The 2nd Annual BlackStar Film Festival Opens In Philadelphia

Yesterday's opening of The BlackStar Film Festival brought many compelling films to Philadelphia. Among them, Black Film Now addressed the current state of black film while Pull of Gravity brought to the forefront the issue of re-incarceration into the prison system.

"Black Film Now" Q&A Moderator Jos Duncan of BlackStar (Left)
& Mike Dennis of ReelBlack (Right)

I couldn't have thought of a better way to kick off the second installment of this festival than with the screening of Black Film Now.

In today's film industry there's limited opportunities for black filmmakers and actors, partly because there aren't enough of us at the corporate level of mainstream cinema to fund and approve these black films for production. So a lot of black filmmakers choose the independent route. We have to create our own stories, cast our own people, and distribute our films on our own if we want to see our people on screen more frequently.

Essentially, we do it all - film, edit, market, and distribute - for the sake of OUR stories.

"Pull of Gravity" Q&A Moderator Kamau Stanford (Left)
& Co-Directors Jon Kaufman (Middle) and El Sawyer (Right)

Pull of Gravity focuses on 3 men of color - Kev, Andy, and Co-Director El himself - who were previously incarcerated and their attempt to avoid re-entering the prison system. It's a common cycle in their environments to get a taste of the drug life, the selling life, get hooked, and the negativity just keeps pulling and pulling and pulling at you. Once arrested, 44% of ex-cons are re-arrested within one year. 67% will re-offend within three years. Follow along their journey as they try not to be yet another statistic. Another screening of Pull of Gravity is scheduled for September 25th at the International House of Philadelphia (37th and Chestnut Streets).

Rounding out the first day of the BlackStar Film Festival screenings was an open conversation about black male identity on film, Question Bridge: Black Males. Essentially what you have is a black man asking another black man a question which is then answered by other black males. As the audience laughed, cried, and cheered throughout this back-and-forth pop-up bridge-esq juxtaposition, this project fostered a dialogue between the black men on screen. Question Bridge is one of the many profound films of the festival that I recommend every person in the black community to see. This film should inspire other groups within our community to have this same kind of open dialogue. And I believe film is one of the effective vessels to do so.

Co-Directors Hank Willis Thomas (Far Left) and Bayete Ross Smith (Middle Left), Producer Nicole Fisher (Middle Right), & "Question Bridge: Black Males" and "From Man to Man" Q&A Moderator (Far Right)

During the Q&A, I learned that the filmmakers and artists are working on a more interactive web component to the project. I am looking forward to all of the possible future counterparts to Question Bridge: Black Males.

Not only were the editing and photographic pop-up style of the film superb and appropriate, but the knowledge was profound. One man in particular said something especially enlightening that hit home for many people in the audience, as I could tell from all the affirming "hmmmm's and uh-hun's." He said, "The one who knows how will always have a job, [but] the one who knows why will be the boss."

Then it hit me, there I was, attending my first film festival ever, sitting amongst these incredible independent filmmakers and film lovers. We weren't there to necessarily learn how to create films - although some can offer advice on this. We were there to ask that question of why. Why film? Why black film? Why do filmmakers create these films and why does the audience come out?

I'd like to expand on these questions and their various answers in a later post, but ultimately, it comes down to this: if no one else will paint our picture, we have to put the brush and canvas to use ourselves.