Submissions are now open. The deadline is October 1.
In partnership with FotoKem, BlackStar will award one (1) Lodge Finishing Grant enabling a film director to utilize the lab services of FotoKem for post-production on a short film (valued at US $12,000). The awarded project should be no longer than 30 minutes. The recipient(s) of the Lodge Finishing Grant will be given 12 months after notification to complete their films (which will expire on or before November 18, 2027).
Program Overview
The BlackStar x FotoKem Short Film Contest is a one-time services award that supports filmmakers of color in North America and its territories working on a short narrative project. The Short Film Contest provides filmmakers with a package of post-production services valued at $12,000. Details about services from FotoKem can be found below.
The Short Film Contest will only accept projects that are in the post-production stage; films should be picture-locked or almost picture-locked. There will be one winner.
Competitive projects will be films under 30 minutes that challenge form and are well-executed. All genres of narrative—comedy, romantic comedy, horror, speculative fiction, science fiction, experimental, and others—are eligible for the contest.
Applications close October 1, 2026 at 11:59PM ET.
Key Information
To be eligible, projects must be directed by a filmmaker of color in the US, Canada, or territories. The project must have principal photography completed and ready for post-production; it should be picture-locked or almost picture-locked. A rough (or better) cut no longer than 30 minutes will be required to apply. Trailers will not be considered. Projects intended as pilot episodes for serial work should not be submitted.
While a producer, cinematographer and/or editor can be the applicant, the FotoKem Short Film Award will be granted to the director of the film. The award does not provide funds for travel.
- Co-directors may participate if they meet all eligibility requirements. If you’re applying with your co-director, please indicate that in your application. We cannot accept more than 2 directors per project.
- This program is intended for filmmakers of color based in the United States (including Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, U.S. Samoa, and Guam/Northern Mariana Islands) and Canada.
- The project must be a short narrative under 30 minutes; the contest will not accept feature films, series, or documentary projects.
- The film must be a work-in-progress at the post-production stage, preferably picture-locked. Completed films, or films in development, production, or pre-production, are not eligible.
- Filmmakers are not eligible if they are currently enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate program related to film, visual art, communications, creative writing, or media, broadly.
- Full-time employees of BlackStar or members of its board of directors are ineligible to apply.
- Filmmakers must hold the majority of the intellectual property of the film.
- Thursday, September 3, 2026 – Application Open Call Begins (Apply via Formstack)
- Thursday October 1, 2026 - Application Open Call Ends (the Formstack application will automatically close at 11:59 PM ET on October 1. No late submissions accepted.)
- October 2026 - Application Review & Panel Deliberation
- November 18, 2026 - Finalist Announcement
Selection Process
Award recipient(s) will be chosen in a two stage process, first by an internal review panel and then by a panel of guest judges selected by BlackStar.
About FotoKem
Since its founding in 1963, FotoKem has evolved from a small motion picture lab to an artist-centered pioneer in the use of new technologies, working with the film industry’s best and brightest. With over six decades of innovation and collaboration with the world’s most talented filmmakers, they are recognized as a hub and a home base for auteur directors, visionary studios, cinematographers, craftspersons, and experimentalists to try new things and push the creative art of filmmaking forward. Recent projects serviced by FotoKem include: Sinners, One Battle After Another, Hail Mary, The Last Showgirl, A Complete Unknown, Anora, Dune: Part Two, American Fiction.
About BlackStar
BlackStar Projects, founded in 2012 by Maori Karmael Holmes as BlackStar Film Festival, creates the spaces and resources needed to uplift the work of Black, Brown and Indigenous artists working outside the confines of genre. Beyond the annual film festival the organization produces year-round programs, including film screenings, exhibitions, a filmmaker seminar, a film production lab and a journal of film, art and visual culture.
These programs provide artists opportunities for viable strategies for collaborations with other artists, audiences, funders and distributors. BlackStar is working towards a liberatory world in which a vast spectrum of Black, Brown and Indigenous experiences is irresistibly celebrated in arts and culture.