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Films from IDA Members at 2024 BlackStar Film Festival

By Catalina Combs

A graphic with a black background, tan text that says “BlackStar Film Festival. August 1st–4th”, and chartreuse and lilac bubble text that says “BSFF2024”. There is a seafoam green “B” stamp logo in the top right corner and small line of text on the top and bottom of the graphic, imitating the edges of a film reel, that repeats “BlackStar Film Festival 2024. August 1st–4th.”

A graphic with a black background, tan text that says “BlackStar Film Festival. August 1st–4th”, and chartreuse and lilac bubble text that says “BSFF2024”. There is a seafoam green “B” stamp logo in the top right corner and small line of text on the top and bottom of the graphic, imitating the edges of a film reel, that repeats “BlackStar Film Festival 2024. August 1st–4th.”

The global IDA membership includes professionals from diverse roles within the non-fiction field. We are documentary workers, professionals, thought leaders, and innovators from around the world, united by our passion for the non-fiction form. We celebrate the work of our members during the festival season and every day!

With the upcoming BlackStar Film Festival, we are excited to celebrate our members who have films in the festival as directors, writers, producers, and in various other roles.

Our team gathered the list below; however, if you are an IDA member participating in this year’s BlackStar Film Festival and your work is not listed below, please contact memberships@documentary.org.

 

Features

A film still from Bring Them Home that shows a buffalo back lit by the golden sun in a green grass field with two other buffalo in the background.

 

Bring Them Home

Feature Documentary

IDA Member: Ivy MacDonald & Ivan MacDonald, Co-Directors

Bring Them Home tells the story of a small group of Blackfoot people and their mission to establish the first wild buffalo herd on their ancestral territory since the species’ near-extinction a century ago, an act that would restore the land, re-enliven traditional culture and bring much-needed healing to their community. Learn more about the film here.

A film still from Our Land, Our Freedom that shows an elderly Black woman surrounded by several microphones, her face a picture of determination as she is mid-sentence. She wears a purple hat, and beside her are two women in red vests, also holding microphones. Behind them, is a large group of Black individuals, some standing and others sitting, focusing intently on the elderly woman as she speaks.

 

Our Land, Our Freedom

Feature Documentary

IDA Member: Meena Nanji & Zippy Kimundu, Co-Directors

Our Land, Our Freedom tells the story of two extraordinary Kenyan women — a mother and daughter, Mukami and Wanjugu Kimathi. Mukami was a freedom fighter in Kenya’s 1950s independence movement, and was married to its iconic leader, Dedan Kimathi. He was hanged by the British in 1957, his body disposed of anonymously. Since then, Mukami has been searching for Kimathi’s remains, and is joined by her daughter Wanjugu. Along her journey, Wanjugu learns of a buried history of colonial brutality, including concentration camps and the vast theft of land that left hundreds of thousands of Kenyans destitute. Learn more about the film here. 

A film still from Rising Up At Night that shows a disheveled rural African neighborhood in the dawn light. There are several little shops and people wearing traditional attire conducting errands, crossing over the wet dirt and trash littered roads.

 

Rising Up at Night (Tongo Saa)

Feature Documentary

IDA Member: Nelson Makengo, Director

Kinshasa and its inhabitants are in darkness. They wait and struggle to get access to light. Between hope, disappointment, and religious faith, Rising Up at Night is a subtle and fragmented portrait of a population that, despite the challenges, is sublimated by the beauty of Kinshasa’s nights. Learn more about the film here. 

A film still from The Strike that shows the long bleak corridors of a prison.

 

The Strike

Feature Documentary

IDA Member: JoeBill Muñoz & Lucas Guilkey, Co-Directors

The Strike is a feature documentary that tells the story of a generation of California men who endured decades of solitary confinement and, against all odds, launched the largest hunger strike in U.S. history. Learn more about the film here. 

Shorts

A film still from Black Ag that shows a burnt orange dusty background, with only a tractor visible plowing through the orange fog. There is text that reads “BLACK AG” all in capital letters.

 

Black Ag

Short Documentary

IDA Member: Andy Sarjahani, Director

A Black scientist brings together local Black farmers to combat the effects of climate change and create opportunities in Black agriculture for new generations in the Arkansas Delta. Produced with Reel South and the National Multicultural Alliance. Learn more about the film here. 

A film still from Expanding Sanctuary that shows a Latina woman wearing a white wedding gown and a Latino man wearing a black suit posing with blank expressions in front of Philadelphia City Hall holding posters that read "Abolish ICE" and "Expand Sanctuary, End PARS".

 

Expanding Sanctuary

Short Documentary

IDA Member: Kristal Sotomayor, Director

An immigrant mother emerges as a community leader during the historic campaign to end the sharing of the Philadelphia police database with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Expanding Sanctuary tells a rarely told story about a Latinx immigrant community’s successful journey to change legislation and protect families. Learn more about the film here. 

A film still from How to Sue the Klan that shows a black-and-white photo of a young Black man speaking at a press conference with several reporters microphones pointed towards him. Directly next to the man is another Black man with a serious expression, and behind them are a predominantly Black audience all with blank and serious facial expressions.

 

How to Sue the Klan

Short Documentary

IDA Member: John Beder, Director

How to Sue the Klan is the story of how five Black women from Chattanooga used legal ingenuity to take on the Ku Klux Klan in a historic 1982 civil case, fighting to hold them accountable for their crimes and bring justice to their community. Their victory set a legal precedent that continues to inspire the ongoing fight against organized hate. Learn more about the film here. 

A film still from The People Could Fly that shows a person in an indoor roller skating rink wearing white socks, adidas black striped joggers and red roller skaters from the waist down. As they glide across the floor there are several other skaters visible in the dimly lit background.

 

The People Could Fly

Short Documentary

IDA Member: Bryn Silverman & Flor de Oro Tejada, Co-Producers

The People Could Fly is a poetic documentary about the history of Black gathering spaces in Louisville, Kentucky, from the 1960s to mid 2000s. In this intimate video portrait, we delve into the ritual of roller skating and how roller rinks emerged as sanctuaries for Black culture. Through a charged combination of archival footage, still photos, newly shot material and newsreel footage, we explore the history of a segregated Louisville and the magic that its Black community has conjured as an act of resistance. Learn more about the film here. 

A film still from Of Medicine and Miracles that shows a young woman with a nose ring looking thoughtfully off to the side. Her arms, one adorned with dainty floral tattoos, are crossed atop each other, with her head gently resting on her hands against a dark blue sky.

 

Winding Path

Short Documentary

IDA Member: Ross Kauffman, Director/Producer

Jenna Murray is an Eastern Shoshone MD/PhD student at the University of Utah. Her most formative childhood experiences were spent on her family’s Wind River Indian Reservation ranch, where she loved nothing more than helping her grandfather. When her active, 70-year-old “Papa” suddenly dies of a preventable health issue, Jenna grapples with her dream of a career in tribal health while facing her own mental health crisis. Learn more about the film here.

A film still from Wouldn't Make It Any Other Way that shows a long stretching two way road leading towards the ocean. On either side of the road are luscious trees and greenery, and on the right hand side there is also a telephone line.

 

Wouldn’t Make It Any Other Way

Short Documentary

IDA Member: Hao Zhou, Director

Having built a colorful queer life in Iowa, an aspiring costume designer visits their homeland of Guam to make costumes for a children’s theater and reconnect with distanced parents. Learn more about the film here.

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