BlackStar Projects Annual Report 2022

Annual Report 2022

BlackStar is building a liberatory world in which a vast spectrum of Black, Brown and Indigenous experiences is irresistibly celebrated in arts and culture. We create fertile spaces for ongoing imagination, learning and community building for Black, Brown and Indigenous artists to have the resources, support and shine we need to create visionary work.

We are building solidarity amongst Black, Brown and Indigenous artists globally to create this world and thrive together.

Photo by Daniel Jackson

Board Letter

Over the past year, we have delighted in BlackStar Projects’ continued evolution. The diligent labor that the team puts forth to provide genre-defying work by Black, Brown and Indigenous artists is pivotal to how we see ourselves and understand our shared human experience. It is a testament to their commitment to the mission and vision of BlackStar and the kind of world it wants to see.

The BlackStar Film Festival returned to a full slate of in-person and hybrid programming this year to great success, serving as what many artists call a “homecoming” for brilliant BIPOC filmmakers, writers, producers, directors, and partners. The festival illustrated the organization’s tremendous programmatic growth with its inaugural presentation of films from the Philadelphia Filmmaker Lab; an insightful conversation with Dindga McCannon to compliment her profile in Seen Issue 004;

and a renewed appreciation of a Monsoon Wedding with a community screening, discussion and an award presentation to filmmaker Mira Nair. These highlights offer just a glimpse into the innovative year-round programming featured throughout this report.

BlackStar continues to grow its capacity and establish itself as a cultural institution in such a way that not only actualizes its vision, but brings into reality the imaginations of artists and makers who align with its values. Moreover, the work produced by BlackStar and its growing community fosters for audiences new possibilities and connections toone another. This is indeed the work of world building, and despite the weight of that responsibility, the BlackStar team has continued to meet that need and the outlook shines brighter than ever. We, along with our fellow board members, have committed to

the governance of BlackStar, helping to ensure proper staffing, financial management, and resource development. We are inspired to match the determination of the organization’s leadership by continuing to provide institutional support and cultivate new networks of contributors and stakeholders.

Best, Sekou Campbell and Denise Beek

BlackStar Board of Directors, co-chairs

CEAO Letter

Dear Friends,

We are coming to the close of our third year as a full-time organization. We have grown so much (from a staff of five to a burgeoning staff of 20 in the new year!) and learned a lot along the way. My hope is that we always retain a culture of learning and innovation.

In the past year BlackStar was recognized as a leader in the field of media arts, and for what the New York Times described as our “ambitious bridging of cultural specificity, social justice and the avant-garde.” Often at the vanguard, the artists we champion continue to make incredible strides in film, television, and the art world.

In 2022 alone BlackStar alums received the MacArthur “Genius Grant” and won grand jury prizes at Sundance; they were selected for the Venice Biennale and to lists like the 25 New Faces of Independent Film, and they released projects on nearly every major streaming platform.

As you’ll read in the pages that follow we are continuing to refine our programs and deepen their impact. From the inaugural Philadelphia

Filmmaker Lab, to our journal Seen, to our podcast

Many Lumens, our exhibitions program, or the William and Louise Greaves Seminar, we are also continuing to push boundaries while retaining our commitment to connecting audiences of color in Black-led spaces centered on joy and thriving.

All of this work was made possible by an incredible and visionary team–including staff, board, partners, and so many others–for whom I am so grateful.

Many Lumens, Maori Karmael Holmes Chief Executive & Artistic Officer

In 2022 Maori was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in Philadelphia by Philadelphia Magazine. Photo by Gene Smirnov.

Many Lumens

Many Lumens is BlackStar’s podcast carrying the animating focus of the BlackStar Film Festival outside of the festival setting. BlackStar founder Maori Karmael Holmes chats with groundbreaking artists, change makers, and cultural workers — finding meaning in the intersections of art, social change, and popular culture. Season 2, produced in partnership with Rowhome Productions, debuted in May 2022 and featured 12 episodes, with guests including Amy Sherald, Sonia Sanchez, Jeff Chang, Imani Perry, Telfar Clemens, Tunde Wey, and more. In its first two years the show has been downloaded over 18,000 times and is available on most major platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher. In 2022, the show was named one of the best podcasts in Philadelphia by The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Top 5% most shared podcasts on Spotify

Listeners in 36 Countries

Streams increased by 150% in Season 2

Seen shines a light on film and visual culture from Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities globally. Founded in 2020, it is published in print twice a year. We work with artists, writers, and other luminaries to develop critical writing and creative output not often supported by traditional, market-driven media. Issue 004 was published in Summer 2022, featuring Martine Syms on the cover. In this past year we also began commissioning new content to be published monthly through our Observed column online. For each release we have held conversations with featured artists and writers to further engage audiences with the content, including a launch event for the latest issue this June in Los Angeles with filmmakers Darol Olu Kae, Kya Lou, and Rikkí Wright — hosted by Seen's Editor-in-Chief, Dessane Lopez Cassell. In addition to our direct sales, the journal is currently being stocked by over twenty-five vendors worldwide. blackstarfest.org

Photos by Constance Mensh

William + Louise Greaves Filmmaker Seminar

William + Louise Greaves Filmmaker Seminar

BlackStar created the William and Louise Greaves Filmmaker Seminar in 2021, a three-day gathering for Black, Brown, and Indigenous artists working in cinematic realms. Our environment considers the intersection of cinema and visual arts, and is exclusively designed for people of color to focus and not manage the added burden of representation.

Haile Gerima and Jessica Beshir, a keynote address on film futurism by Violeta Ayala, a work-in-progress screening with Jude Chehab, and workshops on topics ranging from audio descriptions to cinematography. Each day also included yoga and other wellness activities, as well as virtual homerooms for participant discussion.

At the 2022 Seminar over 180 participants gathered virtually from all over the world to explore the technical and creative aspects of media-making, while having honest conversations about the successes and pitfalls of their work. Events included director's commentaries with blackstarfest.org

We are currently planning for the third Seminar to take place in-person in Philadelphia from March 16-18, 2023.

“The crafting of the program had an underlying understanding of who the participants are...I have NEVER felt so seen and understood in any professional space. Ever.” 2022 Participant

Philadephia Filmmaker Lab

Philadelphia Filmmaker Lab

BlackStar's Filmmaker Lab supports Black, Brown and Indigenous filmmakers by making equipment, space, crew, mentorship, funding and critical feedback available over the course of a 12 month program.

BlackStar acts as an executive producer on the four short films created during the Lab and premieres the films at our annual film festival. The 2022 Lab was presented in partnership with Xfinity with additional support from the Independence Public Media Fund, Kickstarter, Vimeo and the Wyncote Foundation. We also partnered with All Ages Productions, a Philadelphia based company, to offer shadowing opportunities for filmmakers to work on the film crews to gain further professional experience in production. In addition to receiving funding for their projects,

each of the four directing fellows received year-round mentorship, including feedback on work-in-progress, advice on working with below-the-line crew and space for peer-to-peer support amongst the cohort. The 2023 Lab will expand to include both Producing and Directing Fellowships, with producers and directors working together to create four films that will premiere at the 2023 BlackStar Film Festival. The 2023 Lab is presented in partnership with Comcast’s Black Experience on Xfinity with additional support from All Ages Productions, Expressway Cinema Rentals, Gucci Changemakers Impact Fund, Independence Public Media Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Seven Knots Films, William Penn Foundation, and the Wyncote Foundation.

blackstarfest.org

Photos by Daniel Jackson

11th Annual BlackStar Film Festival

11th Annual BlackStar Film Festival

Lauded as the "Black Sundance" by Ebony Magazine (2012) and Indiewire (2019) and as one of the “25 coolest film festivals in the world” by MovieMaker (2021), the annual BlackStar Film Festival is a significant global cultural event. The Festival features genre-defying independent films, artist talks, parties and a chance to build community around what The New York Times (2022) calls an “expansive and revelatory cinematic experience.”

The 11th annual BlackStar Film Festival took place August 3-7, 2022 and was attended by more than 12,000 people worldwide. The Festival included both virtual and in-person screenings of over 75 films (including 16 world premieres), a nightly talk show featuring interviews with filmmakers, a filmmaker brunch and awards ceremony, and outdoor opening and closing night parties.

Watch our 2022 Festival recap video.

11th Annual BlackStar Film Festival

Juried Awards

Feature Documentary

Honorable Mention

Best Short Narrative

Sunday Morning/Manhã de Domingo Dir. Bruno Ribeiro

Short Narrative Honorable Mention For Love Dir. Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor

Best Feature Narrative

Mars One/Marte Um Dir. Gabriel Martins

Best Short Documentary

The Game God(S) Dir. Adrian L. Burrell

Best Feature Documentary

One Take Grace

Dir. Lindiwe Matshikiza

Wisdom Gone Wild Dir. Rea Tajiri

Best Experimental Film Conspiracy Dirs. Simone Leigh and Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich

Experimental Film Honorable Mention Golden Jubilee Dir. Suneil Sanzgiri

Audience Awards

Best Short Documentary Still Waters Dir. Aurora Brachman

Best Feature Documentary Wisdom Gone Wild Dir. Rea Tajiri

Best Experimental Film Foreign in a Domestic Sense Dirs. Sofía Gallisá Muriente and Natalia Lassalle Morillo

Special Prizes

BlackStar Pitch

Honorable Mention Occupy Dir. Sonali Gulati

Love+Grit Philadelphia Filmmaker Award

Quarantine Kids Dirs. Bilal Motley and Bria Motley Lionsgate/STARZ Best Speculative Fiction Clones Dir. Letia Solomon

Shine Award

Storming Caesars Palace

Best Short Narrative

Glitter Ain't Gold Dir. Christian Nolan Jones

Best Feature Narrative Lingui, the Sacred Bonds Dir. Mahamat-Saleh Haroun

Dir. Hazel Gurland-Pooler

BlackStar Pitch

Postcolonial Piñata Dir. Daniel Larios

11th Annual BlackStar Film Festival

Exhibitions

PHL Airport Exhibit —

10 Years of BlackStar

In the summer of 2021, a retrospective of memorabilia from the first decade of BlackStar Film Festival opened in Terminal A of the Philadelphia Airport — remaining open through July 2022.

Terence Nance: Swarm (2023)

Presented in collaboration with the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, BlackStar's Chief Executive & Artistic Officer Maori Karmael Holmes is the curator of Terence Nance: Swarm, the first solo exhibition for the visionary artist behind projects like Random Acts of Flyness and An Oversimplification of Her Beauty. BlackStar spent much of 2022 working with Nance and the team at ICA to prepare for the exhibition’s opening in March 2023. It will be accompanied by several public events organized by BlackStar, including lectures, musical performances, and parties.

Left: Swimming in Your Skin Again (2014), Terence Nance

BlackStar Office

In 2022 we moved into a new, larger space in Philadelphia’s Bok Building. Beautifully designed by Shannon Maldonado (YOWIE), the office includes a screening room, podcast studio, workshop space, and ample room for our growing team.

Photos by David Evan McDowell

Foundation

Charles Schultz

Charnelle Quallis

Cheryl Duwe

Chinyere Davis

Chris Copelin

Chris Harper Christine Broome Christopher Lewis Christopher M. King Christopher Stahl Christy Schneider CJ Jasen Clare Kobasa Claire Keckley Claire Ogden Constance L. Humphrey Cornelius Moore Courtney Dailey Curtis Caesar John Cynthia Wolfe D'Lo Dagmawi Woubshet Dani Fitzgerald

Darian Patrick

Darlyne Dandridge

David Austin David Cabrera

David L. Look

Dee Jones

Elizabeth Webb

Emily Marquez

Erica Bates Erica Gordon Erin deWard

Gil Mares

Gina Moore

Jen Kinney

Jennifer Ball

Jerry Thompson III

Jess Hackel

Karen Bly Karen D. Edwards

Karen Liao

Karen Redrobe

Karen Sugiyama

Kashonda Brown Lisby

Marian

Supporters

Nailah Sims

Nat Smith

Natalie Rodrigues

Nayani

Nicholas Schonberger Nicole Miyashiro Nikia Hill Nikki Stephenson Noah Yager Nora Alter Oreoluwa Badaki Page Starr Pamela Mosley Patrice Worthy Patricia Collins Patrick Yang Paul Bucklin Paul De Lucena Paul Farber Peggy Hartzell Peter Schmidt Pheralyn Dove Pilar

Qrescent Mason

R Peggy Smith

Rachelle Samson

Rahiem Grimsley

Rasheed Abdellah

Rebecca Smyrl

Rhyland Gillespie

Ricardo Ervey Sanchez Richard Tamayo Rick Perez Rickie Solinger Riley Icenogle Robert Anderson Robert Patla Roberta Munroe Rose Cohen Russel Fowler Ryan Chartier Sahar Driver Sandra Madeline Ruffin Sandra Ruffin Sascha Dornhöfer Savannah Wood

Scyita Godfrey

Sekou & Jasmine Campbell

Selina Lebron

Selina Morales

Shannon Freitas

Shannon Kinney

Sheru Hoffman Shira Cohen

Stephanie Ayanian Stephanie Baptist Stephanie Simms Stephanie Stone Sunanda Ghosh Susie Day Sydney Rodriguez Tania Hewes Tarana Burke Tenysa Santiago Terence Nance Teresa Dooley Terri Byrd Theresa Anderson Theresa Schweingruber

Thomas Martin Callahan

Tianchenglong Yao

Tim Ray

Tina Ballard

Todd Bennett

Tom White

Travis Price Trina Middleton

Tristana Rorandelli Tusk Saif Mortis Tyler Lynch Vanessa Northington Gamble Veronica Stickelman

Via Bia Victoria Wills Wayne H. Nelson Wayne Woodward Wendell and Anita Holland William Bissell William D. Tucker

Woodly Christenbury

Yvonne Michelle Shirley Zachary Powers Zahra A. Belyea

Staff and Consultants

BlackStar Projects Staff

Akili Davis

Program Coordinator

Autumn F. Valdez

Business Director ashley ijoema omoma Program Coordinator (2022)

Cienna Benn Program Fellow (2021-2022)

David Adams Music in Cinema Fellow (2021-2022)

Dessane Lopez Cassell

Editor-in-Chief, Seen Farrah Rahaman Research & Curatorial Fellow

Hope Steinman-Iacullo

Executive Coordinator

Imran Siddiquee

Chief Communications Officer

Irit Reinheimer

Associate Producer, Many Lumens

Jess Garz

Development Consultant

James Doolittle

Lab Supervising Producer

Lendl Tellington

Technical Director

Leo Brooks Design Manager

Mariam Dembele Marketing Associate

Maori Karmael Holmes

Chief Executive & Artistic Officer

Nehad Khader Festival Director

Pablo Alarcon, Jr. Design Associate

Patrice Worthy Operations Director (2022)

Sara Zia Ebrahimi

Chief Operations Officer

Sydney Alicia Rodriguez

Artist Programs Manager

Business Team Accounting Services Firm

Sutro Li

Auditor

Wegner CPAs Legal Counsel

Anjali Kumar Media Relations Cultural Counsel

Board of Directors

Denise C. Beek

Chief Communications Officer, ‘me too.’ International Co-Chair Sekou Campbell

Partner, Culhane Meadows PLLC Co-Chair Amanda Branson Gill Co-Founder, Kilo Films

Treasurer Tayyib Smith

Principal, Little Giant, Smith & Roller, Pipeline Philly Secretary

Eric Bai

Strategic Partnerships Manager, Airwallex

Jamila Farwell

Director of Documentary Series, Netflix

Maori Karmael Holmes

Chief Executive & Artistic Officer, BlackStar Sunanda Ghosh

Nonprofit Strategy Consultant

Ted Passon

President, All Ages Productions