Meet the Philadelphia filmmakers whose films are showing at BlackStar this year

Ahead of this year’s BlackStar Film Festival, we reached out to Philly-based filmmakers set to premiere their projects at the fest. We asked them about the ways BlackStar has impacted their careers and the importance of the festival for creators of color.

Answers have been edited and condensed for clarity.

What film will you be premiering at the festival? A feature documentary called Above and Below the Ground. It tells the story of Myanmar’s first and only countrywide environmental movement, where Indigenous women activists and punk rock pastors defend a sacred river from a Chinese-built megadam through protest, prayer, and karaoke music videos.

Connection to Philly: I spent a summer in West Philly and loved the city so much that I knew I had to move here. Now, I teach anthropology and visual studies at Haverford College.

How has the festival impacted your career? Having attended BlackStar every year since moving here, I really value the festival’s top-notch curation and impact on the wider independent film scene. As a nominee for Best Documentary Feature, I’m honored to have our film recognized by BlackStar alongside so many amazing films.

How valuable is BlackStar for filmmakers of color? I love BlackStar’s vision of independent film by and for the global majority. A lot of film festivals are catered to the white gaze, because that’s the audience, and it can be stifling creatively. BlackStar is a rare voice in the festival circuit.

What film will you be premiering at the festival? A short documentary called The Aunties. It is about two Black gay women living alongside Harriet Tubman’s ancestral land in Caroline County, Md.

Connection to Philly: I’ve lived in Philly for 15 years. Two of my three children were born here, and I met my wife here. I’ve been a doula here, delivering babies all over the city, I’ve farmed here and worked on land and food initiatives.

How has the festival impacted your career? This is my first film, and it has already changed me, my codirector and wife, Jeannine. Seeing this story that we hold near and dear to us, along with the energy of being with our aunties Paulette Greene and Donna Dear, is so sweet. I’m very excited to witness the audiences’ response at BlackStar.

How valuable is BlackStar for filmmakers of color? BlackStar is an important cultural institution. What founder Maori Karmael Holmes and every single person that has built the organization has done will reverberate for years. Being chosen to show a film at BlackStar stays with people, and the reach that BlackStar has makes the impact exponential.

What film will you be premiering at the festival? A short narrative film called The Difference Between Us.

Connection to Philly: I have lived in Philadelphia for seven years, worked at BlackStar Projects since 2020, and previously worked with the South Asian American Digital Archive.

How has the festival impacted your career? This is the first time I’ve had a film play at BlackStar, but not my first time attending. At BlackStar, I met so many amazing filmmakers of color and I wanted to be a part of a larger community devoted not only to genre-defying film but to art that might change the world.

How valuable is BlackStar for filmmakers of color? It’s invaluable to have this space, not only to network and build community, but to experiment. It’s hard to make films, it takes a lot of resources. Too often our communities are not given the room to practice or try new things, and I think that’s what BlackStar gives us and champions.

What film will you be premiering at the festival? An experimental short, Wetlands of Our Mother’s Tongues in Concrete, about ways the colonial and systemic projects of oppression and violence in America have affected motherhood, trauma, and the modalities of healing. .

Connection to Philly: My twin sister and I were born in West Philadelphia and I’ve been based here ever since. Our family has deep connections throughout West Philadelphia. The city is rapidly changing in the ways Black and working-class communities are fighting to have a voice and continued presence in the city, so I am thinking about this history of refusal and resilience along with its violences.

How has the festival impacted your career? I attended my first BlackStar as a curious enthusiast in 2017. Since then, my life and artistic practice has transformed because of it. I share this same experience with other filmmakers and friends who have gone.

To see how the stories of people of color are portrayed and visualized, from the gorgeous mundane encounters to otherworldly stories, I’m constantly motivated. And there’s also a community of folks the festival brings together that creates such a supportive and beautiful space.

How valuable is BlackStar for filmmakers of color? With the festival bringing in international filmmakers and creatives, it has bridged different perspectives, ideas, and discussion around the present and future conditions of creating work and how it extends into our personal lives.

What film will you be premiering at the festival? A short narrative called Sundown Road. I describe it as an “historical horror” film.

Connection to Philly: I moved to Philadelphia from New York City in 2014. Before that, I was traveling to Philadelphia to work on a documentary about Black folks who were into Black sci-fi, Black speculative fiction, and afrofuturism.

This is where I prefer to situate myself, as a cultural worker, where the art and the activism converge.

How has the festival impacted your career? I have been making films for 20 years, but I wasn’t really a “submit your film into a film festival” type of filmmaker. BlackStar really changed that for me because it was such a great festival to attend that I wanted to be a part of it as a screening filmmaker. My films are now seen by more people and I have had more paying opportunities for distribution and exhibition as a result of having those BlackStar credentials.

How valuable is BlackStar for filmmakers of color? It’s a world-class film festival that gives filmmakers access to amazing opportunities, while being an authentic community festival that makes you feel like you’re amongst family.

What film will you be premiering at the festival? A short narrative called The Freedom to Fall Apart. It’s a surreal and satirical comedy that explores the intersection of Blackness, masculinity, and capitalism.

Connection to Philly: My roots run deep in Philly. I was born at the University of Pennsylvania’s hospital. My father is a South Philly-bred preacher, and my mom is a dancer who grew up in West Oak Lane. Me and my siblings were raised between West Oak Lane and Mount Airy. .

My family ancestry is also intimately tied to Philly. My grandfather, Alden A. Gaines, founded a popular church on 25th and Wharton Street called Consolation Baptist Church; they named the block after him. My great-grandfather, James “Jim” Leonard, was the first Black art director of a full-length Hollywood film. He worked on The Burglar (1957), which starred Jayne Mansfield and was filmed in Manayunk.

How has the festival impacted your career? My filmmaking career is still in its infancy. Not only is this my first BlackStar Film Festival as an attendee and exhibitor, but this is my first time attending any film festival. That being said, BlackStar has already radically changed the trajectory of my life and career by accepting me into their 2023 Philadelphia Filmmaker Lab. The lab is a yearlong fellowship that centers on filmmakers of color based in Philadelphia. As one of seven fellows, I was given all the resources needed to create a successful short film; including but not limited to mentorship, workshops with industry professionals, and producer support. .

How valuable is a BlackStar Film Festival, especially for filmmakers of color? BlackStar Film Festival is invaluable. There isn’t an equation or algorithm invented yet that could estimate their impact on filmmakers of color, especially for those based in Philly, which is often perceived as on the periphery of American film culture. The festival is changing the narrative.