BlackStar Film Festival

Press & Industry: Volition Shorts

Available in 23d 15h 54m 56s
Available August 3, 2026 12:00 PM UTC
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5 films in package
Revival 24
Revival 24 captures an immediate moment within the third space in which, through the spirit, the Black male body transcends a singular notion of masculinity and the constraints of linear time. The film reflects an alternative tangible reality, where, through nonlinear time, the contemporary and the archival exist simultaneously.
Closed captions available
Our Bodies Ours
Our Bodies Ours is a short poetic animated film that explores the nuance and beauty of trans becoming from a diasporic lens. Leaning on the music of lyric, it reframes gender-affirming care as an intricate, intimate and meandering act.
Closed captions available
Glass Bricks
Deconstructing what it means to be a man, Glass Bricks challenges the outward presentation of gender conformity through self-expression. Giving us a peak behind the curtain, Finessa Jawn walks us through the process of what it takes to get into drag and shows us that community building and self-love should be felt regardless of how you identify.
Free Lyric
Reliving one of the first viral social media moments in rap culture, when a 17-year-old female rapper’s life was turned upside down by admitting to having an orgy, Free Lyric explores the experience of online callout culture, gender and consent.
Closed captions available
I Got My Brother
Two brothers reflect on their candid and often humorous memories of surviving the foster care system and prison, realizing along the way that their path to healing has always been each other.
Closed captions available
After this content becomes available August 3rd at 12:00 pm UTC, you'll have 17 days 3 hours to start watching. Once you begin, you'll have 24 hours to finish watching. Need help?

Claiming our bodies for ourselves.


Thank you to our screening partners: Twelve Gates Arts, me too. International, and Galaei.

Our Bodies Ours is a short poetic animated film that explores the nuance and beauty of trans becoming from a diasporic lens. Leaning on the music of lyric, it reframes gender-affirming care as an intricate, intimate and meandering act. What does it take to stitch our bodies into their true and ever-changing shapes, to migrate between who we are and who we may become?

  • Year
    2026
  • Runtime
    8 minutes
  • Language
    English
  • Country
    United States, India
  • Premiere
    World
  • Genre
    Short Documentary
  • Director
    Sonali Gulati, Sanam Sheriff
  • Screenwriter
    Sanam Sheriff
  • Producer
    Sonali Gulati
  • Executive Producer
    Sonali Gulati
  • Cast
    Sanam Sheriff
  • Cinematographer
    Sonali Gulati
  • Editor
    Sonali Gulati
  • Animator
    Sonali Gulati, Nayanika Chatterjee, Gandhar Dharmadhikari, Yathi Kiran, Saurabh Natekar, Shashank Shekhar
  • Production Design
    Sonali Gulati
  • Composer
    Veer Nigam
  • Sound Design
    Rahul Pugazhendi
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