented by Hyperallergic.
BlackStar Projects’ Philadelphia Filmmaker Lab, a year-long fellowship program that awards $50,000 in production funds to four local filmmakers developing a short narrative film, will culminate at this year’s festival with the world premiere of the four short films.
This year’s festival jury, listed in full below, will consider nominees for Best Experimental Film, Best Feature Documentary, Best Feature Narrative, Best Short Documentary and Best Short Narrative.
BlackStar will also host a mix of parties and community events throughout the weekend including the opening night party at Cherry Street Pier; the annual BlackStar Bazaar, offering a curated shopping experience that celebrates community and Black-owned businesses and this year’s closing night party at STAR|Bolt, co-presented by Visit Philly.
“This year’s entire program has been intentionally curated to meet the moment,” said Festival Director Nehad Khader. “We can’t wait to welcome our community to Philadelphia to celebrate cinema for liberation.” All access passes for the festival are available for purchase here and individual tickets for in-person and virtual screenings are available here. The full schedule of programs is below (all times EST):
Major Spotlights:
- TCB – The Toni Cade Bambara School of Organizing (w/ Q&A) – Thursday, July 31 @ 8:00pm — Kimmel Center
- BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions – Friday, August 1 @ 9:00pm — Kimmel Center
- Killer of Sheep – Sunday, August 3 @ 11:30am — Wilma Theater
- THE GREAT NORTH (w/ Q&A) – Sunday, August 3 @ 8:30pm — Kimmel Center
BlackStar Juried Awards Categories & Nominees:
Best Feature Documentary
Nominees:
- 16 ½ directed by Harlan Banks
- THE GREAT NORTH directed by Jenn Nkiru
- TCB – The Toni Cade Bambara School of Organizing directed by Louis Massiah and Monica Henriquez
Jurors: Asad Muhammad, Bao Nguyen, Tracy Rector
Best Short Documentary
Nominees:
- 如你所愿 (Correct Me If I’m Wrong) directed by Hao Zhou
- The Devil Is Busy directed by Christalyn Hampton and Geeta Gandbhir
- Piñata Prayers directed by Daniel Larios
- Tessitura directed by Lydia Cornett and Brit Fryer
- Tiger directed by Loren Waters
- We Were the Scenery directed by Christopher Radcliff
Jurors: Nell Augustin, Sonya Childress, Zaina Bseis
Best Feature Narrative
Nominees:
- Sabbatical directed by Karabo Lediga
- Sugar Island directed by Johanne Gomez Terrero
- White House (Kasa Branca) directed by Luciano Vidigal
Jurors: Aseye Tamakloe, Jason Reynolds, Lindsay Monture
Best Short Narrative
Nominees:
- Eternal Kinship directed by Arbin Rai
- The Last Harvest directed by Nuno Boaventura Miranda
- Leaving Ikorodu in 1999 directed by Rashida Seriki
- LWC – Lazy White Cows directed by Asaph Luccas
- Oceania directed by Valentin Noujaïm
- Seek No Favor directed by Elle Clay and Leilah Weinraub
Jurors: Dagmawi Woubshet, Fariha Róisín, Lynnée Denise
Best Experimental Film
Nominees:
- A Luta Continua // Ataraxy 44 directed by Curtis Essel
- Natimorto directed by Ibrahem Hasan and Leandro HBL
- The River directed by Herrana Addisu
- Untitled (How High the Moon) directed by Rashida Bumbray
- The Volcano Manifesto directed by Cauleen Smith
Jurors: Awa Konaté, Emily Jacir, Jason Moran
Additional Awards
- Philadelphia Filmmaker Award
- Shine Award for First-Time Filmmakers (Voted by BlackStar Members)
For more information on the festival and its programs, visit https://www.blackstarfest.org/festival.
This year’s festival is presented with major support from Open Society Foundations. Other sponsors include American Friends Service Committee, Andscape, Black Public Media, The Chamber of Commerce of Greater Philadelphia, Color Congress, Eventive, Firelight Media, Hyperallergic, Impact Partners, Independence Public Media Foundation, ITVS, Kashif, Monarch Yoga, NEON, PECO, Philadelphia Foundation, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pillars Fund, Runway, SAGIndie, State Representative Rick Krajewski, StoryCorps, Ten to One Rum, Twenty43, University of Pennsylvania Department of Cinema & Media Studies, Visit Philadelphia and WORLD Channel.
BlackStar Projects and its year-round programs are generously supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, Critical Minded, Department of Community and Economic Development, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, Independence Public Media Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Nathan Cummings Foundation, NEO Philanthropy, The Pew Center for Arts and Heritage, Pop Culture Collaborative, Ruth Foundation for the Arts, Surdna Foundation, Wallace 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.
About BlackStar Projects
BlackStar Projects, founded in 2012 by Maori Karmael Holmes as BlackStar Film Festival, creates the spaces and resources needed to uplift the work of Black, Brown and Indigenous artists working outside the confines of genre. Beyond the annual film festival the organization produces year-round programs, including film screenings, exhibitions, a filmmaker seminar, a film production lab and a journal of film, art and visual culture.
These programs provide artists opportunities for viable strategies for collaborations with other artists, audiences, funders and distributors. BlackStar is working towards a liberatory world in which a vast spectrum of Black, Brown and Indigenous experiences is irresistibly celebrated in arts and culture.