The Black Star International Film Institute (BSIFI), organizer of the annual Black Star International Film Festival (BSIFF) in Ghana, has announced a live virtual Festival for its fifth edition.

The live virtual festival dubbed, “Connect”, will take place from September 24- 27, 2020. Four solid days of connecting international and local stakeholders via virtual platforms.

The overarching theme of the virtual Festival is, “Stronger Together”, seeking to explore ways in which the film and creative arts sector can build great partnerships and leverage on existing opportunities for expansion.

Other objectives of “Connect” are to provide distribution opportunities to budding and emerging filmmakers’, to provide networking opportunities to filmmakers’ and other audiences, to educate and inform budding and emerging filmmakers’ about relevant industry topics including distribution opportunities, and to connect the world to African cinema.

According to organizers of the Black Star International Film Festival, the decision to organize a live virtual event is due to the recent Coronavirus pandemic, which has forced various sectors of the economy, including the Creative Arts, to rethink strategies to maintain relevance.

Ms. Philippa Ama Bentuma Arthur, the Manager of the Black Star International Film Festival (BSIFF) said that, “The present pandemic affords BSIFF a great opportunity to innovatively push strongly to become better and not cower. And it is with this determination the Festival decided not to cancel but to continue, albeit, online.”

“Connect”, will be no different from the on-ground experience of the film festival in Ghana. Annual activities within the Festival like film screenings, masterclasses, panel sessions and the BlackStar Music Concert will all happen online.

Ms. Arthur added that, the vision of BSIFF to position Ghana as a film hub, a film tourism destination, and bridge the gap between African cinema and the world through film is bigger than COVID-19 and hence, must soldier on.

There is no better time than now to be inspired by the talented young filmmakers’ whose films made it into the competition this year. Visit www.bsiff.org to sign up.