upcoming grant deadline: 05/15/2024
The third annual BlackStar Film Festival takes place from July 31 through August 3 at venues throughout University City including International House Philadelphia, Institute of Contemporary Art at University of Pennsylvania, Scribe Video Center, and World Café Live. The festival just announced it call for film and screenplay submissions that are due May 15. The festival line up will be announced on July 1. For film and screenplay applications and guidelines click here.
This year’s short screenplay competition gives the winner the unique opportunity to have the script produced by BlackStar and directed by a renown director. To determine the winner, the finalists will be read by a prestigious jury of film industry professionals. The winning script will receive the BlackStar festival “greenlight” and will be read live at the festival by professional actors. Up to five finalists will be chosen to have their scripts read live at the festival in front of a panel of guest judges. The finalists will be responsible for casting and rehearsing actors selected to perform during the staged reading.
The BlackStar Film Festival (BlackStar), is a highly visible platform for independent black filmmakers and films about black people from around the world, providing genre-defying and beautifully crafted works to a diverse audience thirsty for fresh perspectives. The only event of its kind in Philadelphia—focusing on cinema of the African Diaspora—the four-day weekend festival provides an opportunity for filmmakers, patrons, and enthusiasts from all over the world to come together.
Acknowledging the diversity and complexity of identity within a diaspora that includes long-standing communities throughout North America, South America, Europe, and Africa (including its 54 countries), creates space for dialogue and opens the opportunity for a greater perspective of what it means to be black. The films presented by BlackStar comprise a dynamic and important collection—one that is unlike any other—because they highlight both independence and cultural community. Over all, the festival aims to provide a 360° view about art and its place in daily life, and celebrates the varied landscape of black life.
