Staff | BlackStar Film Festival

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Staff

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Curatorial Assistant

Cienna
Benn

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Executive Coordinator

Hope
Steinman-Iacullo

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Communications Director

Imran
Siddiquee

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Operations Coordinator

Joslyn
Maula

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Administrative Coordinator

Kira
Rodriguez

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Operations Director

Lauren
Hunter

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Communications & Design Associate

Leo
Brooks

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Artistic Director & CEO

Maori Karmael
Holmes

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Festival Director & Managing Editor, Seen

Nehad
Khader

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Deputy Director

Sara Zia
Ebrahimi

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Program Associate

Sydney Alicia
Rodriguez

Press/Media

For all press inquiries, please contact: blackstar@culturalcounsel.com

By Indie Means Necessary

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

Twitter

@BlackStarFest - 11 hours

RT @michelleaortiz1: Please support @BlackStarFest and purchase a print!!! https://t.co/I5xz8m43p4

@BlackStarFest - 12 hours

On the 15th of every month this year we are releasing a new work of art from a BlackStar alum, in celebration of th… https://t.co/f2RCbRzpn5

Instagram

The fifth print in our year-long 10th Anniversary

The fifth print in our year-long 10th Anniversary Print Sale is from @michelleangelaortiz! Buy this limited edition artwork and support BlackStar’s ongoing efforts to uplift Black, Brown, & Indigenous artists. ⁠We’re releasing a new print from an alum every month this year to celebrate the first decade of the BlackStar Film Festival!
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Growth⁠⁠
2020⁠⁠
11 x 8.5 in. ⁠⁠
EDITION OF 30⁠⁠
PIGMENT PRINT⁠⁠
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Michelle Angela Ortiz (#BSFF19) is a visual artist, muralist, community arts educator, and filmmaker who uses art as a vehicle to represent people and communities whose histories are often lost or co-opted. In 2019 her documentary Las Madres de Berks — about four mothers that were detained for two years with their children at a family prison in Pennsylvania — screened at BlackStar.⁠⁠ Read more about Michelle and the sale at the link in bio!⁠⁠
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#BlackStar10⁠⁠
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[Image Descriptions: First slide showcases "Growth" by Michelle Angela Ortiz, which features a brown hand drawn holding the roots of a small plant between two fingers - the plant is sprouting a few green leaves. The second slide advertises the BlackStar 10th Anniversary Print Sale. And the third slide is a photo of the artist, sitting and facing the camera, wearing a brightly colored outfit and looking confident. Photo credit: Ryan Collerd.]

Four films from last year's BlackStar Film Festiva

Four films from last year's BlackStar Film Festival have been selected for Season 34 of @povdocs! The list of films that will air on PBS over the next year includes #BSFF20 Best Feature Doc winner Stateless (Apátrida), @unapologeticdoc, @landfallfilm, and @pierkids. ⁠⁠
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Visit the link in bio to watch the trailers and learn more about the premiere dates for each film!⁠⁠
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[Image Descriptions: Stills from the four documentaries mentioned above. The first, from Unapologetic, shows a Black person speaking into a megaphone, with the words "Fund Black Futures" written on their hoodie. The second is from Stateless and shows a group of three children, obscured in shadow, walking through a field with the sun hiding behind them. The third is from Landfall and shows two people swimming in water, looking at each other, with sunlight peaking through the gap between them. The fourth is from Pier Kids and shows a Black person in a black baseball cap and jacket, looking at the camera with a city street — illuminated by evening lights — behind them.]⁠⁠
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Ten years ago, filmmaker Dee Rees released her lan

Ten years ago, filmmaker Dee Rees released her landmark debut feature PARIAH, which the director has described as "a turning point for Black cinema generally, and Black queer cinema specifically."⁠⁠
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In celebration of the film’s anniversary, @academymuseum is presenting the film online for free through May 20 along with Rees, the cast, and crew in conversation with scholar Jacqueline Stewart.⁠⁠
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Learn more and register to watch at the link in bio!⁠⁠
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[Image descriptions: The first photo is a still from the film Pariah, which shows lead character Alike (Adepero Oduye) looking intently at another character whose face is obscured, while sitting in a brightly lit bedroom. The second slide features a screenshot of the Academy Museum's homepage, where the film is currently streaming.]⁠⁠

Starting tomorrow, @scribevideocenter will present

Starting tomorrow, @scribevideocenter will present a three-day retrospective of the work of Rea Tajiri (@jilsika) online. Tajiri is an interdisciplinary artist and filmmaker whose "poetic, subtly layered and politically engaged...work advances the exploration of forgotten histories, multi-generational memory, landscape and the Japanese American experience."⁠⁠
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Learn more and get tickets for "Body of Work: Rea Tajiri" at the link in bio.⁠⁠
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[Image Descriptions: Two stills from films by Rea Tajiri. SLIDE 1: Yuri Kochiyama: Passion for Justice (USA, 1993, 57 min) Co-Produced by Pat Saunders. Black and white still shows Kochiyama at a protest or rally, in conversation with another activist. Posters and t-shirts suggest it is an event for Mumia Abu-Jamal. SLIDE 2: History and Memory: For Akiko and Takashige (USA, 1991, 32 min). A black and white still from the film is a close-up of a seemingly smiling person with their hands raised to their temples.]

Another film from last year's festival — @throug

Out today on @Netflix is @apshantology's @inourmot

Out today on @Netflix is @apshantology's @inourmothersgardens — which world premiered at BlackStar last year and also won our Shine Award! 💫⁠⁠
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Here's a description of the documentary via @arraynow: "Just in time for Mother’s Day weekend, the film celebrates the strength and resiliency of Black women and Black families through the complex relationship between mothers and daughters."⁠⁠
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Read a review of the film at the link in bio and watch it this week on Netflix! 🌸⁠⁠
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#BSFF20 #INOURMOTHERSGARDENS⁠⁠
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[Image Descriptions: The first slide features the poster for In Our Mothers' Gardens, placed over a teal backdrop. The poster features a number of framed portraits of Black women and families, against a light pink floral wallpaper, and puts the title and credits of the film above a number of pink flowers. The second slide is a screenshot of a NYTimes review of the doc, with the subtitle "Creating Space for Black Women: The Netflix documentary sets out to show how maternal lineages have shaped generations of Black women." It also features a photo of director Shantrelle P. Lewis, taken by Rog Walker.]

"[Deana] Lawson’s style has become synonymous wi

"[Deana] Lawson’s style has become synonymous with finding glamour in the quotidian, establishing it as already beautiful, already enough. Under her eye, leather couches shine as if recently polished, and the patterns on rugs, chintz drapes, brocade couches and bedspreads all seem to glow. Looking at her images can feel like walking backward through time, recalling childhood: visits to an aunt’s house, a repast after a funeral and cozy basements that held church sleepovers. But familiarity doesn’t equate to access. Lawson’s sitters tend to look directly into the camera with a cool self-possession that spells out the power dynamic, lest you be confused by the rawness of the scene. Her subjects are not at the viewer’s mercy. We are merely observing, and lucky for the privilege to do so." — @jennydeluxe writes about the work of Deana Lawson, in @nytmag⁠⁠
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Read the full feature at the link in bio.⁠⁠
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[Image Descriptions: The first slide is a screenshot of the New York Times magazine titled "The Artist Upending Photography's Brutal Racial Legacy," by Jenna Wortham. It includes a photo of artist Deana Lawson at her studio in New York City, sitting on a couch, taken by Lyle Ashton Harris. The second slide is a photo by Lawson, titled "Young Grandmother,” 2019, from Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York; David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles. It shows a Black person with pink hair sitting in a blush red armchair, holding three small children, with a deep red wall behind them (in the middle of which is a red heart shaped wreath). The final slide is another screenshot of the article about Lawson, the text of which is pasted above.]⁠⁠

This year’s BlackStar Pitch is focused on docume

Pitch your nonfiction project during this year's B

2020 Festival Re-cap

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