EXCLUSIVE: The BlackStar Film Festival returns in August, for its 15th edition, and it will do so with a new look. 

Maori Karmael Holmes, the festival’s founder, and her team have partnered with the blue-chip New York design firm Pacific to reimagine the event’s visual identity. The festival and its parent organization, BlackStar Projects, can now be found under a new label designed by Pacific. 

“It felt like time to present a fresh identity,” Holmes told Deadline of the organization’s rebrand a few weeks before today’s launch. 

“The last time we had a rebrand was in 2019, when I reached out to Hassan Rahim upon the recommendation of Khalil Joseph because he had done the identity for the Underground Museum. But what we couldn’t afford in 2019 was a full identity.”

Holmes launched BlackStar in 2012 in Philadelphia, her adopted home, as a yearly showcase of moving image work created by Black, Brown, and Indigenous artists. The BlackStar brand now also includes Seen, a biannual art journal. There’s also Blackstar’s Filmmaker Seminar, a three-day symposium held annually at Stanford, and the Luminary Gala, a fundraising event and awards ceremony. Autumn Durald Arkapaw and Robert Townsend were among last year’s honorary Luminary guests. 

“What we found over the years is that people would pick up Seen and not know Blackstar produced it,” Holmes explained. “We’re now trying to establish some shared identity. A cohesive brand.” 

This year’s BlackStar Film Festival will run from August 6 to 9. The event’s 15th edition coincides with two other anniversaries that will have a sizeable presence in the city of Philadelphia this summer: the centenary of hometown hero John Coltrane and the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

“When we turned 10, we did a big project with a print sale and custom merch,” Holmes said of the anniversary. “But with all the economic and political things that have been happening, we’ve been a little less celebratory. But this is a big deal. I’ve never done anything this long in my life. I’ve never lived anywhere this long.” 

To celebrate Coltrane, BlackStar has partnered with ArtPhilly, FringeArts, and composer Anthony Tidd to screen two feature films, The Queen of My Dreams and Mother of George, alongside live performances of Coltrane’s music. For USA 250, Holmes has co-curated an exhibition at the Barnes Foundation featuring works by Arthur Jafa, David Hartt, Garrett Bradley, Ja’Tovia Gary, and Tourmaline.

2026 also marks the 20th anniversary of the release of Scene Not Heard: Women in Philadelphia Hip Hop, the first feature film directed by Holmes. Best known as a curator and BlackStar founder, Holmes is also a filmmaker and directed Making Scene, a free-flowing, verite documentary about the overlooked contributions of women to Philadelphia’s hip-hop scene, straight out of grad school. 

“I got out of grad school and took it on the road,” Holmes explained. “I went to over 40 festivals, and I had such a beautiful experience, so I decided to start a festival. Fast forward, and that’s how Blackstar started.” 

Holmes described Scene Not Heard, which was distributed by Seventh Art Releasing at the time, as a “love letter to and of archive Philly”.

“It talks about women in Philadelphia’s hip hop scene, and one of the approaches I took was to talk not only to artists but also promoters and journalists and folks who, from my perspective, made the hip hop scene,” Holmes said. “I shot the film between 2003 and 2005, so much of what’s in the film no longer exists.”

The film will screen in the repertory section this year at BlackStar. The full festival lineup will be announced in the coming weeks. Film curator and writer Nehad Khader is Festival Director at BlackStar and leads programming. BlackStar Projects underwent a restructuring period earlier this year. 15 full-time staffers now work across the organization’s various projects. 

“Our budget’s a little tighter, and we’re tightening the programs,” Holmes said. “We’ve really focused on the festival, Seen, the seminar, and the curatorial projects we do year-round.”

The organization has also relocated its offices to a new purpose-built space on Broad Street in Philadelphia.

“We’re now sitting right next to all of our theaters, which is really awesome. And we’re in Center City, so that part is really cool,” Holmes said. 

“We’re still growing. We’re just always trying to make sure what we’re doing is not taking our audience or the artists for granted, and this project remains resonant.”