Back to selection
BlackStar Projects Releases Full Schedule of Programs for 2024 Film Festival
Dreams in Nightmares BlackStar Projects, the organization celebrating visionary Black, Brown and Indigenous film and media artists, announced today the full program for its 2024 BlackStar Film Festival. This 13th edition of BlackStar takes place August 1 – 4 at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, with additional screenings, parties and events at various venues in Center City Philadelphia. Among the highlights are the Opening Night selection, Dreams in Nightmares, writer/director Shatara Michelle Ford’s feature follow-up to their acclaimed Gotham and Spirit Award-nominated debut, Test Pattern. Dreams in Nightmares tells the story of three Black queer femmes on a Midwestern road trip to search for a lost friend.
Today’s programming announcement includes not just films but panels and events. Almost every film presented at the BlackStar Film Festival will be followed by a Q&A, and daily talks will take place on The Daily Jawn Stage, presented by NEON. Among these talks are “Black on The Internet,” with Chica Andrade, Jazmin Jones, Kimberly Drew and Neema Githere Siphon as moderated by Sarah Jackson; “Laugh to Keep from Crying,” with Felicia Pride, ishkwaazhe Shane McSauby and Rocheé Jeffrey as moderated by Bashir Salahuddin; and “A Litany for Survival: The Life and Work of Audre Lorde,” co-presented by Black Feminist Film School, with Ada Gay Griffin, JT Takagi and Michelle Parkerson, as moderated by Alexis Pauline Gumbs.
“With this year’s programming we not only create space for meaningful consideration of the festival’s remarkable films, but highlight this work in conversation with broader culture, our shared histories and the ongoing issues faced by our communities globally,” said founder and Chief Executive and Artistic Officer, Maori Karmael Holmes in a press release.
Among other events this year are the BlackStar Pitch, presented in partnership with Blackbird, “in which six finalists will present their non-fiction projects to a panel of judges in a live competition for an opportunity to win $75,000 in production funds, with the winner to be announced at festival’s close.”
Parties include an opening night event at World Cafe Live co-presented by Andscape; First Friday at the Barnes Foundation, featuring an evening of cocktails and music by Wayna, co-presented by SoHo House; and Filmmaker Mixer co-presented by American Documentary/POV, Black Public Media, ITVS and WORLD; and this year’s closing night party at STAR|Bolt.
For more info on the festival, visit its website.
BlackStar Juried Awards Categories & Nominees:
Best Feature Documentary
Nominees:
A Mother Apart directed by Laurie Townshend
Songs From the Hole, directed by Contessa Gayles – Twice Into Oblivion directed by Pierre Michel Jean
Jurors: Asad Muhammad, Tracy Rector, Ursula Liang
Best Short Documentary
Nominees:
And Still, It Remains directed by Arwa Aburawa and Turab Shah
The Archive: Queer Nigerians directed by Simisolaoluwa Akande – The People Could Fly directed by Imani Dennison
So That Tonight We Might See directed by Bea Hesselbart
What Channel Is Love? directed by Michael Donte
Wouldn’t Make It Any Other Way directed by Hao Zhou
Jurors: Nell Augustin, Reveca Torres, Zaina Bseis
Best Feature Narrative
Nominees:
After the Long Rains directed by Damien Hauser
The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire directed by Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich – Mambar Pierrette directed by Rosine Mbakam
Jurors: Aseye Tamakloe, Jason Reynolds, Tayarisha Poe
Best Short Narrative
Nominees:
Bloomed in the Water directed by Joanne Mony Park – Boat People directed by Al’Ikens Plancher
The Dawn directed by Alicia Mendy
Enmity Djinn directed by Mohamed Echkouna
The Flacalta Effect directed by Rochée Jeffrey
Jurors Dagmawi Woubshet, Guetty Felin, Lynnée Denise
Best Experimental Film Nominees:
A Stone’s Throw directed by Razan AlSalah
Barrunto directed by Emilia Beatriz
Bisagras directed by Luis Arnías
Two Refusals (Would We Recognize Ourselves Unbroken?) directed by Suneil Sanzgiri
Jurors: Awa Konaté, Darol Olu Kae, David Hartt
Additional Awards
Center for Cultural Power Climate Justice Award
Philadelphia Filmmaker Award
Shine Award for First-Time Filmmakers (Voted by BlackStar Members)
Events & Panels:
BlackStar Pitch – Wednesday, July 31 @ 4pm – Barnes Foundation **Pass Required**
The People of Color Documentary Ecosystem: Engines for a New American Narrative co-presented by Color Congress
Thursday, August 1 @ 2:30pm – The Daily Jawn Stage, Kimmel Center – On Critics and Criticism co-presented by Critical Minded
Friday, August 2 @ 2:30pm – The Daily Jawn Stage, Kimmel Center
Black on the Internet co-presented by Firelight Media’s Beyond Resilience Series
Friday, August 2 @ 5:30pm – The Daily Jawn Stage, Kimmel Center
Yoga – Saturday, August 3 @ 9am, Sunday, August 4 @ 9am – Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center
BlackStar Bazaar – Saturday, August 3 @ 11am – Kimmel Center
Laugh to Keep from Crying – Saturday, August 3 @ 2:30pm – The Daily Jawn Stage, Kimmel Center
Duty of Care – Saturday, August 3 @ 5:30pm – The Daily Jawn Stage, Kimmel Center
Media-Making in Time of Genocide – Sunday, August 4 @ 2:30pm – The Daily Jawn Stage, Kimmel Center
Spotlight Conversation: A Litany for Survival: The Life and Work of Audre Lorde co-Presented by Black Feminist Film School
Sunday, August 4 @ 5:30pm – The Daily Jawn Stage, Kimmel Center
Major Spotlights:
Dreams in Nightmares (w/ Q&A) – Thursday, August 1 @ 7pm – Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center
Life is Beautiful (w/ Q&A) – Friday, August 2 @ 5pm – Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center
Dallas, 2019 (w/ Q&A) – Saturday, August 3 @ 1:30pm – Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire (w/ Q&A) – Sunday, August 4 @ 8pm – Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center
Shorts Programs:
Statism (w/ Q&A) – Thursday, August 1 @ 1:30pm – Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
Envisages (w/ Q&A) – Friday, August 2 @ 11am – Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
Extant (w/ Q&A) – Friday, August 2 @ 2pm – Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
Our Land Our Freedom (w/ Q&A) – Friday, August 2 @ 5pm – Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts – Extrasensory (w/ Q&A) – Friday, August 2 @ 6pm – Suzanne Roberts Theatre
Anthropogenic (w/ Q&A) – Friday, August 2 @ 8:30pm – Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts – Discompose (w/ Q&A) – Friday, August 2 @ 9pm – Suzanne Roberts Theater
Indomitable (w/ Q&A) – Saturday, August 3 @ 5:30pm – Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts – Embodied (w/ Q&A) – Saturday, August 3 @ 8pm – Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center
Propitiate (w/ Q&A) – Saturday, August 3 @ 8:30pm – Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
Anima (w/ Q&A) – Sunday, August 4 @ 11am – Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center
Spillikin (w/ Q&A) – Sunday, August 4 @ 3pm – Suzanne Roberts Theatre
Concatenate (w/ Q&A) – Sunday, August 4 @ 3:30pm – Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts – Bilocation (w/ Q&A) – Sunday, August 4 @ 6:30pm – Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts 
Feature Film Screenings:
Othelo, The Great (w/ Q&A) – Thursday, August 1 @ 11:30am – Suzanne Roberts Theatre
Nowhere Near – Thursday, August 1 @ 12:30pm – Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center
Queen of My Dreams (w/ Q&A) – Thursday, August 1 @ 2:30pm – Suzanne Roberts Theatre
Dis-Ease (w/ Q&A) – Thursday, August 1 @ 3:30pm – Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center
barrunto (w/ Q&A) Thursday, August 1 @ 4:30pm – Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
Black Girls (w/ Q&A) – Thursday, August 1 @ 5:30pm – Suzanne Roberts Theatre
Family Tree (w/ Q&A) – Friday, August 2 @ 10:30am – Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center
Twice into Oblivion – Friday, August 2 @ 11:30am – Suzanne Roberts Theatre
Seeking Mavis Beacon (w/ Q&A) – Friday, August 2 @ 1:30pm – Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center
Standing Above the Clouds – Friday, August 2 @ 3pm – Suzanne Roberts Theatre
Life is Beautiful (w/ Q&A) – Friday, August 2 @ 5pm – Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center
After the Long Rains (w/ Q&A) – Friday, August 2 @ 8pm – Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center
Rising up at Night – Saturday, August 3 @ 10:30am – Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
You Don’t Have to Go Home, But (w/ Q&A) – Saturday, August 3 @ 11am – Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center – Mambar Pierette – Saturday, August 3 @ 12pm – Suzanne Roberts Theatre
Dallas, 2019 (w/ Q&A) – Saturday, August 3 @ 1:30pm – Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
Bring Them Home (w/ Q&A) – Saturday, August 3 @ 2pm – Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center
Songs from the Hole (w/ Q&A) – Saturday, August 3 @ 2:30pm – Suzanne Roberts Theatre
A Mother Apart (w/ Q&A) – Saturday, August 3 @ 5pm – Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center
Inky Pinky Ponky + Grace (w/ Q&A) – Saturday, August 3 @ 6pm – Suzanne Roberts Theatre
I Do Not Come To You By Chance (w/ Q&A) – Saturday, August 3 @ 9pm – Suzanne Roberts Theatre
Bye Bye Tiberias – Sunday, August 4 @ 10am – Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
The New Man + Lost Letters – Sunday, August 4 @ 12:30pm – Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
A Litany for Survival (w/ Q&A) – Sunday, August 4 @ 2pm – Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center
The Strike (w Q&A) – Sunday, August 4 @ 5pm – Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center
It Was All a Dream (w Q&A) – Sunday, August 4 @ 6pm – Suzanne Roberts Theatre
Parties:
Opening Night Party – Thursday, August 1 @ 9:30pm – World Cafe Live
First Friday w/ Wayna – Friday, August 2 @ 6pm – Barnes Foundation
Filmmaker Mixer Happy Hour – Saturday August 3 @ 7pm – The Wayward – Closing Night Party – Sunday, August 4 @ 9:30pm – STAR|Bolt
