Newark Black Film Festival: Shorts Block

Cameron Tyler Carr

Director, Producer

Cameron Carr is born and bred Harlemite, Filmmaker and Creative Producer based out of NYC. As a pragmatic optimist, and ambition to become the Issa Rae/Jordan Peele/Donald Glover ultimate hybrid: After seven years of producing commercials at his Creative agency Alma Maters BBDO New York and Wieden+Kennedy NY – Cameron’s constant mission is to continue to push, propel and create Black-led stories through film and creative, while spotlighting systemic inequities that often remain unconscious and unspoken in society. Cameron is coming off of his Writing and Directorial Debut for Harlem Fragments shot in March, backed by a $93K production budget in partnership with FUJIFILM, which latest accolades span from the Ida B. Wells Disrupting the Narrative Grant, and being selected for the 2023 DGA Shoot New Director Spotlight Showcase Cohort.

Cameron’s previous films he’s assisted directed and produced have seen accelerated success on the festival circuit, from The Inventor Produced with a team of all Black producers, winning Best Historic Short at the 2022 Manhattan Film Festival and a run at 12 festivals prior to distribution with AMC, Sundance Grant recipient, Wild Darlings Sing the Blues (2024), Producing the Young Arts & Columbia Graduate University Dean’s Grant recipient, CUFF Best Picture Winner Palm Sunday (2023), and Executive Producing and Assistant Directing Dances With Films Festival Grand Jury Winner, Speak Up Brotha! (2023), starring Bronze Lens Best Actor Roderick Lawrence and TC Carson in collaboration with Black Man Films.

Imani Celeste

Director, Screenwriter, Actress

Imani Celeste is a versatile Afro-Dominican artist with a focus on filmmaking, acting, writing, and movement. Her artistic approach is rooted in a profound commitment to culture, storytelling, and community. While studying at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Imani was awarded the inaugural HEAR US grant. After graduation, she directed, produced, acted, styled and wrote her short film, “City of Dreamz.” The film garnered attention at esteemed festivals such as the New York Latino Film Festival, Bushwick Film Festival, and the Academy Award Qualifying Reel Sisters of the Diaspora. Notably, her film was featured on the Gothamist as one of “7 must-see films at the 16th annual Bushwick Film Festival.”

Imani’s journey blossomed into the dynamic worlds of films, photoshoots, and commercials, where she skillfully shifted between roles in creative direction, producing, choreography, and casting. Some of her noteworthy accomplishments include producing branded content for Essence magazine as well as last year’s commercial for the New York Latino Film Festival. Her choreography and movement direction have been featured on MTV, Nowness, and Something Curated.

In the city that breeds dreamz, Imani Celeste personifies the essence of her community and proves to tell their stories in all of their unapologetic truth, drip and glory.

Ewurakua Dawson-Amoah

Director

dream hampton

Director, Screenwriter

dream hampton is an award-winning filmmaker and writer from Detroit. For two decades her essays and cultural criticism helped shape a generation. Her most recent works include the award winning short film “Freshwater” (NYT OpDocs/PBS, 2023) and “Ladies First” (Netflix, 2023). Selected works include “Treasure“ (Frameline, 2015), “Finding Justice” (BET, 2019), “It’s A Hard Truth Ain’t It” (HBO, 2019) and the Emmy nominated “Surviving R. Kelly” (Netflix, 2019), which broke ratings records and earned her a Peabody Award. In 2019, hampton was named one of TIME 100’s most influential people in the world.

Derrick Woodyard

Director

African American filmmaker and visual artist, Derrick Woodyard currently is an MFA candidate at NYU Tisch School of the Arts with a focus in Directing and Writing. His commitment to finding truth in his narratives leads him to explore the nuances of his characters through their desires, inner conflicts, and personal relationships. This search for truth is influenced by his lived experiences from which he takes inspiration. His films have investigated stories of internal moral struggles, trials of multiracial familial bonds, and the traumas of parental absence all from the lens of Black characters.

He is a recipient of the 2021 Spike Lee Production Award and the Sandra Ifraimova Production Fund. Additionally, Derrick is the 2020 recipient of the Martin Scorsese Young Filmmakers Scholarship, he is the 2020 BAFTA NY HBO Scholar, and is also a recipient of the Peter D. Gould Scholarship and the Tisch School of the Arts Graduate Scholarship.