Skip to main content
← All works

2020 · Dance – stage work

blackstar (BLACKSTAR); live-streamed version 'blackstar (document)'

Archive folder: blackstar

Maurya Kerr (tinypistol)

An expansion of kosmos by tinypistol, made as a dance film during the pandemic, that centers Black and brown bodies and asks what a free or decolonized body might look and feel like. The film won several festival awards.

Premiere
2020-08-27
Venue
CounterPulse (online presentation, 'blackstar (document)')
Where
San Francisco, CA (online)
Performances
Originally planned as live shows April 23–25, 2020 at CounterPulse (cancelled/pivoted during COVID). Online screening late Aug 2020, then posted on Twitch. BLACKSTAR film festival run: Toronto Indie Filmmakers Festival 2021 (Best Dance Film); Roma Short Film Festival 2021 (Best Dance Film); London International Web & Shorts 2021 (Best Music/Dance Video); Munich New Wave Short Film Festival 2021 (finalist); Venice Fullshot 2021; Hollywood New Directors 2021 (honorable mention); Dance Camera Istanbul 2022; Japan International Film Festival 2022 (finalist); Madrid International Short Film Fest 2023 (Best Director, USA).
Credits
Direction/choreography: Maurya Kerr; performers: Asha Benjelloun, Malik Burnett, Alex Carrington, Alexander Diaz, Maurya Kerr, Faith Mondesire, Tory Peil, Suzette Sagisi, Chelsea Reichert; music: Ben Juodvalkis (expanded from the kosmos score); photography/video: Stephen Texeira (to be confirmed).

Press

“In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, blackstar (a performance that was set to premiere April 2020), became BLACKSTAR (a film).”

“tinypistol is hoping to premiere blackstar sometime in 2021.”

Elsewhere

More with tinypistol