The BlackStar Film Festival returns next month for its 15th anniversary, bringing with it a space to celebrate Black, Brown, and Indigenous visual storytelling once again.

Since its founding, BlackStar has cultivated festivals where cinema and community intersect with stories from across the African diaspora and Indigenous communities worldwide. This year’s festival continues that tradition with 91 films from more than 30 countries, alongside conversations, performances, and public gatherings throughout the city.

“For 15 years, BlackStar has endeavored to bring both new films and a small selection of repertory ones to Philadelphia that not only meet the moment we are in, but deepen our collective understanding of it,” says festival director Nehad Khader. “With this festival lineup, we have continued that tradition.

“Among the festival’s most compelling offerings is a collection of films rooted in Philadelphia, each exploring the city’s cultural legacy through music, history, mentorship, and community. Together, these works reveal the people, traditions, and movements that have shaped Philadelphia’s identity while preserving stories that have too often gone untold.”

Leading the lineup is ‘Scene Not Heard: Women in Philadelphia Hip Hop’, the directorial debut of BlackStar founder Maori Karmael Holmes. Through interviews with artists, writers, dancers, promoters, and cultural leaders, Holmes shines a light on the women who helped define the city’s hip hop scene in the film. Music also takes center stage with ‘Philly Rumba’, a documentary that examines how local musicians transformed rumba in the city, which will be making its world premiere at the festival.

Several films also take a look at Philly’s history, like ‘Tenants of Lenapehicking in the Ages of Magnets’, which offers a look at North Philadelphia within the ancestral homeland of the Lenape between the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers and ‘The Philadelphia Sensei: Lovett Hines’, which highlights Hines’  impact on Philadelphia’s creative community and the countless careers shaped by his guidance.

BlackStar will also feature ‘The Seeds We Carry’, which follows Southwest Philadelphia community farm stewards as they cultivate food, preserve cultural traditions, and foster belonging amid gentrification and displacement.

As BlackStar says, this local programming serves as both a tribute to Philadelphia’s creative spirit and a reminder that some of its most powerful stories are still waiting to be discovered.

“Since our first festival in 2012, BlackStar has blossomed into a complex, challenging and ever-changing celebration of filmmaking and its power to connect us,” notes Karmael Holmes. “We continue to provide a vital and urgent gathering for filmmakers and cinephiles of the global majority, just as we chart new directions forward for the medium, and for all those who are critically engaged with the times in which we live.”

Beyond its film lineup, BlackStar will once again host The Daily Jawn, its live morning show featuring conversations with filmmakers, festival programmers and special guests. The festival will also offer a series of panels exploring film, culture and social issues with various artists, scholars and industry leaders. This year’s speakers include Julie Dash, Haile Gerima, Tananarive Due, Rodney Evans, Annemarie Jacir, Noura Erakat, Sky Hopinka and Yoruba Richen, among others.

Attendees can also take part in a range of community events throughout the weekend, including an opening night party, a Friday concert and celebration, an industry mixer, a closing night party and complimentary morning yoga sessions at the Kimmel Center.

Tickets for this year’s BlackStar Film Festival are available through a range of pass options, including a $375 all-access pass covering every in-person and virtual event, a $175 virtual pass and discounted five-ticket bundles for in-person ($85) or virtual ($35) screenings. Individual screening tickets and RSVPs for panels, parties and other special events can also be reserved.

To find out more information on the 2026 BlackStar Film Festival, visit blackstarprojects.org/festival

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Keywords

BlackStar Film Festival,

Philadelphia,

Scene Not Heard,

Philly Rumba,

Nehad Khader