On January 24th, 2017, director of photographer Bradford Young became the first African-American to be nominated for an Academy Award in Best Cinematography (Arrival). This marks the first Oscar nomination for Young, but hardly the first award or nomination. The four-time Sundance winner (Middle of Nowhere, Pariah, Mother of George, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints) was raised in the town of Louisville, Kentucky and moved to Chicago as teenager to live with his father, according to Young’s Wikipedia.

Read more 8

Independent filmmaker and music video director Terence Nance from a family of artists in Dallas, TX who is now based in Brooklyn. Terence’s first feature-length film, An Oversimplification of Her Beauty, premiered at Sundance and won the 2012 Gotham Award for “Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You.” In addition to this work as an independent filmmaker, Terence also directs music videos, creates art installations, and performs music under the name Terence Etc.

Read more 24

Tahir Jetter is an exciting up and coming filmmaker. Tahir started getting buzz after his promising short film "Close", he caught the attention of our favorite Awkward Black Girl, Issa Rae. Issa helped push Tahir to the next level by included his web series "Hard Times" in her Color Creative initiative. This young filmmakers newest project is making waves as well, Occasionally Dating Black Women is an adaptation of a popular blog with the blog's creator

Read more 3