As a maker-centered festival, BlackStar has been always been a space where connections are forged through sharing works, concepts, advice, and the occasional tea.

Join us for our second annual pitch session where a selection of filmmakers of color will propose their works-in-progress to an illustrious panel of funders, distributors and producers. Get the behind the scenes look at what it takes to develop a short documentary film and listen into how leading decision makers evaluate projects. 

8 filmmakers will pitch their short doc projects to a panel of representatives from highly influential foundations, distribution platforms and production houses, with the added bonus of a $25K co-production deal with WORLD Channel. An honorable mention pitch will receive $2,500 from IF/Then. Both the winner and honorable mention will receive free graphic design services from Melancholy Star. Each filmmaker will be given 7 minutes to present followed by 8 minutes of constructive feedback. 

Please note that a private URL will be made available to registered attendees only, who will be comprised of passholders, members, and industry.

Panelists include: 

• Opal Bennett, POV Shorts
• Jamila Farwell, Netflix
• Chloe Gbai, IF/Then
• Alex Hannibal, CNN
• Chris Hastings, WORLD Channel
• Chloe Walters-Wallace, Firelight Media
• Chi-hui Yang, JustFilms/Ford Foundation

Pitch Coaches:
Anuradha Rana, Kartemquin Diverse Voices in Docs
Monika Navarro, Firelight Media