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Bio
Kiara Danae (they/she) is an independent filmmaker, freelance photographer and multidisciplinary artist based in D.C by way of North Carolina. Their work reflects the intimacies of the black southern experience, the construction and deconstruction of identity, spirituality and the complexities of the family dynamic through untold ancestral stories that long to be unearthed.
Bio
Bashirah Mack is an award-winning documentary filmmaker who is interested in people, histories, and geographies in the US South. As a filmmaker, Bashirah’s practice is rooted in the space, place, and memory of her ancestors on this side of the Atlantic.
Bio
Sea is a storyteller and birth worker of Caribbean heritage. They blend grounded horror and mythmaking with spirituality and ancestral wisdom to tell stories of grief, motherhood and self-possession in the lives of Black girls and women. Sea’s work is guided by Black feminist principles both in story and in process. They are currently in development for their Howard University MFA Thesis film Cocoa Tea.
Jay Najeeah (she/they) is a freelance filmmaker, writer, dramaturg, and artist-activist hailing from Columbia, SC. Based in DC, their work is grounded in both Theatre of the Oppressed pedagogy and the principles of Black Feminism. A recent graduate of Howard University’s MFA Film Program, Jay is committed to storytelling and uplifting the perspective of queer, southern, Black folk. Jay’s grasp on cinematic language has allowed them the ability to play in the realm of dramatic, experimental, & magical realism.
Bio
Adesola Thomas is an Atlanta-raised, Nigerian-American writer-director. She makes films about Black domestic life, climate reality, and queer Southern subcultures to examine care and interdependence as essential practices for a livable life. Her work is spurred by her reverence of the two metro Atlanta environs that reared her, the interfaith Nigerian immigrant community and the queer punk environmental scene.
In 2022, Adesola received her Masters in Screenwriting & Playwriting from the University of St Andrews in Scotland where she was a Robert T Jones Fellow. For her writing and direction of flounder. a two-act climate catastrophe comedy, she was nominated for Best Play and Best Script at the 2022 Golden Seashell Theater Awards and shortlisted for the St Andrews Enterprising Mind of the Year Award. She book-ended her Masters program with television and film development internships at A24. Adesola is the East Coast Producer for Letterboxd (LB), where she writes for Journal and attends film festivals (Sundance, NYFF, Tribeca). She is also the head writer for Sapphic Cyborgs, a forthcoming audio drama about a family of Black anthropomorphic trees who migrate to outer space from Earth. Summer of 2023, Adesola wrote and directed Ola Ola, a comedy short about a surprise reunion between two queer cousins that’s been acquired by indie-streamer, No Budge. Ola Ola has screened at Millenium Film in Bushwick, Southern Fried Queer Pride’s Cinequeer in Atlanta, and Deeper Into Movies in London. She is a 2024 Bleecker Street BIPOC Mentorship Fellow, a 2024 Sundance Press Inclusion Initiative Fellow, and a proud member of the New York Script Supervisors network. She enjoys 1st AD’ing music videos, dancing at parties, and swimming with friend
Bio
Lanese Love is a non-binary black director and writer who finds joy in blending genres of film. With a focus in horror, comedy and experimental film they continue to develop a unique style by reference the nuanced intersection of their underrepresented identities.
"It brings me joy to be able to further explore and experiment with plot, performance, cinematography and more to develop a unique identity in my work. So by dissecting the sci-fi, comedy and experimental genres, I hope to create a dynamic experience that draws from multiple emotions."
Bio
Helen Peña is a Dominican-American child of the Atlantic, filmmaker, and culture worker from Miami, FL. Their work has screened in festivals across the country including Prismatic Ground, New Orleans Film Festival and Third Horizon Film Festival. In 2020, Helen participated in the UCLA Sanctuary Spaces Residency, where they worked on their first short film, When Angels Speak of Love, which screened on PBS South Florida. In 2017, Helen co-founded (F)empower, a collective of queer feminist artist-activists. Their art and organizing has been showcased at the Museum of Modern Art, the Norton Museum of Art, ICA Miami and more.