Overview
Join us on Thursday, September 10 for Creative Forces Online! This FREE event will feature special guests Director Djaka Souaré, Producer Alana de Freitas, and Cinematographer Carrie Morgan. The team will give a behind the scenes look at how they worked together on For Life, a film created for the Women's Weekend Film Challenge. They will also discuss what inspires their work and what makes for a great director/producer/DP relationship. The event will be hosted by Technology and Education Development Manager Megan Donnelly, with time for Q&A throughout.
Djaka Souaré, from African and French descent, is an actress and director who started her career in theater at a young age before transitioning to Film & TV. Djaka recently starred in HULU's episode of Black Stories Present: Imagine a Moon Colony, directed by Phillip Youmans, TriBeCa 2019 Award winner. Her short film Jazz in Wakanda was an Official selection at Film festivals like Urban World, Nitehawk shorts & New Filmmakers LA. In 2020, Djaka was selected by the Women's Weekend Film Challenge to direct one of six short films: For Life was created by an all-female-identifying cast and crew. Djaka worked at Goldcrest & Saboteur in both documentary & narrative films for three years, overseeing projects from financing to casting. She was a producer on the National Geographic documentary Hell on Earth that premiered at TriBeCa in 2017 & received a DuPont Award; and on I want my MTV, which opened at TriBeCa in 2019.
A fierce human's rights advocate, fighting for representation of the African diaspora across all media, Djaka has several projects in development, all celebrating multicultural voices and multi-dimensional characters. Djaka is a WIF member and has been selected to participate in their 2020 Mentoring Program. To learn more about Djaka, visit www.djakasouare.com and follow her on Instagram: @djaka1
Alana de Freitas is an Australian-born actress/writer/producer/director based in Los Angeles. In 2017 she founded her production company, ADF Productions.
She produced the short film, Infidelity in early 2017 which was also her narrative writing debut. Prior to this, Alana had produced numerous narrative short films in addition to a 12-episode internet lifestyle program, Lifefunk TV. Before the Dawn was de Freitas’ first feature-length screenplay, and she also produced and starred in the film. The film has collected 17 festival laurels and was also awarded the ReFrame Stamp by Women in Film and the Sundance Institute for its gender parity both in front of and behind the camera.In 2018, Alana wrote and produced a short film called Nancy, which also marked her directorial debut. Nancy has accumulated 11 festival laurels (and counting), including the Grand Jury Prize for Best Dramatic Short Film at the Sherman Oaks Film Festival, Best First-Time Director at the New York Film Awards and Best Screenplay at the International Independent Film Awards. Most recently, Alana was selected by the Women’s Weekend Film Challenge to produce a short film over the course of a weekend.For Life was made by an entirely female-identifying cast and crew and has just completed post-production.
Alana is in development on the supernatural horror/thriller feature, Stay Awake, which she wrote. Also in development is the documentary, #WHYIDIDNTREPORT, which explores the reasons that survivors of sexual assault choose not to report their assault. Alana is committed to championing women and underrepresented groups within the entertainment industry, both on and off screen, and she has proudly been selected to participate in the 2020 Women in Film Mentoring Program. To learn more about Alana, visit www.alanadefreitas.com and follow her on Instagram: @alana_defreitas @adfprods
Carrie Morgan was born and raised in Bozeman, Montana. Her love of animation as a child is what originally drew her to the film industry. After picking up her first film camera at the age of 13, she became enthralled with photography, spending hours after school in the darkroom and going everywhere with a camera in her hand. Merging her two loves of photography and motion pictures, Carrie attended film school at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Shortly after graduating, Carrie left Colorado with a backpack, a camera and full of wanderlust. Working as a photographer, she traveled around the world from Australia to Israel, eventually settling in Los Angeles in 2013. Since then, Carrie has worked in various mediums as a Director of Photography, but her true passion lies with telling honest stories of human nature. Whether exploring a dynamic family connection in The Performance, or immersing the audience in the heartbreaking world of body dysmorphia in The Fix, Carrie’s visuals work hand in hand with the story to enhance the audience’s experience.
Carrie currently resides in Los Angeles, CA and is a member of the the International Collective of Female Cinematographers. To see more of Carrie's work, visit www.carriemorgandp.com and follow her on Instagram: @carriemorganmedia
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