In the 13 years of BlackStar Film Festival in Philadelphia, I’ve covered, in some fashion, all but I believe one year. It hit the ground running in 2011 and continues to be a summer highlight. Love the people, the films, panels and it’s super well-run. It was great in my neighborhood of West Philly for years, with the main venue being IHouse, but when that closed and BSFF moved into Center City last year, I think I like it better. It just gives it more of a big festival shine. And the Kimmel Center is a sweet hangout spot in between screenings.

Typically you find a theme or coincidence of similarities at film fests. This year I noted I saw “Dreams in Nightmares”, “City of Dreamz” and “It was All a Dream“. I didn’t see as much as I normally do, not because I wasn’t interested, just not doing the most anymore at any festival. Plus, SiFTMedia215 had a big event (Good Grief Film Project) the eve of opening, with BlackStar as a Community partner, so I was concentrating on that leading up to July 31st and then didn’t have as much steam for the weekend. But here’s a run down of what I did see – mini movie reviews, capturing a couple post screening Q&A’s and The Daily Jawn panels…

Day 1

Panel Discussion – ENGINES FOR A NEW AMERICAN NARRATIVE CO-PRESENTED BY COLOR CONGRESS –

Panelist talked about their current programs and being a part of Color Congress. The discussion also revolved around the threat to Identity-based Organizations who have been working on inequities and challenges through effective race specific solutions; however, in the face of the Republican Agenda, funding is being cut, impediments and increased scrutiny is being put in place along with new legal restrictions.

PANEL: Nadine Patterson Co-Founder SIFTMedia 215, Marángeli Mejia-Rabell, Director of Philadelphia Latino Film Festival, Anurima Bhargava, Founder and Director of Anthem of Us, Francis Cullado, Executive Director Visual Communications. Moderated by Color Congress Co-Founders Sahar Driver and Sonya Childress – FULL DISCUSSION BELOW:

Opening Night Film – DREAMS IN NIGHTMARES
Writer/Director Shatara Michelle Ford

Tinsel & Tine #MiniMovieReview: Old college friends on a road trip may not sound innovative, but I have to say, “Dreams in Nightmares” does a fantastic job of making it feel fresh. Z is in a very intimate relationship with Reece, it looks like a traditional hetero romance when they wake up in bed and Z describes her reoccurring dream; but later we see Reece is also in an open and intimate relationship with a colorful trans person. And maybe Z is a lesbian, that’s never clear. She has a close friend Tasha, who I assumed was born female, until a scene at a club reveals otherwise. Tasha’s roommate, Lauren, is obviously a trans woman. The last person in this squad is Kel, who no one has heard from in months. It’s this worry that sets Z, Tasha and Lauren on a road trip across the Midwest to find Kel.

It’s impossible to describe the film without talking about genders and sexuality, but that’s not truly the crux of the story. The humor is authentic, situational and character based, at times catching me off guard. But mainly, it’s about people in their early 30’s trying to figure out what makes them happy and what sacrifices may be too high a cost to keep paying as they navigate this thing we all do here on earth, and knowing friendships make it all a little easier.

Cast: Denée Benton, Mars Storm Rucker, Dezi Bing, Sasha Compere, Charlie Barnett, Molly Bernard, Alfie Fuller, Malek Mouzon, Joss Barton, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Regina Taylor, Robert Wisdom

FULL Q&A BELOW:

EXPANDING SANCTUARY
Screened as part of the Statism Shorts Block

Filmmaker Kristal Sotomayor hosted a Happy Hour celebration at Cockatoo in the Gayborhood featuring a performance by drag queen Phoebe Manntrappe in celebration of the film’s East Coast Premiere and the many successes of their first year running SOTOMAYOR PRODUCTIONS!

T&T: Philly Filmmaker Kristal Sotomayor was granted access to the Latine immigrant organization Juntos, allowing to embed themselves during a critical time in Philly when Mayor Kenny was deciding whether or not to continue a PARS contract, which due to a loophole, even in a Sanctuary City, still allowed ICE to deport undocumented individuals. Kristal manages to capture the rise of a mother of 3 as she unexpectedly becomes an activist and community leader.

HERE’S VIDEO FROM THE PARTY:

Day 2

SHORT FILM: CRIMINAL (19min) Dir. Robe Imbriano

Day 3

YOU DON’T HAVE TO GO HOME, BUT… Following three dancers at different stages of their lives, with legendary Philly dance party Second Sundae as backdrop, this documentary film examines the possibility of spiritual fulfillment in a socioeconomic configuration that ultimately doesn’t value the practices that make us free.

Tinsel & Tine #MiniMovieReview: I feel ashamed to admit I never knew there was a breaking and hip hop dance party every 2nd Sunday at Silk City Diner (435 Spring Garden Street Phila, PA 19123), but it’s been going on over 15 years. The director Aidan Un is not a dancer, but once he discovered the group, as a cinematographer, he couldn’t stop filming the dancers year after year. Amassing an incredible amount of footage, sorta like Soul Train, only the Don Cornelius of Second Sundae is a white guy (Steve Believe) who got introduced to the party through DJ Lee Jones, who goes all the way back to the very beginning. To give the doc context Un follows dancers Mach Phive, a cute, young guy who only wants to break and resents life interfering in his passion. Jazmin, who is trying to figure out who she is outside of dancing. And Bryant Lee who has figured out how to make some side hustle money out of his involvement in Second Sundae. It all comes together in a nice package and love letter to Philly’s hip hop scene.

FULL Q&A BELOW:

Panel: LAUGH TO KEEP FROM CRYING

Comedy offers a powerful tool for writers to inject hope, joy, and levity into their narratives. Yet humor is difficult to write, and often even more difficult to translate from script to screen. Explore the craft of comedy writing with current and alumni BlackStar filmmakers who navigate the industry as Black and Indigenous creators while harnessing the transformative potential of comedy. Learn more about how humor allows film and television writers to cleverly address banal realities and subvert expectations while reclaiming their narratives.

Panel: Felicia Pride, ishkwaazhe Shane McSauby, Rocheé Jeffrey, moderated by Bashir Salahuddin

FULL PANEL DISCUSSION BELOW:

Narrative short GRACE (Sundance Premiere) – Writer/Director Natalie Jasmine Harris

Sixteen-year-old Grace prepares for her baptism in the rural 1950s South. When she learns she must repent before the ritual, Grace contemplates her romantic feelings toward her best friend, Louise (Alexis Cofield).

Tinsel & Tine #MiniMovieReview: Set in a beautiful coastal area with the women adorned in white cotton summer dresses, in a nicely appointed generational home. The appeal of this film is that it’s black, hot combs and big Mamma, but without touching on segregation or racism. Grace and her sister are visiting family for the summer, and it feels as though it’s been a beautifully playful, idyllic moment in time. Grace knows her baptism is scheduled before they leave, but she treats it lightly at first – then sadly, when she comes round to taking it seriously, piety and fear enter the picture and ruin the purity of first love.

Q&A EXCERPTS BELOW:

It’s ball season, and hormones are on the rise at St. Valentines High. The new arrival of the fabulous fakaleiti Lisa causes a stir, and particularly with First XV Captain Mose. A web of entanglements are woven, and Lisa soon realizes that behind every Prince Charming is a hater in the midst.

INKY PINKY PONKY – THE ODD ONE OUT – Director Damon Fepulea’i and Ramon Te Wake

Tinsel & Tine #MiniMovieReview: So enjoyed this high school offering from New Zealand. The main appeal being the lead Lewis/Lisa (Amanaki Prescott-Faletau) she is… I can’t think of another word other than adorable, but in that tough outer shell kinda way. Not dissimilar to Phoebe Waller-Bridge in “Fleabag” where you get to befriend a quirky soul through them breaking the 4th Wall and having a convo with us, and then seamlessly going back to the moment without losing rhythm.

Lisa has been bullied in 3 schools prior to starting at this Catholic High, for being transgendered. You would think kids nowadays would be supportive, but this has not been Lisa’s experience, so she comes ready, putting up a tough front and able to give as good as she gets. One teacher in the school wants to help Lisa adjust and does his best to keep the other kids in check, but oddly, Lisa never gives this teacher the time of day, no bonds formed. Lisa is close with her mother, their nationality being Tonga, and in this case, very religious; which is partly why her Mom refuses to see that Lisa is not a boy, even without makeup or feminine attire, it’s super obvious, but this is a taboo subject not to be broached.

For the most part, it’s typical coming of age stuff, a mean girl and her squad, crush on the most popular boy, finding a friend who will accept you as you are, and of course, an all important formal dance. Yet, it never feels cliche, perhaps partly because of the mix of New Zealand-ness (terms, food, nationalities) mixed with US pop-culture. But again, the main draw is Lisa, impossible not to root for her to come out on top.

Day 4

SPILLIKIN (Shorts) Tiny, intimate splinter stories from major metropolises, set against their local cityscapes.

CITY OF DREAMZ – filmmaker Imani Celeste – film follows four Black art students telling stories of community, divine intervention and the artistry that led them to this very moment.

FORBIDDEN CITY – filmmaker Devin Jie Allen – Depicting the last days of Detroit’s Chinatown, 16-mm outtakes reverberate across a history of forced displacement and violence present in the broader Chinatown project.

THE WHITES OF OUR EYES – filmmaker Yaba Blay – The Whites of Our Eyes is a short documentary film that follows Dr. Yaba Blay as she returns to her familial homeland of Ghana to explore the relationships between beauty, bodies and b/Blackness. In addition to recreating the groundbreaking Clark Doll Test among schoolchildren.

SHIP OF FOOLS – filmmaker Alia Haju – Alia, a Lebanese woman, growing up facing war and displacement, searching and not finding freedom, she forms a friendship with a would-be superhero on the shore of Beirut called Abu Samra.

FULL Q&A BELOW:

IT WAS ALL A DREAM – Director dream hampton

The director’s visual memoir, which premiered at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival, is a selection of roving snapshots of life from 1993 to 1995, a pivotal period when Dr. Dre’s The Chronic stamped the flag in the West Coast and the Notorious B.I.G.’s Ready To Die was the answer from the East, when the genre itself was transitioning from being a Black cultural dialogue to a money-making, mainstream fascination and when rap feminist foremothers were the fledglings weeding through a messy love-hate relationship timeline with the artform. During this time, new acts were popping up everywhere and hampton was getting all the footage she could. Before they were prolific rap icons or masters behind the boards, they were as hampton writes later, “kamikazee capitalists who just happened to be teenagers,” young men and women making sense out of the world. The film welcomes the viewer into informal interviews with Notorious B.I.G, Snoop Dogg , Method Man, and more… smirked, bright-eyed faces of artists who would become bonafide stars way before their hip-hop or Hollywood personas were cemented… READ MORE npr.org

Tinsel & Tine #MiniMovieReview – Obviously you don’t need to be deep into hip hop to get a kick outta seeing these well-known legends in their early days. dream has easy and intimate access to her subjects, most often Biggie. The videos don’t seem to be for Source magazine or any other outlet of the time. There’s some talk of her shooting for a doc, but it doesn’t seem serious or thought through. A skilled cinematographer she was not. For the most part, it feels as if she was compelled to capture these moments simply because she was there and knew it to be a cool vantage point; but without really knowing how or when the footage may be used. I would imagine in present day when going through these archives, hampton realized in order to make this a doc, there needs to be an angle. And as there’s been enough done on gangsta rap and the violence it spurred and the whole East Coast vs West Coast rivalry; so instead she hones in on the misogyny. Examining how she could be in it and of it, yet still see and disapprove of the disrespect leveled at women, and to include interviews with early female rappers and their take on being called bitches and ho’s. Yet overall, the appeal of “It Was All A Dream” is of course the nostalgia. Younger generations will appreciate the history, but Gen-Xers are the target audience.

FULL Q&A BELOW:

SiFT Members (Sisters in Film and Television) at BSFF24

AWARD WINNERS

ORIGINAL POST

SIFTers **Nikki Harmon** and **Melissa Beatriz** Featured

BlackStar Projects, the premier organization celebrating visionary Black, Brown and Indigenous film and media artists, is thrilled to announce the selections for the 2024 BlackStar Film Festival.

This year’s festival will take place from August 1-4, 2024 at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, with additional screenings, parties and events at various venues across Philadelphia and corresponding virtual programming, marking the 13th annual celebration of the visual and storytelling traditions of Black, Brown and Indigenous people from around the world.

All access passes for the festival are available for purchase HERE; individual tickets for in-person and virtual screenings will go on sale in early July.

The 2024 BlackStar Film Festival is set to feature a total of 94 films representing 40 countries, including 16 world, 16 North American, 10 United States, 14 East Coast and 37 Philadelphia premieres. This year’s films engage with self-discovery, climate justice, immigrant rights, decolonization, and queer liberation.

Highlights from this year’s robust lineup include the world premiere of Darius Clark Monroe’s Dallas, 2019, a five-part series following multiple elected officials and their constituents, as a study in socialization; the United States premiere of Mohamed Jabaly’s Life is Beautiful, a powerful personal account of the use of storytelling to fight for rights as a Palestinian filmmaker; the North American premiere of Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich’s The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire, which follows a postpartum actress’ search for meaning in the writings of Martinique’s lost literary figure; and the world premiere of a new narrative feature film directed by Shatara Michelle Ford.

“The filmmakers in this year’s program are unafraid to meet the moment,” said Festival Director, Nehad Khader. “Their films speak to what matters most to our communities today and to a collective vision that another world is possible.”

I (LeAnne) didn’t do my 5 Question Interviews with BlackStar Filmmakers this year. But I see The Philadelphia Inquirer did something similar! Click Image for Article.