2027 BlackStar Greaves Seminar
The BlackStar Greaves Seminar is a gathering for Black, Brown, and Indigenous artists working in cinematic realms. The Seminar will take place March 5-7, 2027 at Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA.
Over the course of three days, attendees will explore the technical and creative aspects of media-making, connect with one another, and take part in a thoughtful and intimate exchange of ideas. The Seminar is an opportunity for artists, scholars, and filmmakers to center their practice while being immersed in the natural beauty of northern California.
The Seminar is hosted in partnership with the Institute for Diversity in the Arts (IDA) at Stanford University.
Our 2027 call for proposals is now open. Curators, film programmers, filmmakers, film workers, and film scholars are invited to submit a proposal to present a session at the seminar. Learn more and submit by October 5.
General registration will open in November.
For questions, please contact seminar@blackstarfest.org.
Program
The Seminar is named after visionary filmmakers William and Louise Greaves, who together co-produced landmark documentaries such as Symbiopsychotaxiplasm and Ralph Bunche: An American Odyssey. Read more about the importance of William’s decades-long career, which included over 200 documentary films, here.
Participants can expect to explore the technical and creative aspects of media-making, while having honest conversations about the successes and pitfalls of their work. Our environment considers the intersection of cinema and visual arts, and is exclusively designed for people of color to focus and not manage the added burden of representation.
Seminar Archive
Look back at our programming for a glimpse of what to expect.
2026 Programs
This short film program centers L.A. Rebellion alum and legendary filmmaker Ben Caldwell and discusses his career beyond the narrow prism through which we have publicly understood his work.
Learn how to expand and queer impact by centering the needs of filmmakers, participants and/or actors throughout the life cycle of a film’s creation. The co-impact producers of Fire Through Dry Grass discuss disability justice and the care roots of this practice.
Drawing from dream practices and unconscious exploration, participants will be guided into a lucid, semi-dream state of mind. Participants are asked to bring still images or references that are part of the work you are trying to process. Through discussion and sharing, we will find the image that is central for you.
This workshop explores cinema as an interactive and living form using Revival!, a public space installation as a case study.
This panel investigates the strategies employed in post revolutionary Iranian cinema to resist the rigorous and unforgiving censorship apparatus imposed after the regime change.
Marking the 50th anniversary of the publication of James Baldwin's "The Devil Finds Work", this presentation examines the work as a foundational text in Black film criticism and queer spectatorship.
