Philadelphia's BlackStar Film Festival is returning from August 6 to 9, 2026, with a program that brings together 91 films from more than 40 countries, alongside online access for audiences worldwide. Organized by BlackStar Projects, the festival continues its focus on independent cinema by and for the global majority.
This year's lineup opens with Taylor Hosking's West Side Familia, a world premiere centered on a Puerto Rican biker crew and neighborhood elders working to protect culture and memory on Manhattan's Upper West Side. The closing night selection is Haile Gerima's Black Lions--Roman Wolves, a five-part epic that revisits Ethiopian resistance through history, culture, and collective identity.
Other highlights include Dammy Twitch's Call of My Life, which follows a call center worker whose life shifts after an unexpected connection; Sanaz Sohrabi's An Incomplete Calendar, built from archives and songs that trace liberation movements; Fahamu Pecou's The Store, a visionary story set inside a bodega that opens into an alternate reality; and Miryam Charles' Treasure Island, a coming-of-age film shaped by questions of heritage and belonging.
The festival will also host conversations and screenings with artists and filmmakers including Sky Hopinka, Michèle Stephenson, Cybil St. Aude-Tate, Felicia Pride, and Alile Sharon Larkin, whose restored 1982 film A Different Image will screen in 4K. As BlackStar celebrates 15 years, its 2026 edition reinforces cinema as a space for dialogue, memory, and creative possibility. In the years ahead, festivals like this may help define a more inclusive future for global storytelling.