Rewind: BGDM at BlackStar 2025

This August, BGDM staff traveled to Philadelphia, Lenni-Lenape land, for the 14th annual BlackStar Film Festival, a gathering that felt less like a festival and more like a homecoming. From the moment we drove into the city and saw Broad Street lined with BlackStar banners and the bold Cinema for Liberation billboard, to the packed screenings, mixers, and late-night dance floors, it was clear: this was a space to recharge, built for us, by artists, filmmakers, and community.

This year’s festival screened 93 films, including 10 documentary shorts and 8 feature-length documentaries created with BGDM member support. Many went on to be honored: TCB – The Toni Cade Bambara School of Organizing won Best Feature Documentary, Correct Me If I’m Wrong (如你所愿) by BGDM member Hao Zhou won Best Short Documentary, and Talking Walls, with animation work by BGDM member Yashaswi Dixit, earned the Philadelphia Filmmaker Award. Each of these wins felt deeply personal, a reflection of the brilliance and tenacity of our community.

BGDM showed up in full force, including our Founder & Co-Executive Director, Iyabo Boyd, alongside our Sustainable Artist Fellows: Thien Dinh, Sara Husain Chishti, and Caron Creighton. These fellows are each working on impact-driven films that center activism, resistance, and cultural transformation.

Given BlackStar’s history of creating spaces and resources to uplift the work of Black, Brown, and Indigenous artists working outside traditional boundaries, this was a perfect starting point for our fellows to connect with other filmmakers, funders, and distributors, and to be reminded that liberation work is always rooted in history, land, and culture.

Spotlight on the Pitch

One of the most powerful moments for our team came on opening day with BlackStar Pitch, a one-of-a-kind opportunity for filmmakers to share nonfiction projects with funders, executives, and producers.

We were especially proud to witness our fellow Sara Husain Chishti and collaborator Anurima Bhargava pitch The Driver’s Inheritance, a documentary about New York City’s immigrant taxi drivers fighting to reclaim their humanity and the American Dream.

It was inspiring to watch all of the projects, stories of love, community power, remembrance, ancestors, and new visions of life. Congratulations to all the BGDM members who pitched: Resita Cox (Wahnish Keeps Me Free), Leila Abu-saada (Untitled Housing Film), Krystal Tingle (Sunshine and Sandy), Imani Dennison and Anjanette Levert (Gospel Be the Glory, In My Grandmother’s Kitchen), and Sonia Desai Rayka (Untitled Camera Workshop Film).

Each pitch felt like a reminder of why BGDM exists: to nurture, amplify, and invest in the creative power of our community.

Stories That Move Us

The screenings left us buzzing long after the credits rolled.

TCB – The Toni Cade Bambara School of Organizing was a standout, weaving together archival footage and firsthand accounts to honor Bambara’s legacy as a writer, filmmaker, and activist who saw art as a tool for collective liberation.

Another unforgettable moment was Teaching America, directed by BGDM member Anurima Bhargava and executive produced by BGDM member Alisa Payne. The film, full of laughter and hope, highlighted students in Arkansas carrying forward the spirit of the Little Rock Nine. During the Q&A, the audience erupted in cheers for the students, sending waves of energy through the auditorium. Iyabo, in full proud stage-mom mode, captured it all from the front row.

These stories reminded us that our community’s work isn’t only about documenting the world as it is, it’s also about dreaming and building the world as it could be.

Community Beyond the Screen

As much as BlackStar is about the films, it’s also about the spaces created to learn, connect, and imagine.

At the opening night party at Cherry Street Pier, BGDM members shared in collective joy on the dance floor. We also caught up with BGDM member Anula Shetty, who introduced us to Places of Power, a series of projects by The Termite Collective. One of these, Villa Africana Colobo Garden, honors the legacy of Puerto Rican women activists who transformed vacant lots into thriving community spaces for culture, resistance, and pride.

Together with Be Reel Cinema Club, BGDM hosted a mixer after the screening of Seeds at The Rex at the Royal. The evening was filled with laughter, new friendships, and stories of how members first discovered BGDM. Over shared plates, members reflected on their favorite festival films, exchanged ideas, and planted seeds for future collaborations.

And of course, there were the smaller but powerful moments: morning yoga on Day 3, conversations over coffee between screenings, and intimate meetings with partners like A-Doc, MacArthur Foundation, and Color Congress, who offered guidance around funding, pitching, and holding onto our why.

Carrying the Spirit Forward

BlackStar 2025 was more than a film festival. It was a convergence of creativity, resistance, and joy, a reminder that cinema itself can be a practice of liberation. The theme of Cinema for Liberation echoed BGDM’s own vision: to use documentaries to disrupt.

We left Philadelphia invigorated, grateful, and grounded in community. BlackStar reminded us why we tell stories, who we tell them for, and how much we need each other along the way.

We’ll be carrying this energy into our work and our 10th anniversary celebrations, and we hope to see even more of you on Broad Street, August 6–9, 2026.