BlackStar Film Festival
-
At the Movies with Notorious B.I.G.: dream hampton on It Was All a Dream
Since its inception in 2012, Blackstar Film Festival has become one of my favorites. In a recent interview in Essence, founder Maori Karmel Holmes said, “When I started the festival, I didn’t realize that it was going to be an annual event, and I was mostly interested in seeing films that I knew existed in the world but hadn’t been shown in Philadelphia. I was also interested in a specific kind of film, mostly experimental, largely made by independent filmmakers and wanting to put them together in a way that would put artistic films next to social justice documentaries and […]
by Tayler Montague on Aug 28, 2024 -
BlackStar Projects Releases Full Schedule of Programs for 2024 Film Festival
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 […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 9, 2024 -
Everybody Is a Star: Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson on Making His Oscar-Winning Doc, Summer of Soul
This interview with Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson about his Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) appeared on the cover of our Summer, 2021 print edition and is being reposted following the film’s winning Best Documentary at last night’s 2022 Academy Awards. — Editor On June 29, 1969, Sly and the Family Stone delivered an electrifying performance at Mount Morris Park in Harlem, New York. Fusing the revolutionary fervor of the Black Freedom movement with the collectivist spirit of West Coast counterculture, the iconic band wowed the audience with rousing renditions of “Everyday People,” “Sing a Simple Song” “You Can Make It […]
by Claudrena Harold on Mar 28, 2022 -
Pain into Joy: BlackStar Film Festival 2021
Each day of the 10th edition of the BlackStar Film Festival begins this way: founder Maori Karmael Holmes and filmmaker-artist Rashid Zakat, along with rotating guest hosts, co-host the fest’s version of a morning talk show, “The Daily Jawn.” Like many others festivals, BlackStar was in a hybrid format this year, with in-person screenings at outdoor venues in Philadelphia; for virtual attendees like me, “The Daily Jawn” served as the closest connection to Philadelphia, the city BlackStar grounds itself in. While it has the structured feel of a broadcast show, Holmes’s vibrant and colorful outfits, the friendship between its hosts […]
by Kayla Myers on Aug 16, 2021
