Films

Black Excellence Shorts Programs Virginia Filmmaking

This series highlights the diversity of storytelling and filmmaking talent, including works by Virginia-based creators and those with significant ties to the region.

AT CAPACITY (17 min.) A breakup goes awry, leading Mia to an unexpected connection.

AZI (14 min.) A teen’s weekend getaway turns into a surprising game of intrigue.

PINE GROVE: MORE THAN A SCHOOL (18 min.) A historic Tuskegee-Rosenwald school battles for survival against erasure.

HOW SHE WAS (11 min.) A grieving father seeks vengeance with the Devil disguised as his daughter.

LOST/FOUND (19 min.) As she leaves home, a young woman chooses between loyalty to her mother and the father she lost.

UPROOTED (25 min.) A family’s fight against college expansion reveals a hidden history of racial displacement.

Discussion with David Addis, Julia Addis, Preston Holmes, Spencer Jamison, Jeff Luppino-Esposito, Montana Mann and Paula Puryear

DateSun, Nov 3, 2024
Time8:20 PM
VenueViolet Crown 5
Guests
Spencer Jamison,
Spencer Jamison
Director, At Capacity
2024 Films
Short Films: Our Wealth in Common
At Capacity
Making It – Film Industry Career Panel
Panel: Making It – Film Industry Career Panel

Film: At Capacity

This short film is part of the Our Wealth in Common shorts package.

Spencer Jamison is a filmmaker born and raised in Richmond, VA. She is a graduate of James Madison University and the Yale School of Drama MFA Acting Program. Her desire is to tell stories across genres about those who live in liminal spaces of identity—narratives that heal, evoke joy, and reflect the eclectic and generous folks who have shaped her life. Spencer starred in and produced Slave Cry with her brother Jai Jamison, which won the 2019 Commonwealth Award for Best Short Film at the Virginia Film Festival.

Her directorial debut, DAY 74, won the 2020 Curbside Shorts Film Challenge Grand Prize. Her acting credits include Swagger on Apple TV+, and Dreamgirls and The Color Purple for Virginia Repertory Theatre. Spencer was chosen for the inaugural class of the Broadway Advocacy Coalition Artivism Fellowship with her archival project about the first Black women judges in Virginia, The Honorable.

She has worked as a freelance Writers’ Assistant for writer-directors developing projects at Outlier Society, Warner Brothers, Party Over Here, and CBS. At Capacity, her romantic comedy short, premiered at the OSCAR and BAFTA qualifying LA Shorts International Film Festival and recently won the Audience Award at the Baltimore International Black Film Festival.
Montana Mann,
Montana Mann
Director, Azi
2024 Films
Short Films: Our Wealth in Common
Azi
Film: Azi

This short film is part of the Our Wealth in Common shorts package.

Montana Mann is a Persian-American award-winning writer/director from Virginia, who currently resides in Los Angeles. Her commercial work, music videos, and short films have accumulated over 25 million views online, and garnered recognition from national and international festivals. Her most recent narrative short film, Azi, world premiered at Palm Springs International Shortfest and won the SAGindie Award at HollyShorts. The feature film adaptation of the same short was accepted into Film Independent Fast Track 2024. In addition, she sold an original series pitch to Universal and Sony optioned her true crime drama series. As part of the MENA/SWANA diaspora, she brings a unique perspective and cultural sensitivity to her directing. Her work explores the journey of finding one’s identity as a female living between two cultures. She is currently represented by Circle Management and Production and The Gersh Agency.
Preston Holmes,
Preston Holmes
Producer, Lost/Found
2024 Films
Short Films: Our Wealth in Common
Lost/ Found
Film: Lost/Found

This short film is part of the Our Wealth in Common shorts package.

Preston Holmes is a member of the producers branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) and a longstanding member of the Director’s Guild of America (DGA).

He has built a distinguished film career as a producer, line producer, and executive producer with a long list of credits including Till, Birth of A Nation, Malcolm X, Girls Trip, Boycott, the Oscar-nominated documentary Tupac: Resurrection, and many more. More recently, he expanded into television television with the limited series Colin In Black & White. A native of Kansas City, Kansas, he attended Princeton University, and began his Hollywood career in the DGA Training Program.
Paula Puryear
Paula Puryear
Director, Lost/Found
2024 Films
Short Films: Our Wealth in Common
Lost/ Found
Film: Lost/Found

This short film is part of the Our Wealth in Common shorts package.

Screenwriter and television writer Paula Puryear makes her official directorial debut with Lost/Found. A member of the Writers Guild of America, west, she has written and developed feature film and television with Twentieth Century Fox, Showtime and other companies. Most recently, she spent three seasons on the writing and producing staff of ABC drama The Rookie.

Born in the American South to a political scientist and civil rights activist father, and an educator mother, she is a graduate of Duke University and Columbia University School of Law and an alumnus of the Screen Actor’s Guild (SAG) and Film Independent’s Project: Involve.

Film Info

Runtime: 104 minutes
Genre: Shorts
Accessibility:
- Q&A