BlackStar Projects, the premier organization celebrating visionary Black, Brown and Indigenous film and media artists, is thrilled to announce the selections for the 2024 BlackStar Film Festival.
This year’s festival will take place from August 1-4, 2024 at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, with additional screenings, parties and events at various venues across Philadelphia and corresponding virtual programming, marking the 13th annual celebration of the visual and storytelling traditions of Black, Brown and Indigenous people from around the world.
All access passes for the festival are available for purchase here; individual tickets for in-person and virtual screenings will go on sale in early July.
The 2024 BlackStar Film Festival is set to feature a total of 94 films representing 40 countries, including 16 world, 16 North American, 10 United States, 14 East Coast and 37 Philadelphia premieres. This year’s films engage with self-discovery, climate justice, immigrant rights, decolonization, and queer liberation.
Highlights from this year’s robust lineup include the world premiere of Darius Clark Monroe’s Dallas, 2019, a five-part series following multiple elected officials and their constituents, as a study in socialization; the United States premiere of Mohamed Jabaly’s Life is Beautiful, a powerful personal account of the use of storytelling to fight for rights as a Palestinian filmmaker; the North American premiere of Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich’s The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire, which follows a postpartum actress’ search for meaning in the writings of Martinique’s lost literary figure; and the world premiere of a new narrative feature film directed by Shatara Michelle Ford.
“The filmmakers in this year’s program are unafraid to meet the moment,” said Festival Director, Nehad Khader. “Their films speak to what matters most to our communities today and to a collective vision that another world is possible.”
In addition to film, there will be a slate of festival programming both in-person and virtually. Selections include the return of BlackStar Pitch — a live competition which will award $75,000 in production funds to a winning short documentary – this year presented in partnership with Blackbird; a spotlight conversation on A Litany for Survival: the Life and Work of Audre Lorde, accompanied by a retrospective screening of the 1996 film directed by Ada Gay Griffin and Michelle Parkerson, and a Friday night concert and celebration at The Barnes Foundation.
“We are proud to present our thirteenth festival this August, amidst a time of unimaginable pain and loss, as a platform for urgent cinema of the global majority, critical discourse, and much-needed, joyful gathering,” says BlackStar Founder, Chief Executive & Artistic Officer Maori Karmael Holmes.
BlackStar Film Festival has grown in attendance year over year, with 25% of last year’s 15,000 attendees participating for the first time. Beyond the festival, BlackStar Projects continues to expand its scope and reach with innovative initiatives like the ongoing Philadelphia Filmmaker Lab, a year long fellowship program that awards $50,000 in production funds to four local filmmakers developing a short narrative film, and the North Star Fellowship, presented in collaboration with Points North, which supports media artists and filmmakers developing projects that span the latitudes of creative nonfiction.
Among BlackStar Projects’ other programs are Seen, a journal of film, art, and visual culture that will publish its seventh issue this fall, the William and Louise Greaves Filmmaker Seminar, 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. The organization also recently celebrated the addition of Judilee Reed, Chief Executive Officer of United States Artists, to the BlackStar board of directors. This follows the hiring of a number of new staff members earlier this year, including Amber Hunnicutt, Program Manager; Catherine Lee, Senior Director, Development & Operations; and Heidi Saman, Program Director.
The full lineup of films is below, with additional programming to be announced in the coming weeks:
