Join our WIF September 8th, Second Tuesday panel, “Providing Screenwriting Opportunities for BIPOC."
The screenwriting pool in the Pacific Northwest has largely been homogeneous. It doesn't have to be that way. Everyone with brilliant story-writing chops deserves equal opportunities to get in front of the right producers, the decision makers, the managers and agents. The Northwest Screenwriters Guild, Women in Film, and Langston Seattle co-sponsor this online event to discuss existing screenwriting opportunities and to announce new ones. Hosted by Abie Ekenezar, we welcome panelists, writer/director Nicole Pouchet, D.J. Walker, Zola Mumford, and Jamil Suleman.
A former Broadway assistant director, Nicole Pouchet is a novelist and writer/director for Zombie Orpheus Entertainment’s award-winning fantasy TV series, STROWLERS. Her horror/social thriller short, RETCH, premiered at the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) in 2019 and screened on DirecTV, Amazon, PBS, and Alaska Airlines in-flight programming. Her sci-fi short, SUCH AN HONOR, recently premiered at ARTS x SDGS, an international festival connecting artists with the United Nations to support social change. Nicole writes and directs projects that incorporate social commentary into genre film. She is a Board Member for the Northwest Screenwriters Guild, an Advisory Board member for the Destiny City Film Festival, and a guest lecturer for the University of Virginia, SIFF, and a member of Women in Film Seattle
D.J. Walker is a director, actor, writer. Born in Ft. Polk, LA to a military family, D.J. was brought up in diverse locales. He began writing at a young age, receiving several accolades for his poetry, and by his senior year of high school he began screenwriting and directing. His pursuits both behind and in front of the camera led to several awards and acceptance to numerous film festivals such as the Seattle Transmedia FIlm Festival, and Charlotte Film Festival in 2019.
Zola Mumford is Curator of the Seattle Black Film Festival, a program of LANGSTON, a nonprofit arts organization. She is also an academic librarian, researcher, writer, and a 2020 Washington State Book Awards judge with a background in filmmaking, arts production, and archives. Occasionally she is a speaker and panelist on subjects ranging from archival research to film history to science fiction/speculative fiction.
Jamil Suleman is a Hip Hop artist, filmmaker, traveler, and teaching artist. Acclaimed in his field not only as an artist and educator, but as a community organizer, Jamil uses music and entertainment to educate and empower people to become the strongest versions of themselves. A passion for creativity, culture, and sustainability, drives Jamil to work with like-minded individuals in the pursuit of a socially just and ecologically equitable world for future generations.