BlackStar creates the spaces and resources needed to uplift the work of Black, Brown and Indigenous artists working outside of the confines of genre. By producing year-round programs including film screenings, exhibitions, an annual film festival, a filmmaker seminar, a film production lab, and a journal of visual culture, BlackStar accomplishes this, providing artists opportunities for viable strategies for collaborations with other artists, audiences, funders, and distributors.

BlackStar prioritizes visionary work that is experimental in its aesthetics, content, and form and builds on the work of elders and ancestors to imagine a new world. They elevate artists who are overlooked, invisibilized or misunderstood and celebrate the wide spectrum of aesthetics, storytelling and experiences that they bring. Working with new audiences as well as placing in dialog with other past and contemporary work, BlackStar curates every aspect of our events to be intentional community building efforts, connecting diverse audiences in a Black-led space centered on joy and thriving.

The 2026 edition of the festival continues to break ground and push boundaries by spotlighting 91 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!