In “BlackStar Festival Returns With 92 Films From Around the World,” Maya Pontone (Hyperallergic) reports on this year’s highlights at the film festival. Pontone explains that with 92 productions this year, BlackStar “celebrates independent cinema by Black, Brown, and Indigenous filmmakers and media artists from around the world.” It runs from Thursday, July 31, through Sunday, August 3, 2025.
Pontone writes, “BlackStar will also feature a variety of narrative films like Johanné Gómez Terrero’s feature-length Sugar Island (2024), which follows the story of an unwanted pregnancy that thrusts Dominican-Haitian teenager Makenya into the harsh realities of adulthood.” Sugar Island is one of the three nominees for Best Feature Narrative at the festival and will be screened on July 31st. Gómez Terrero, from the Dominican Republic, is a graduate of the International Film and Television School of San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba, and the Film and Audiovisual School of Catalonia.
Other films with Caribbean links are the feature narrative Love, Brooklyn, directed by Rachael Abigail Holder, a Guyanese American playwright and filmmaker from New York, and Maxime Jean-Baptiste’s feature documentary Kouté vwaI [Listen to the Voices]. Another feature documentary, Listen to Me, is co-directed by Haitian American filmmaker Stephanie Etienne.
Here are the synopses:
Kouté vwa (Listen to the Voices) July 31st 10:30 AM EDT (Suzanne Roberts Theatre) dir. by Maxime Jean-Baptiste
During his summer holidays in French Guiana, Melrick, a young boy, becomes aware of the reasons why his family has been destroyed by a tragic death.
Sugar Island July 31st 1:00 PM EDT (Suzanne Roberts Theatre) dir. by Johanne Gomez Terrero
Makenya, a Dominican-Haitian teenager, navigates an unwanted pregnancy and the harsh labor that defines her world.
Love, Brooklyn August 3rd 2:00 PM EDT(Perelman Theater @ Kimmel)dir. by Rachael Abigail Holder
Three longtime Brooklynites navigate careers, love, loss and friendship against the rapidly shifting landscape of their beloved city.
Listen to Me August 3rd 4:30 PM EDT (The Wilma Theater) dir. by Stephanie Etienne & Kanika Harris
The road to motherhood while navigating institutional racism takes three Black women on a journey from heartbreak to resistance, healing and joy. [. . .]
For more information, see https://www.blackstarfest.org/news/press/blackstar-projects-releases-full-schedule-of-programs-for-2025-film-festival/ and https://www.blackstarfest.org/festival/
For full article by M. Pontone, see https://hyperallergic.com/1029327/blackstar-festival-returns-with-92-films-from-around-the-world/
[Shown above: Stills from Johanné Gómez Terrero’s Sugar Island and Maxime Jean-Baptiste’s Kouté vwa]