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Joiri Minaya: Venus Flytrap May 29 – June 29

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A still from Assembly shows a group of Black and Brown people, they are smiling and laughing, their arms are raised in celebration.
Screening

Assembly @ cinéSPEAK Under the Stars

We are partnering with cinéSPEAK for the Philadelphia premiere of Rashaad Newsome and Johnny Symons’ Assembly

A photo taken over the shoulder of an artists with brown curly hair painting a canvas while holding a cup of bright green paint.
Exhibition

Joiri Minaya: Venus Flytrap

A new performance series and installation from artist Joiri Minaya, curated by Dessane Lopez Cassell.

A photo of a crowd watching a film, masks on, at BlackStar Film Festival inside the Kimmel Center.
Festival

BlackStar Film Festival 2025

Our annual celebration of the visual and storytelling traditions of the global majority. This year's festival will be in-person in Philadelphia and online around the world.

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RSVP
Conversation

The Will to Dream: Seen Issue 008 Reading + Conversation

On Saturday, May 24, Seen contributor Imran Siddiquee will do a reading of their new essay, published in issue 008 of the journal, "The Will to Dream: Patriarchy and the limits of our cinematic imagination," followed by a moderated conversation.

RSVP
A photo of an empty gallery space where a film is showing. In the film an outstretched hand is showing a sewn object, which appears to be a flower.
Party

Seen Issue 008 Launch w/ Sky Hopinka

Please join us for an intimate conversation between this issue's guest editor, artist and filmmaker Sky Hopinka, and founding editor Maori Karmael Holmes. They will discuss Hopinka's influences, including some of the films that shaped his point of view

Sold Out
A photo of a group of people sitting together, one is looking at a journal and reading from it to the ground. There others appear to be listening intently.
Seminar

William and Louise Greaves Filmmaker Seminar 2025

A seminar for Black, Brown, and Indigenous artists working in cinematic realms, hosted by BlackStar. Registration open now.

A still from The Dawn shows an arid field. There are three young Black boys standing together, their bodies folded into one another as if they are one. Their eyes are white.
Screening

BlackStar Selects

This special program, focusing on altered states, the occult, liminal worlds and liminal beings.

A still from On Becoming A Guinea Fowl shows a woman wearing a futuristic silver cap and sunglasses. She is sitting in a car.
Screening

On Becoming A Guinea Fowl Special Screening

On an empty road in the middle of the night, Shula stumbles across the body of her uncle. As funeral proceedings begin around them, she and her cousins bring to light the buried secrets of their middle-class Zambian family, in filmmaker Rungano Nyoni’s surreal and vibrant reckoning with the lies we tell ourselves.

A photo of a theater filled with beautiful Black and Brown people.
Film Series

Love + Time Film Series

BlackStar-curated screenings co-presented with the Barnes Foundation and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, taking place across both venues this fall and winter.

A still from Allumuah shows a Black man dressed in all white standing still, around her are children all with their hands raised in the sky.
Screening

Lose Your Mother: Shorts

An evening of short films exploring ancestral connections through time and space at the ICA Boston.

Gala

2024 Luminary Gala

BlackStar's annual benefit honoring luminaries in global arts and culture.

A film still shows a chjild crouched inside a cave
Screening

Palestine Cinema Days: Infiltrators (2012)

The checkpoint is closed: “Detour, detour!” shouts a taxi driver, announcing the beginning of yet another uncertain search for a way around the barriers curtailing Palestinian movement in the West Bank.

A black-and-white image of Ja'Tovia Gary. She is looking straight ahead at the camera, half of her face is obscured by a wall of some sort. Photo by Gioncarlo Valentine.
Party

Naked Acts Now: Seen Issue 007 Launch w/ Ja’Tovia Gary & Bridgett M. Davis

Celebrate the launch of our latest issue with guest editor Ja’Tovia Gary, lite bites, music and dancing.