Spotlight Conversation: Scene Not Heard

Spotlight Conversation: Scene Not Heard

With Dyana Williams, Maori Karmael Holmes, Mercedes “Merce” Martinez and Tina Morton; moderated by Deesha Dyer.

Seven years before founding BlackStar, Maori Karmael Holmes directed the documentary Scene Not Heard: Women in Philadelphia Hip Hop, which examines the place of women in the city’s hip hop scene in the early aughts and documents the artists, promoters and journalists who made their voices known. The film journeyed to more than 40 festivals in 2006 and 2007, which inspired Holmes to create Black Lily Film & Music Festival (2007-08) and set her on the path to becoming a film programmer and curator. By 2012, she launched BlackStar, for which several of the relationships forged during the production and distribution of Scene Not Heard proved instrumental. This conversation examines the production of Scene Not Heard and celebrates the places (and some of the faces) of a beloved era.