American Masters is a PBS television series which produces biographies on enduring writers, musicians, visual and performing artists, dramatists, filmmakers, and those who have left an indelible impression on the cultural landscape of the United States. It is produced by WNET in New York City. The show debuted on PBS in 1986.
Haile Gerima is an Ethiopian filmmaker who lives and works in the United States. He is a leading member of the L.A. Rebellion film movement, also known as the Los Angeles School of Black Filmmakers. Since 1975, Haile has been a film professor at Howard University in Washington, D.C. He is best known for Sankofa (1993), which won two awards.
Lily Mariye is an American television director, filmmaker and actress.
Leila Afua Djansi is an American and Ghanaian filmmaker who started her film career in the Ghana film industry.
Ava Marie DuVernay is an American filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer. She is a recipient of a Primetime Emmy Award, two NAACP Image Award, a BAFTA Film Award, and a BAFTA TV Award, as well as a nominee of an Academy Award and Golden Globe. In 2011, she founded her independent distribution company ARRAY.
Marianna Bronislawa Barbara Palka is a Scottish actress, producer, director, and writer. She is the writer, director and star of the film Good Dick, which screened at the Sundance Film Festival.
Nnegest Likké is an American film director, screenwriter and producer from Oakland. Born in the Bay Area and raised in Oakland and San Francisco, she is the daughter of an African-American Civil Rights Activists and an Ethiopian freedom fighter. Most of her work explores themes of cross-cultural relationships between Americans and Africans, and she is a pioneer of the blended-culture genre. Specializing in comedy, romance, drama and travel adventure, Nnegest Likké's films are thought-provoking impact-films that examine complex issues in society and culture. Her film awards include Best Diaspora Film at the 2016 Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) for " Ben and Ara " which she directed. Her 2019 international romantic drama, Everything But A Man won the Audience Choice Award at the Pan African Film Festival. Nnegest is one of the first women of color to write and direct a movie distributed by a major Hollywood studio. Her directing credits include Fox Searchlight's romantic-comedy Phat Girlz, the multi-award-winning indie love drama Ben & Ara, and Everything But A Man.
Celine Parreñas Shimizu is a filmmaker and film scholar. She is well known for her work on race, sexuality and representations. She is currently Dean of the Arts Division at the University of California at Santa Cruz.
Felix Angel Solis is an American actor, film director, and film producer. Born on the Upper West Side and raised in Chelsea/Greenwich Village area of New York City, to parents that were both born in Puerto Rico, Felix considers himself a Nuyorican.
Omoni Oboli is a Nigerian actress, scriptwriter, film director, producer and digital filmmaker. She studied at the New York Film Academy and has written several screenplays, including The Figurine (2009), Anchor Baby (2010), Fatal Imagination, Being Mrs Elliott, The First Lady and Wives on Strike (2016). In 2018, she starred and directed the comedy film, Moms at War.
Medicine for Melancholy is a 2008 romantic drama film written and directed by Barry Jenkins in his feature directorial debut. The film stars Wyatt Cenac, Tracey Heggins, and Elizabeth Acker.
Peter Spears is an American actor and filmmaker. He was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and raised in Overland Park, Kansas. Spears is best known for winning an Oscar for producing Nomadland (2020), and for producing film Call Me by Your Name (2017). He directed the underground cult-favorite short film Ernest and Bertram, which portrayed Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie as gay lovers, and developed the television series Nightmare Cafe and John from Cincinnati.
Michelle Bello is a British Nigerian film director and film producer. She is also CEO of a Nigerian-based entertainment and publishing company, Blu Star Entertainment Limited. Bello was born in London, England.
The Arlington International Film Festival (AIFF) is an annual nonprofit film festival dedicated to promoting and increasing multicultural awareness and showcases world cinema and independent films in their original language with English subtitles. Independent film producers, directors and actors within the US and abroad are invited to participate in engaging panel discussions and Q&A sessions after the screenings. Each year the festival greets more than 2,000 movie aficionados and shows about fifty films from all over the world with an impressive lineup of premieres. The Arlington International Film Festival also includes a year-round events such as poster contest competitions, pre-festival screenings and art exhibitions with local artists and performances by musicians, singers and dancers.
Garifuna in Peril is a low-budget independent fiction docufiction feature film directed, written, and produced by Alí Allié and Rubén Reyes. The film depicts historical and contemporary issues within the Garinagu Afro-Honduran indigenous community and features a cast of actors from Honduras and Belize.
Esther Garrel is a French actress. She is most known for her roles in 17 Girls (2011), Jealousy (2013), Call Me by Your Name (2017), and Thirst Street (2017).
Sabrina Schmidt Gordon is an American documentary filmmaker. She is known for producing and editing films on cultural and social issues. In 2018, she was invited to become a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).
Cinema of Sudan refers to both the history and present of the making or screening of films in cinemas or film festivals, as well as to the persons involved in this form of audiovisual culture of the Sudan and its history from the late nineteenth century onwards. It began with cinematography during the British colonial presence in 1897 and developed along with advances in film technology during the twentieth century.
Prof. Branwen Kiemute Okpako, is a Nigerian–born Welsh German filmmaker. She is most notable as the director of critically acclaimed films The Education of Auma Obama, Dirt for Dinner and Landing. Apart from direction, she is also a writer, producer, cinematographer, film editor as well as a lecturer.
Mehret Mandefro is an Ethiopian–American film/television producer, writer, physician and anthropologist. She is the group leader of the Indaba Africa, a co-founder of Realness Institute and co-founder of Truth Aid Media and is a board member of advisors for the shared Harvest Fund. She is also a recipient of The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans (2001) and in 2007 sat as one of the 41 distinguished New American panelists. In 2016, she was honoured by Carnegie Corporation of New York as one of America's Great Immigrants.
