Maori Karmael Holmes

Shortly before the HFPA partnered with the Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival, a Film Festival celebrating Black, Brown, and Indigenous artists was getting a great reception in Philadelphia. The Blackstar Film Festival, affectionally known as Philadelphia’s ‘Black Sundance,’ was founded in 2012 by filmmaker and writer Maori Karmael Holmes to showcase the work of filmmakers of color.

As the CEO and Artistic Director of BlackStar Projects which she founded in 2012, Maori Karmael Holmes is doing her part to ensure diversity in representation becomes an unremarkable reality in all roles of the industry. A writer, curator, and filmmaker, Holmes started the BlackStar Projects in 2012 after noticing a lack of venues for groundbreaking, independent work by Black filmmakers.