Second Annual Blackstar Film Festival begins todayPosted by Wilson Morales
August 1, 2013
BlackStar Film Festival, supported by the James S. and John L. Knight Foundation, launches its second annual festival on Thursday August 1st with the Philadelphia premiere of a theatrical version of Questionbridge: Black Males.
The flourishing festival doubles in size and presents 75 films from artists of African descent from across the globe!
Just in its second year, BlackStar opens Thursday, August 1, and runs through Sunday, August 4. The festival will primarily take place at International House of Philadelphia (3701 Chestnut Street) with additional screenings at Drexel University (33rd & Chestnut Streets) and The Barnes Foundation (2025 Benjamin Franklin Parkway).
Dubbed the “black Sundance” by Ebony.com in its inaugural year, the festival has doubled in size and is already considered a must-attend gathering for filmmakers, industry insiders, cineastes, and critics. It is destined to become a launching pad for many of the most talked about films from the African diaspora.
This year the festival will launch an awards competition and an audience awards component as well as a special honor for the Howard University Film Program, which will be presented to renowned director Haile Gerima on Sunday, August 4.
“Black identity is not small or narrow. Yet often, when we watch movies created by the major studios we see the same stories repeated. Our hope is that BlackStar disrupts stereotypes and creates a visual conversation about the diversity of blackness that carries on long after the credits roll,” says festival founder and artistic director Maori Karmael Holmes.
“Too many filmmakers spend countless hours and thousands of dollars to create brilliant films that never get seen. BlackStar is part of a burgeoning independent infrastructure that connects underrepresented artists of color with their kindred audiences and opportunities for greater exposure.”
Highlights include the world premiere of Wangechi Mutu’s THE END OF EATING EVERYTHING, the Philadelphia premiere of Andrew Dosonmu’s MOTHER OF GEORGE (Q&A with the director and director of cinematography Bradford Young) and David Tosh Gitonga’s NAIROBI HALF LIFE, as well as a special presentation of Victoria Mahoney’s YELLING TO THE SKY (Q&A with actors Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter and Yolanda Ross).
The 2nd annual BlackStar Film Festival is proud to present the following feature films: BLACK FEBRUARY (dir. Vipal Monga, USA, 2011); HIP HOP: THE NEW WORLD ORDER (dir. Muhammida El Muhajir, USA, Japan, France, UK, South Africa & Brazil, 2013); ELZA (dir. Mariette Monpierre, Guadeloupe & France, 2012); Living Thinkers: An Autobiography of Black Women in the Ivory Tower (dir. Roxana Walker-Canton, USA, 2013); QUESTION BRIDGE: BLACK MALES (dirs. Hank Willis Thomas, Kamal Sinclair, Bayeté Ross Smith & Chris Johnson, USA, 2012); AFRICAN INDEPENDENCE (dir. Tukufu Zuberi, USA, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania & Ghana, 2012); AUJOURD’HUI/TEY (dir. Alain Gomis, France & Senegal, 2012); BUTTERFLY RISING (dir. Tanya Wright, USA, 2012); HOME:(dir. Jono Oliver, USA, 2012); HOMEGOINGS (dir. Christine Turner, USA, 2013); MOTHER OF GEORGE (dir. Andrew Dosonmu, USA, 2013); NAIROBI HALF LIFE (dir. David Tosh Gitonga, Germany & Kenya, 2012); THINGS NEVER SAID (dir. Charles Murray, USA, 2012).
Our shorts program include: ARTS SHORTS, BLACK RADICAL IMAGINATION, DARKNESS BEFORE THE LIGHT, THIS IS WHO I AM: SHORT FILMS BY YOUTH FILMMAKERS, TINY SPARKS: CHILDREN’S & FAMILY FILMS, CHASING SONIC RAINBOWS: MUSIC VIDEOS, and FREEDOM UNFOLDS.
A full list of film synopses and schedule is included with this release. Please visit blackstarfest.org to view the entire festival program.
About the BlackStar Film Festival
The BlackStar Film Festival (BlackStar) is a highly visible platform for independent black filmmakers and films about black people from around the world, providing genre-defying and beautifully crafted works to a diverse audience thirsty for fresh perspectives. The only event of its kind in Philadelphia—focusing on cinema of the African Diaspora—the four-day weekend festival provides an opportunity for filmmakers, patrons, and enthusiasts from all over the world to come together.
Acknowledging the diversity and complexity of identity within a diaspora that includes long-standing communities throughout North America, South America, Europe, and Africa (including its 54 countries), BlackStar creates space for dialogue and opens the opportunity for a greater perspective of what it means to be black. The films presented by BlackStar comprise a dynamic and important collection—one that is unlike any other—because they highlight both independence and cultural community. Over all, the festival aims to provide a 360° view about art and its place in daily life, and celebrates the varied landscape of black life.
Our Sponsors
The 2013 BlackStar Film Festival, supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, is made possible by generous funding from PECO, Lomax Family Foundation, Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation, Howard University, The Philadelphia Foundation, Twenty Grand Vodka, Heineken, and Leeway Foundation; in partnership with Skai Blue Media, WURD, Drexel University’s Africana Studies Program, Greater Philadelphia Film Office, two.one.five. Magazine, i-g Creative, Okayplayer.com, Philadelphia Community Access Media, Spodee, La Colombe, Heineken, Scribe Video Center, Reelblack Presents, Flygirrl Productions, Uber, Fork Restaurant, National Alliance for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC), and fiscal sponsor Art Sanctuary. The festival will take place at International House Philadelphia, Drexel University, Johnny Brenda’s, City Tap House, and The Barnes Foundation.
