Identity and conformity in America. These are the challenges the lead character Natalia Diaz must face in the upcoming film Ori Inu: In Search of Self. According to the sibling filmmakers — Director/Writer Chelsea Odufu and Director/Producer Emann Odufu — “Ori Inu: In Search of Self is a coming of age story about a young immigrant woman who must choose between conforming her identity and spirituality to the cultural norms of America or revisiting her roots in the Afro-Brazilian religion called Candomble.”

Paulina Bugembe and Gabrielle Shepard are filmmakers who are joining forces to direct and produce The Homecoming. The film is the story of Andy, a Black woman who is faced with the struggles that come with having a brother (Jackson) who is in and out of prison. “Andy wants nothing more than her family to come together and be her ideal version of happy,” said the filmmakers on their GoFundMe page. “When the family refuses to get on board for Jackson's coming home party from prison, she decides to make it happen on her own while dragging her family kicking and screaming along the way.”

by Aleshea Harris

“People could not heal if they did not know the truth,” declares Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu early in filmmaker Lydia Hicks’ new documentary-in-progress, Rediscovering the Scientist. Indeed, healing by way of seeking truth is the major driving force of this absorbing new film, which critically examines erasure of people of color in science history and highlights multicultural contributions to the field.