BlackStar Projects, the premier organization celebrating visionary Black, Brown, and Indigenous film and media artists, is pleased to announce its full slate of programming for the 2022 BlackStar Film Festival. Taking place both online and in-person in Philadelphia, this year’s festival includes in-person screenings at Penn Live Arts at Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts; panel discussions, workshops, and parties at sites across Philadelphia; and virtual events accessible to a global audience.
Attendees will have the opportunity to hear from actors, filmmakers, visual artists, and radical thinkers, including Arthur Jafa, Coco Fusco, Dindga McCannon, and dream hampton, among others. Panels and conversations, the full list of which is below, will address topics including youth perspectives on screen, Black spiritual traditions rendered through the moving image, accessibility within filmmaking practices, the affective power of sound in Black and Indigenous storytelling, healing-centered production practices, and more.
Various events will highlight BlackStar’s year-round initiatives, including a recording of BlackStar’s signature podcast, Many Lumens, featuring BlackStar Founder, Artistic Director, and CEO Maori Karmael Holmes in conversation with 2022 Richard Nichols Luminary Award recipient Mira Nair. Another highlight: a conversation between Dessane Lopez Cassell—Editor-In-Chief of Seen, BlackStar’s journal of film and visual culture—and visual artist Dindga McCannon, extending Zoé Samudzi’s profile of the artist in the journal’s recently released fourth issue. This edition of the BlackStar Film Festival will also mark the world premiere of short films created through BlackStar’s Philadelphia Filmmaker Lab, presented by Black Experience on Xfinity.
“With everything going on in the world, we hope that through the festival we can provide a space of joy, reflection, and healing. We are excited to present another hybrid edition of the festival with both IRL and virtual programming with audiences across the globe,” said BlackStar Founder, Artistic Director, and CEO Maori Karmael Holmes.
Each evening, at 7pm ET, the festival will present The Daily Jawn, a talk show hosted by Holmes, with sidekick filmmaker-artist Rashid Zakat and house band directed by Luke Carlos O’Reilly, and featuring interviews with filmmakers and panelists, musical guests, games, and much more.
In addition to the conversations and panels, and daily film screenings at Penn Live Arts, there will be a variety of community events and parties in Philadelphia this August. These include morning group yoga sessions at Drexel Square and opening and closing night parties. The parties and yoga sessions will be free and open to the public — registration is available for both the opening and closing night parties on the festival site.
The BlackStar Film Festival is an annual celebration of the visual and storytelling traditions of the African diaspora and of global Indigenous communities, showcasing films by Black, Brown and Indigenous artists from around the world. The 2022 edition is set to feature a total of 76 films representing 27 countries, including 16 world, 8 North America, 12 East Coast, and 8 US premieres. It will include narrative features and shorts, documentary features and shorts, and experimental films.
“Our programs are an integral part of each year’s festival, as they introduce our audiences to the visionary creatives bringing these powerful stories to life,” said Festival Director Nehad Khader. “This year’s slate of events promises to further illuminate the many themes and ideas drawn across the screenings.”
Passes for the festival are available for purchase here. Offerings include an all-access pass ($250) and a virtual festival pass ($125). Individual tickets for virtual and in-person screenings are $5 and $15, respectively.
An overview of events is below, and the full list of film screenings and program descriptions is available via the festival schedule here. All venues will be wheelchair accessible, and most in-person events will have American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters. Select films will also feature Audio Description (AD) for blind & low-vision audiences.
Panels & Conversations
Conversation: The Passion of Remembrance
Wednesday August 3, 2-4:30pm, Penn Live Arts – Zellerbach Theater with Coco Fusco and Louis Massiah
Conversation: Seen with Dindga McCannon
Wednesday August 3, 5-6pm, Penn Museum – Rainey Auditorium
Panel: Childhood on Screen
Thursday August 4, 1-2pm, Penn Live Arts – Montgomery Theater with Alaa Zabara, Bria and Bilal Motley, Iyana Le’Shea, and Jo Rochelle, moderated by Stormy Kelsey
Panel: Horror and Sound
Thursday August 4, 5-6pm, Virtual Event with Lisa Taouma, Mario Gaoa, Nikyatu, Tanerélle, Mario Gaoa and Lisa Taouma moderated by Sultana Isham
Workshop: From Reflection to Release: Uplifting a Values-Based Filmmaking Practice
Friday August 5, 1-2:30pm, Annenberg School – Room 110 with Bhawin Suchak, Dr. Kameelah Mu’Min Rashad, Natalie Bullock Brown, Sherry Simpson, and Sonya Childress
Panel: Expressions of Spirit
Friday August 5, 5-6pm, Virtual Event with Ashon Crawley, Dr. Kokahvah Zauditu-Selassie, Koko Selassie, Rashid Shabazz, Rashid Zakat, and Taylor Aldridge
Many Lumens: Mira Nair and Maori Karmael Holmes
Saturday August 6, 1-2pm, Virtual Event, Sponsored by Temple University School of Theater, Film and Media Arts
Panel: Closed Door Industry Roundtable
Saturday August 6, 5-6pm, Event for Filmmakers Only, Presented by STARZ/Lionsgate
Panel: Disability Justice and Filmmaking
Sunday August 7, 1-2pm, Virtual Event, Sponsored by MediaJustice, with Andres “Jay” Molina, Natasha Ofili, Reveca Torres, moderated by Andraéa LaVant
Panel: Loss, Grief, Legacy
Sunday August 7, 5-6 pm, Virtual Event, Sponsored by the Scattergood Foundation, with Arthur Jafa, dream hampton, Lynneé Denise, and Marcia Smith; moderated by alexis pauline gumbs
In-Person Events & Screenings
Feature Screening: Lingui
Wednesday August 3, 11am, Zellerbach Theater
Feature Screening and Panel: The Passion of Remembrance
Wednesday August 3, 2-4:30pm, Zellerbach Theater
Shorts Screening: Gather Me
Wednesday August 3, 5pm, Montgomery Theater
Feature Screening and Q & A: Storming Caesar’s Palace
Wednesday August 3, 8:30pm, Zellerbach Theater
Opening Night Party
Wednesday August 3, 9:30pm-12:30am, Bartram’s Garden
Yoga Class for Children
Thursday August 4, 9am, Drexel Square
Shorts Screening: Revivify
Thursday August 4, 10am, Montgomery Theater
Shorts Screening: Sillage
Thursday August 4, 11am, Zellerbach Theater
Feature Screening: One Take Grace
Thursday August 4, 3pm, Zellerbach Theater
Feature Screening: Jasmine Is A Star
Thursday August 4, 5pm, Montgomery Theater
Feature Screening: Teine Sa
Thursday August 4, 8:30pm, Zellerbach Theater
Yoga Class at Drexel Square
Friday August 5, 9am, Drexel Square
Shorts Screening and Q & A: Savvy
Friday August 5, 10am, Montgomery Theater
Screening and Q & A: The African Desperate
Friday August 5, 11am, Zellerbach Theater
Shorts Screening and Q & A: Pulsate
Friday August 5, 1pm, Montgomery Theater
Screening and Q & A: Aftershock
Friday August 5, 3pm, Zellerbach Theater
Feature Screening and Q & A: Silent Beauty
Friday August 5, 5pm, Montgomery Theater
First Friday! with BlackStar Film Festival featuring Omar’s Hat and Blackalachia (by Moses Sumney)
Friday August 5, 6-9pm, The Barnes Foundation
Shorts Screening and Q & A: Locomote
Friday August 5, Zellerbach Theater
Yoga Class at Drexel Square
Saturday August 6, 9am, Drexel Square
BlackStar Bazaar
Saturday August 6, 10am-8pm and Sunday August 7, 10am-3pm, Penn Live Arts – Courtyard
Feature Screening and Q & A: Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power
Saturday August 6, 10am, Montgomery Theater
Shorts Screening and Q & A: Effectuate
Saturday August 6, 11am, Zellerbach Theater
Shorts Screening and Q & A: Observer Effect
Saturday August 6, 1pm, Montgomery Theater
Feature Screening and Q & A: Wisdom Gone Wild
Saturday August 6, 3pm, Zellerbach Theater
Feature Screening and Q & A: Kash Kash
Saturday August 6, 5pm, Montgomery Theater
Feature Screening and Q & A: Hazing
Saturday August 6, 8:30pm, Zellerbach Theater
Yoga Class at Drexel Square
Saturday August 6, 9am, Drexel Square
Shorts Screening and Q & A: Rising Tides
Sunday August 7, 10am, Montgomery Theater
Feature Screening and Q & A: Tug of War
Sunday August 7, 11am, Zellerbach Theater
Feature Screening and Q & A: Rewind & Play
Sunday August 7, 1pm, Montgomery Theater
Screening and Reception: Philadelphia Filmmaker Lab Films
Sunday August 7, 3-5pm, Zellerbach Theater
Shorts Screening and Q & A: Withstand
Sunday August 7, 5pm, Montgomery Theater
Feature Screening and Q & A: Marte Um/Mars One
Sunday August 7, 8:30pm, Zellerbach Theater
Closing Night Party
Sunday August 7, 9:30pm-12:30am, Penn Live Arts – Courtyard
All times in ET. For more information on festival programming, and to register for these events, please visit https://www.blackstarfest.org/festival/
This year’s festival is presented with the support of the following sponsors: AmDoc/POV, Annenberg School For Communication, Black Public Media, Catapult Film Fund, Center For Cultural Power, Drexel Westphal College of Media Arts, Expressway Grip, Eventive, Firelight Media, Gotham Film & Media Institute, Impact Partners, Indego, ITVS, Leeway Foundation, Lionsgate/STARZ, MediaJustice, Meta, NEON, Open Society Foundations, PBS, PECO, Philadelphia Foundation, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Red Bull, Scattergood Foundation, The Study Hotels, Temple University Film and Media Arts Department, Unique Photo, Urban Affairs Coalition, Urban Outfitters, Warner Bros./Discovery, Wyncote Foundation and Xfinity.
BlackStar Projects and its year-round programs are generously supported by Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Critical Minded, Ford Foundation/JustFilms, Gucci Changemakers Fund, Independence Public Media Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Mighty Arrow Family Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Nathan Cummings Foundation, Perspective Fund, Pew Center for Arts and Heritage, Philadelphia Cultural Treasurers, Philadelphia Foundation, Ruth Foundation for the Arts, Samuel S. Fels Fund, 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 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, including the twice-annual journal Seen, the podcast Many Lumens, the William and Louise Greaves Filmmaker Seminar, and the Philadelphia Filmmaker Lab, among other initiatives.
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