Out of a pool of 93 films representing 31 countries, two documentaries made with the support of WMM’s Production Assistance Program won both top awards for Best Feature Documentary at the 2023 BlackStar Film Festival, which highlights productions by Black, Brown, and Indigenous film and media artists.
FIRE THROUGH DRY GRASS, directed by Andres “Jay” Molina and Alexis Neophytides, won BlackStar’s Jury Award for Best Feature Documentary. BlackStar jurors praised the film for “its concise clarity and unique perspective, yet it’s also stylized beautifully as a tapestry that weaves the characters together. With its brilliant approach, the jury wishes to recognize the many challenges these filmmakers faced in these conditions during this time period, yet made a film with elevated sound design, compelling cinematography, and phenomenal characters.”
And directors Michèle Stephenson (also the director of WMM release STATELESS) and Joe Brewster’s GOING TO MARS: THE NIKKI GIOVANNI PROJECT, which took home the Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Documentary at Sundance earlier this year, won the Audience Award for Best Feature Documentary at Blackstar.
Congratulations to all the filmmakers for their incredible achievements!
