Maori Karmael Holmes is the founder and artistic director of BlackStar Film Festival. She recently served as a guest curator for the 2019 Whitney Biennial film program and has organized film programs at myriad institutions, including the Underground Museum; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia; and Anthology Film Archives. A 2019 Soros Equality Fellow and board member of American Documentary, she contributed to Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good; How We Fight White Supremacy: A Field Guide to Black Resistance; We Inspire Me: Cultivate Your Creative Crew to Work, Play, and Make; and Film Quarterly; among other publications.