2026 Edition of BlackStar Film Festival Celebrates 15 Years

BlackStar Projects celebrated its 15th annual film festival this past weekend and is proud to announce the jury and audience award winners.

The 2026 edition of the festival continued to break ground and push boundaries by spotlighting genre-defying films and hosting critically incisive conversations with an expansive community of filmmakers, artists, panelists and festival goers, all of whom met the moment with enthusiasm as this year’s festival welcomed thousands of attendees and record-breaking sales, including sold out screenings of Meriem Bennani and Orian Barki’s Bouchra, Maya Annik Bedward’s Black Zombie, as well as the shorts programs Scene Not Heard & Shorts and Chile, Please!

From the 91 films screened, juried awards for Best Feature Documentary were given to Zenón and the Rebel Boats, directed by Juan C. Dávila Santiago; for Best Feature Narrative to Variations on a Theme directed by Jason Jacobs and Devon Delmar; for Best Experimental film to An Impossible Address directed by Suneil Sanzgiri; for Best Short Documentary to Authors of the Estate, directed by Abdou Cissé and for Best Short Narrative to Treasure Island, directed by Miryam Charles. The Philadelphia Filmmaker Award was given to The Seeds We Carry, directed by Gabrielle Patterson.

BlackStar also invited its audience to select awards in Favorite Feature Narrative (Call of My Life), Favorite Feature Documentary (Scene Not Heard: Women in Philadelphia Hip Hop), Favorite Short Narrative (When They’re Gone), Favorite Short Documentary (The Seeds We Carry) and Favorite Experimental (Tenants of Lenapehocking in the Age of Magnets) categories. The Shine Member Award for First Time Filmmakers was given to One More Show. More information on the award winning films from all categories is below.

A special collection of the award-winning films will be made available to watch virtually for the next 48 hours here.

The BlackStar panel series saw audiences overflow from The Daily Jawn Stage co-sponsored by NEON and Eventive, with panelists and moderators engaging in lively conversation, inviting global perspectives and challenging dialogues on various topics, including a spotlight conversation previewing the upcoming A Different World reboot with showrunner Felicia Pride, actor Jordan Aaron Hall and director of photography Shawn Peters.

Notable guests and speakers at this year’s festival included Cybille St.Aude-Tate, Dyana Williams, Fahamu Pecou, Haile Gerima, Julie Dash, Michèle Stephenson, Noura Erakat, Rodney Evans, Sarah J. Jackson, Set Hernandez, Suneil Sanzgiri, Tananarive Due, Tshay Meade, Yoruba Richen and Yvonne Michelle Shirley.

Beyond film, the festival’s activation of the city provided opportunities for artists, filmmakers and film enthusiasts to engage at sold out parties and events throughout the weekend. BlackStar is committed to furthering this international communal experience as it looks ahead to next year’s film festival, which will take place from August 5-8, 2027.

Jury Awards

Best Feature Documentary

Zenón and the Rebel Boats, directed by Juan C. Dávila Santiago

Jury Note: The winner of the best feature documentary award is a well crafted and researched, engaging and instructive film. The relationship and trust with the family and organizers were evident. This film brings the hope and optimism we badly need right now, it is a testament to power of grassroots organizing

Honorable Mention: Finding Your Laughter, directed by Arlieta Hall and Brittany Alsot

Short Narrative

Treasure Island, directed by Miryam Charles

Jury Note: The jury awards a short narrative film whose stakes are high yet manages to maintain lightness throughout. It demonstrates directorial prowess with adventurous world-building. The jury was struck by the filmmaker’s clear vision and technical ability to hold together all the richness in detail and tone to create such a classic piece of cinema.

Honorable Mention: Tell Me When You Get Home, directed by Tshay Meade

Experimental Film

An Impossible Address, directed by Suneil Sanzgiri

Jury Note: The Experimental Jury awards this film for transforming a complex constellation of anti-colonial histories, archival materials and personal address into a remarkably coherent cinematic experience. Its careful pacing, rich visual language and inventive interplay of image, text and material process create a formally ambitious work that reimagines how histories of struggle and solidarity can be experienced through cinema.

Feature Narrative

Variations on a Theme, directed by Jason Jacobs and Devon Delmar

Jury Note: The award-winning film captures a larger history and critique through the story of a single community. The filmmakers never lose us, even as they ask us to inhabit each being, including the animals in the film. Through a warm yet whimsical narration and spellbinding cinematography, the film quilts a portrait that deftly blurs the line between fiction and documentary.

Short Documentary

Authors of the Estate, directed by Abdou Cissé

Jury Note: This film seamlessly weaves a multifaceted cinematic lexicon to create a portrait of community while documenting its process of self-determination and empowerment. It is an emotional, vital story that reminds us that we can make contributions to our own destinies.

Philadelphia Filmmaker Award

The Seeds We Carry, directed by Gabrielle Patterson

Jury Note: The winning film is a visually beautiful, deeply moving film that celebrates a diverse community in Philadelphia that is enriched by immigrants and refugees who connect to land and cultivate community care and belonging. It captures the heart and spirit of Philly and inspires audiences to invest in their neighborhoods, build community and stand against displacement.

Audience Awards

Favorite Feature Narrative

Call of My Life, directed by Dammy Twitch

Favorite Feature Documentary

Scene Not Heard: Women in Philadelphia Hip Hop, directed by Maori Karmael Holmes

Favorite Short Narrative

When They’re Gone, directed by Ragan Henderson and Lauryn Darden

Favorite Short Documentary

The Seeds We Carry, directed by Gabrielle Patterson

Favorite Experimental

Tenants of Lenapehocking in the Age of Magnets, directed by Louis Massiah

Shine Member Award for First Time Filmmakers

One More Show, directed by Mai Saad and Ahmed Al Danaf

This year’s festival is presented with major support from the Open Society Foundations. Other sponsors include Knight Foundation, Eventive, FotoKem, Visit Philly, Hyperallergic, NEON, Netflix, PECO, an Exelon Company, Color Congress, Firelight Media, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pillars Fund, Impact Partners, University of Pennsylvania Department of Cinema & Media Studies and The Gotham Film & Media Institute. Additional supporters include Critical Minded, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, City of Philadelphia and Councilmember At-Large Isaiah Thomas, Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development secured by State Senator Nikil Saval, and State Representative Rick Krajewski, 188th District.

BlackStar Projects and its year-round programs are generously supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, Critical Minded, Color Congress, Department of Community and Economic Development, Ford Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Mellon Foundation, People’s Media Fund, Perspective Fund, Ruth Foundation for the Arts, Surdna Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Wallace Foundation, William Penn Foundation and Wyncote Foundation in addition to its board of directors, community partners and a host of generous individual donors and organizations.

About BlackStar Projects

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.