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By Indie Means Necessary

BlackStar Projects, home of the annual BlackStar Film Festival, celebrates and provides platforms for visionary Black, Brown, and Indigenous artists.

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@BlackStarFest - 27 mins

@bearbait Hi Chris, thanks so much for reaching out and for your support! If you email lauren(at)blackstarfest(dot)… https://t.co/UXgVmI7269

@BlackStarFest - 3 days

Submit your film to the 10th annual BlackStar Film Festival! Our preferred deadline is coming up this Monday, March… https://t.co/VdbiXTvjHj

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The preferred deadline for submitting to this year The preferred deadline for submitting to this year's BlackStar Film Festival is March 8 — aka this Monday! Submit your work now at the link in bio (the final deadline is March 31 ⏰). ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ Films must be directed by a person who identifies as Black, as Indigenous, or as a person of color, from anywhere in the world. Work must feature Black, Indigenous, and/or other people of color, or tell a story about our experiences.⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ 🗓 The 10th Annual BlackStar Film Festival will take place from August 4-8, 2021.⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ ---⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ [Image Descriptions: First slide advertises "Submit Your Film!" for #BSFF21, with a link to submit: blackstarfest.org/submissions. Second slide advertises the same, with the information "Preferred Deadline March 8." Final slide is a quote from Terence Nance, "BlackStar is by far the most important and affecting film festival in the world."]
"Mansfield Deluxe" is a new exhibition by BlackSta "Mansfield Deluxe" is a new exhibition by BlackStar alum Kevin Jerome Everson (@trilobite) at @andrewkrepsgallery in New York, on view through March 27. Everson seeks to "shift the narrative around labor, reversing the hierarchy that positions industry over individuals." ⁠ ⁠ The exhibition includes a new dual-channel projection called Opel, "which reflects on Everson’s own high school experience with Army Recruiters, who to this day maintain a disproportionate presence in working class communities, particularly communities of color. At the time, recruiters would often tell Black American teenagers that it was cheaper to purchase a car in Panama, or West Germany, and ship it than it would be to purchase one in the U.S. Comprised of two films, individually titled Kadett C Three and Rekord C Three, they each depict toy cars, filmed in black in white, moving from meditative takes to scenes of fast-paced movement, in which the cars nearly blur into abstraction. Accompanied by voiceovers in German, and Spanish, describing automobile performance, the work seeks to distill the complex registers of Everson’s experience, and the dangled promise of ownership into an abstract, fleeting form."⁠ ⁠ The gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday, 10 am - 6 pm. Learn more at the link in bio, where you can read the full text excerpted above.⁠ ⁠ Everson was most recently at BlackStar in 2020 with the short documentary, "Partial Differential Equation."⁠ ⁠ ---⁠ ⁠ [Image Description: Still from Kevin Jerome Everson's "rekord c three," 2021. A white car is shown blurred into a nearly abstract representation.]
We’re celebrating a decade of BlackStar in 2021! We’re celebrating a decade of BlackStar in 2021! And we made it this far because of all of you. From festival attendees to childcare providers to artists and filmmakers — all of your contributions have been so vital!⁠ ⁠⁠ BlackStar is fertile ground; this year we’re blossoming with newly expanded staff, a free filmmaker seminar this month, issue two of @seen_journal, a variety of other year-round programming, and of course our 10th Annual Film Festival. For those who are able, you can help sustain this work with a financial contribution of $10 (or more) in honor of our 10th anniversary! ⁠ ⁠⁠ Thank you all for helping BlackStar shine on and continue to create space for Black, Brown, and Indigenous artists! ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ blackstarfest.org/donate (link in bio)⁠ ⁠ ---⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ [Image Descriptions: A graphic titled "Help BlackStar Shine!" asks for support for BlackStar's work celebrating and providing platforms for visionary Black, Brown, and Indigenous artists. The call to action is surrounded by flowers placed against a yellow background. The second slide is a quote from Marcia Smith, which reads "I think [BlackStar] is really groundbreaking in that...they have cultivated probably the most diverse film fan base of any festival that I've seen, and I've been to a million festivals."]
@fabricworkshop and BlackStar are proud to present @fabricworkshop and BlackStar are proud to present a new installation of Revival! — an audio-visual meditation celebrating the visual and sonic culture of shared Black spiritual experience.⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ Featuring a mix by filmmaker and artist @rashidzakat, this installation is featured on a grid of video monitors in Fabric Workshop and Museum’s front window on Arch Street in Philly's Center City, with the accompanying soundtrack projected onto the street (during museum hours). Viewers can also scan a QR code to access the Revival! stream from their personal devices anytime, anywhere! The installation is meant to be iterative, with evolving content to be featured over the course of its run through early June. ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ Additional support for #Revival is provided by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Paideia Program at the University of Pennsylvania.⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ Learn more at the link and check out the installation if you're in Philly! —- [Video Description: A clip of the Nicholas brothers dancing in 1943’s Stormy Weather is synched with Snoop Dogg’s song “Let It Go,” while the logo for Revival: an audio-visual meditation is superimposed.]
The season finale of #BlackStarLive is this Friday The season finale of #BlackStarLive is this Friday at 9 ET! One last chance to see @maorikarmael and @rashidzakat dressed to the nines and being ridiculous. This week we’ll have an interview with visionary artist @hankwillisthomas, music by @aprilandvista, a gorgeous short film by @sunrara, and even an appearance by @blackthought! ⁠⁠ Watch LIVE on our Facebook (link in bio), YouTube, or at blackstarfest.org/blackstarlive!⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ As always, the show will also include special segments from @yabablay, @lukecarlosoreilly on the keys, and skits from our team of comedy writers, including @niseecup, @dlocokid, @desmondthorne, @ill_iterate, and @imransiddiquee. ⁠⁠ Presented by @opensocietyfoundations⁠⁠ Additional support from @asianartsphilly @expresswaycine @fitlerclub ⁠⁠ ---⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ [Image descriptions: A video shows hosts Rashid Zakat and Maori Karmael dancing in their chairs. The next five slides advertise the Friday February 26 episode of BlackStar Live!, featuring headshots for guests Hank Willis Thomas, April + Vista, and Rashida Bumbray. The last slide is the show logo.]
“The level of variety of Black stories takes the “The level of variety of Black stories takes the pressure off me. It means that one Black story or storyteller isn’t carrying the load of Black existence.” - @radhamusprime, director of @fortyyearoldversionfilm (#BSFF20), on seeing @cgpeoples' @juneteenthmovie (#BSFF20) ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ Read @ange814's full interview with Radha and Channing, at the link in bio!⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ ---⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ [Image Descriptions: First slide is a screenshot of an article at @variety titled "Filmmakers Radha Blank and Channing Godfrey Peoples on Fighting to Tell Stories That Celebrate Black Women," by Angelique Jackson, featuring a photo of both Blank and Peoples. The second slide is another screenshot of a portion of the article, which can be read at the link in bio.]
“Just because we all do something a certain way “Just because we all do something a certain way doesn’t mean we have to keep doing it, especially if it’s oppressive or exclusive. I’m not going to let people tell me that that’s not how it works. Because how it works was designed to not include me.” - @shataramichelleford talks to @moviemakermag about the path to making TEST PATTERN, which opens today via @kinolorber. ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ Shatara's film premiered at BlackStar in 2019, where it won the Lionsgate/Starz Producer Award! #BSFF19 ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ Link in bio to the full article and watch the film this weekend via kinolorber.com.⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ ---⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ [Image Descriptions: A screenshot of an article at MovieMaker magazine titled "Shatara Michelle Ford Made Test Pattern by Rejecting Old Ways 'Designed to Not Include Me'" which includes a photo of the director. Second slide is a brief trailer for the film Test Pattern.]
“I have to create and be a part of the change th “I have to create and be a part of the change that I want to see, and so, after I go through the period of being on every panel and being in every article about diversity, I stopped doing that a couple years ago, and I said, no more panels. We’re going to just build something that people can no longer say I don’t know how...This is how. Now will you do it? And that’s the question.” - @ava, on the launch of #ARRAYCrew, which @deadline describes as giving "productions access to qualified but underrepresented below-the-line crew members for hiring searches."⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ Learn more about the initiative at the link in bio or at arraycrew.com.⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ ---⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ [Image Descriptions: Screenshots from Deadline's article titled "Ava Duvernay on Today's Launch of Array Crew: On-Set Inclusion, Getting Studios & Streamers Onboard & How 'This Isn't the Yelp of Job Searches.'" by Dominic Patten. Features a photo of Duvernay via AP, standing in front of the logo for ArrayCrew.]⁠⁠
Tune in TOMORROW, 2/19, at 9 ET for another episod Tune in TOMORROW, 2/19, at 9 ET for another episode of #BlackStarLive! Featuring interviews with #ChlorineSky author @mobrowne, #OneDrop author Dr. @yabablay, music by @ivysole, and a short film by @rikkwright. Watch on BlackStar’s Facebook, YouTube, or at blackstarfest.org/blackstarlive! ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ And as always hosts @maorikarmael and @rashidzakat will be bringing the jokes, we'll have another installment of #YabaLearns, and @lukecarlosoreilly on the keys. Every Friday in February!⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ Presented by @opensocietyfoundations ⁠⁠ ---⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ [Image Descriptions: A series of headshots advertise the guests on this week's episode of BlackStar Live!, starting with Mahogany L. Browne, Yaba Blay, Ivy Sole, and ending with Rikkí Wright. The last two cards show the logo and the timing information listed above.]⁠⁠

2020 Festival Re-cap

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