Maori Karmael Holmes
Chief Executive & Artistic Officer at BlackStar Projects

Maori Karmael Holmes is a filmmaker, writer, and curator. She founded BlackStar Film Festival in 2012 and serves as Chief Executive & Artistic Officer of its parent organization, BlackStar Projects. She has organized film programs at Anthology Film Archives, MOCA Los Angeles, Annenberg Center, Underground Museum, and Whitney Museum. She has organized the exhibitions Rashid Zakat: Uses of the Ironic (2024), Terence Nance: Swarm (2023), Assemblage (2019), and Lossless (2017). 

As a director, her works have screened internationally including “Scene Not Heard: Women in Philadelphia Hip-Hop”. She has directed and produced works for Colorlines.com, Visit Philadelphia, and for the musicians India.Arie, Mike Africa, Jr., and Wayna. She has produced several films including Iyabo Kwayana’s By Water (2023). Her writing has most recently appeared in Seen, Documentary Magazine, The Believer, Film Quarterly, Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good, How We Fight White Supremacy: A Field Guide to Black Resistance, and Collective Wisdom: Co-Creating Media Within Communities Across Disciplines and Algorithms. 

Maori received her MFA in Film & Media Arts from Temple University and her BA in History from American University. She also received formative training at Howard University and California Institute of the Arts. Maori has previously held positions at ARRAY, ICA Philadelphia, Leeway Foundation, Painted Bride Art Center, and the Netter Center for Community Partnerships. She is a founding member of the Lalibela Baltimore collective. Maori was Mediamaker-in-Residence at the Annenberg School for Communication at University of Pennsylvania from 2020-2023, a 2019-2020 Soros Equality Fellow, a 2021 DOC NYC New Leader, a 2016 Just Films/Rockwood Fellow, and a 2014 Flaherty Film Seminar Fellow. 

In 2023, Maori was announced as recipient of the United States Artists Berresford Prize and as an inaugural Philadelphia’s Cultural Treasures Fellow. In 2019, she was included in Essence Magazine’s Woke 100 List and in 2022, she was included among Philadelphia Magazine’s 100 Most Influential Philadelphians as well as designated “Best Film Ambassador” and named one of the Kennedy Center’s #Next50.