North Star Fellowship

North Star Fellowship is sponsored by Points North Institute. The North Star Fellowship supports innovative Black, Brown, and Indigenous media artists and filmmakers who are exploring experimental modes or genres in creative nonfiction.

North Star Fellowship - Points North Institute North Star Fellowship Nate 2025-12-23T11:38:07-05:00 Supporting innovative Black, Brown and Indigenous media artists or filmmakers developing projects that span the latitudes of creative nonfiction.

Presented in collaboration with BlackStar, the North Star Fellowship supports four innovative Black, Brown and Indigenous media artists and filmmakers who are exploring experimental modes or genres which might include film, video installation, audio and photo-based work, immersive experiences, performance, and more.

The North Star Fellowship convenes on two occasions; The Camden International Film Festival and The William & Louise Greaves Filmmaker Seminar. Leading up to the 20th edition of the Camden International Film Festival, fellows gathered for one week on the coast of Maine.

A series of workshops, screenings, meals, and excursions created time and space for an ongoing critical dialogue about expanded documentary aesthetics, multidisciplinary creative processes, collaborative practices and more.

Fellows are joined by curators, critics, filmmakers, multidisciplinary artists, and industry professionals, each of whom provide new perspectives on the Fellows’ creative process and the evolving universe of nonfiction.

The first part of the fellowship culminates during 4 days of CIFF, where North Star Fellows plug into a global community of storytellers and artists, attending screenings, artist talks, panel discussions, industry meetings, and special events.

The fellowship recommences in the spring during the William & Louise Greaves Filmmaker Seminar, a gathering for Black, Brown, and Indigenous artists working in cinematic realms, proudly presented by BlackStar Projects. Fellows will explore the technical and creative aspects of media-making, while having honest conversations about the successes and pitfalls of their work.

The environment considers the intersection of cinema and visual arts, and is exclusively designed for people of color to focus and not manage the added burden of representation. The Seminar is named after visionary filmmakers William and Louise Greaves, who together co-produced landmark documentaries such as Symbiopsychotaxiplasm and Ralph Bunche: An American Odyssey .

Jessica Beshir – Filmmaker Nicolás Pereda – Filmmaker Alex Hannibal – Senior Creative Executive, A24 BlackStar creates the spaces and resources needed to uplift the work of Black, Brown and Indigenous artists working outside of the confines of genre. We do this by producing year-round programs including film screenings, exhibitions, an annual film festival, a filmmaker seminar, a film production lab, and a journal of visual culture.

These programs provide artists opportunities for viable strategies for collaborations with other artists, audiences, funders, and distributors. We prioritize visionary work that is experimental in its aesthetics, content, and form and builds on the work of elders and ancestors to imagine a new world.

We elevate artists who are overlooked, invisibilized or misunderstood and celebrate the wide spectrum of aesthetics, storytelling and experiences that they bring. We bring that work to new audiences as well as place it in dialog with other past and contemporary work. And, we curate every aspect of our events to be intentional community building efforts, connecting diverse audiences in a Black-led space centered on joy and thriving.

The North Star Fellowship is open to all Black, Brown, and Indigenous filmmakers and media artists worldwide, regardless of nationality or citizenship status. We’re looking for artists developing projects across a range of disciplines or modes of documentary, including film, video installation, audio and photo-based work, immersive experiences, performance, and others.

The 2024 North Star Fellowship will take place in person in Maine from September 9-15 (exact dates to be confirmed closer to the festival but please hold these dates for now) followed by virtual 1:1 industry meetings on 9/26 & 9/27. Dates for the The William & Louise Greaves Filmmaker Seminar will be published once confirmed.

If you have questions about the program or the application process, please contact [email protected] At The Camden International Film Festival, North Star Fellows will receive: (1) Round-trip flight* to Camden, including ground transportation from Portland or Bangor, Maine, (1) All Access pass to the Camden International Film Festival and Points North Forum, (7) nights of accommodations for one during the festival and fellowship.

At The William & Louise Greaves Filmmaker Seminar, North Star Fellows will receive: (1) Round-trip flight* to location of Seminar in 2025, TBD* (1) Pass to the William & Louise Greaves Filmmaker Seminar (3) nights of accommodations for one during the seminar.

(1) Pass to the BlackStar Film Festival in 2025 Following the week in Maine, Fellows will have an opportunity to schedule online meetings with funders, distributors, and other industry decision makers. In 2023, these meetings included representatives from Sundance, Firelight, Ford Foundation, Field of Vision, CAA, Cinetic, POV, ITVS, NBC, Netflix, HBO, NEON, and dozens of other major platforms.

Note: The North Star Fellowship can only support one person per project and is intended to foster a space for individual artists as much as their projects. Deadline: June 3, 2024 @ 11:59 p. m.

Curious to learn more about the fellowships we offer at Points North? Not sure if you’re eligible to apply, what kind of work we’re seeking, what time spent on the ground will be like? Register for our Artist Programs Info Session, on April 14, 2023 at 1 p.

m. EST! We’ll be gathering virtually to discuss our 2023 Artist Programs offerings – the Points North Fellowship, North Star Fellowship, and LEF/CIFF Fellowship – and answer questions for interested applicants.

Please reach out to [email protected] with the subject line “INFO SESSION” with any questions. An aging jazz singer uses artificial intelligence to resurrect the voice of his late father, a mesmerizing vocalist he regrets never recording. Non-Alien: a hybrid documentary and speculative biography of Nikkei journalist and photographer Vince Tajiri, best known as the founding photo editor of Playboy.

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