Are we celebrating the Valentines of Tomorrow? Yes we are! No candy hearts or roses needed, we’re providing an alternative to show your love for unbound artists, storytellers and magic-makers in our community.  Jump into the unknown and join us for a completely unique, unexpected and deeply moving experiences this weekend. 

The Aunties
2023. Directed by Charlyn Griffith-Oro and Jeannine Kayembe-Oro. Runtime: 6 minutes.

The Aunties is based on the lives of Black farmers and culture keepers, Paulette Greene and Donna Dear. It also integrates the immense and incredible legacies of Harriet Tubman and Mt. Pleasant Acres Farms.

Freshwater
2022. Directed by dream hampton. Runtime: 10 minutes.

Freshwater is a portrait of remembrance, of flooded Midwestern basements and maintaining connection in the wake of ongoing displacement, abandonment and climate catastrophe. This film was meant to be small in every way–lingering shots that seem like photographs until the wind blows a leaf or a raindrop disturbs a puddle. Similarly the intentionally small production was meant to be healing. It was a retreat into a cadre of like-minded community of Detroit artists after doing work on three projects that were at major studios. I made Freshwater to remind myself I’m an artist, but also to reinforce the organizing principle about the power of small, local organizing.

The Wind Carries Us Home
2022. Directed by Udval Altangerel. Runtime: 11 minutes.

Through rituals of birth and death, the filmmaker and her family reconnect with their ancestral land in the Gobi Desert.

In Vitro
2020. Directed by Søren Lind and Larissa Sansour. Runtime: 28 minutes.

In Vitro is set in the aftermath of an eco-disaster. An abandoned nuclear reactor under the biblical town of Bethlehem has been converted into an enormous orchard. Using heirloom seeds collected in the final days before the apocalypse, a group of scientists are preparing to replant the soil above.

BlackStar
BlackStar creates the spaces and resources needed to uplift the work of Black, Brown and Indigenous artists working outside of the confines of genre. We do this 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. These programs provide artists opportunities for viable strategies for collaborations with other artists, audiences, funders, and distributors.