The first annual BlackStar Film Festival, taking place Aug. 2-5 at the African American Museum, Art Sanctuary, and the International House in Philadelphia, seeks to celebrate the visual and storytelling traditions of the African diaspora and showcase indie film and video work by and about black people.

The Blackstar Film Festival will premiere several films, including Sonia Godding Togobo’s Adopted ID, and Oliver Hardt’s The United States Of Hoodoo. Byron Hurt’s Soul Food Junkies and Jason Orr’s acclaimedFunkjazz Kafé: Diary Of A Decade, about the alternative soul scene in 1990s Atlanta, will also make it’s Philadelphia debut at the festival.

For ticket information and a complete list of films to be screened, visit blackstarfest.org