Johanna Makabi’s “Grace” Selected for BronzeLens

Johanna Makabi (b. 1993 in Paris) is a filmmaker and producer. Through films such as Grace (2022) and Keepin’ It Real (2020), she exalts existences by presenting the beauty of characters with stunningly poetic esthetics and by capturing the light on filmed bodies. Whether working on a fiction or a documentary, she carries out extensive research in order to revive invisible, silent trajectories, notably exploring romantic relationships in A Laundry Day (2023). She brings little-known figures into the light, such as Paulette Nardal in Paulette et le Clown (2021, Netflix) or Mbissine Thérèse Diop in Notre mémoire (2021). Her films have been shown at a number of prestigious festivals, such as those of the French Cinémathèque, Lincoln Center in New York, the Vancouver Queer Festival in Toronto, the Atlanta Film Festival, the Festival d’Amiens, Premiers Plan in Angers, and the African Film Festival in New York.

Thirty-three years ago, filmmaker Julie Dash broke through racial and gender boundaries with her Sundance award-winning film (Best Cinematography) Daughters of the Dust. She became the first African American woman to have a wide theatrical release of her feature film. The Library of Congress placed Daughters of the Dust and her UCLA MFA senior thesis Illusions in the National Film Registry. These two films join a select group of American films preserved and protected as national treasures by the Librarian of Congress. She earned an MFA in screenwriting at the American Film Institute’s Center for Advanced Film Studies, an MFA in Theater Arts (Film & Television Production) at UCLA; and she received a BA in Film Production from CCNY. Julie Dash is a Diana King Endowed Professor in the Department of Art & Visual Culture at Spelman College.

Charles Uwagbai is an award winning, passionate Nigerian Canadian film producer and director hailing from Edo state of the Southern part of Nigeria. In the last 10 years, he has directed TV ads, theatrical releases and over 20 movies for international powerhouse IrokoTV (Canal Plus). He directed The Ghost and the Tout – 17th highest grossing Nollywood film ever – showing on Netflix. Charles recently produced and directed Blood of Enogie drama series, showcasing the incredibly rich culture of the Benin Empire. Charles’ produced films have premiered in the USA, Canada Europe.