The BlackStar Film Festival announced its plans and programs for 2023, and this year looks to be bigger and more talented than ever for the local cultural organization. And it all takes place Aug. 2 to 6.
BlackStar Projects‘ essential mission is to celebrate and promote visionary Black, Brown, and Indigenous film and media artists, and this Film Festival is a large part of showcasing that mission.
The festival’s 12th edition will take place virtually as well as in-person in Philadelphia, with screenings at the Kimmel Center Cultural Campus, Lightbox Film Center, and Suzanne Roberts Theatre, as well as panel discussions, performances, and parties at sites across the city, a release states.
2023’s participants span visionaries Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich, Vashti Harrison, and Terence Nance, and Philadelphians can also look out for panels and talks taking place daily on the Kimmel Center Cultural Campus with featured guests speaking on an assortment of topics including Black Muslim representation on screen; curatorial justice; intimacy and movement direction; disability justice in filmmaking; and imagining Black queer futures.
In recent years, those who have attended the Film Festival may have caught ‘The Daily Jawn’, aka a talk show hosted by BlackStar Founder and Chief Executive & Artistic Officer Maori Karmael Holmes. This year however, things are expanding and changing a bit for the activation.
2023’s ‘The Daily Jawn’ will expand into several daily conversations, taking place throughout each day at The Plaza Stage in the Kimmel Center Cultural Campus — which will be known as The Daily Jawn Stage for the duration of the festival — with Holmes joined by three new co-hosts: author, activist and cultural creative Dr. Yaba Blay, entrepreneur and podcaster Shanti Mayers, and actor, writer, and comic D’Lo, a release states.
A variety of additional panels and talks will also be located at The Daily Jawn Stage, serving as a central hub for the festival.
“Given the troubling state of our political landscape, including for writers and other artists of color, we hope this year’s festival will provide a space for joy, reflection, and community building,” said BlackStar Founder, Chief Executive and Artistic Officer Maori Karmael Holmes in a statement. “We are thrilled to present a bold 12th edition of BlackStar with filmmakers presenting radical possibilities to audiences across the globe.”
Other events and activations surrounding the BlackStar film festival include parties (such as First Friday at The Barnes Foundation) DJ sets at The Daily Jawn Stage; yoga classes; opening and closing night celebrations; and the BlackStar Bazaar featuring independent artists and creators at Suzanne Roberts Theatre.
And the films? In total, viewers will be able to catch a total of 93 films representing 31 countries, including 19 world, 11 North America, 5 US, and 10 East Coast premieres. 47 films will also be Philadelphia premieres. Genres span from documentaries, shorts and narrative features, with topics spanning from climate justice to queer stories, and narratives of migration and displacement.
The festival will also mark the world premiere of films created by emerging and mid-career Philadelphia directors and producers during the Philadelphia Filmmaker Lab, a year-long fellowship program launched by BlackStar Projects in 2021, the release also states.
Anyone interested can look for passes online, including all-access passes ($350) for all in-person and virtual screenings and events, and virtual passes ($175) for screening all films online. Individual tickets for virtual and in-person screenings are also now on sale, for $7.50 and $18, respectively.
“We’re thrilled to welcome a spectacular group of guests to the festival this year, whose panels, workshops, and conversations will allow us to deeply engage with some of the poignant themes shared by this year’s films,” said Festival Director Nehad Khader in a statement. “It’s hearing from these thought-leaders in between watching genre-defying work, made by and for our communities, that makes the BlackStar experience unlike any other.”
A full schedule and more information can be found at blackstarfest.org
