Iyabo E. Kwayana
Assistant ProfessorFilm and Media Studies
Iyabo Kwayana is an independent filmmaker and cinematographer who uses sensorial and immersive techniques in cinematography, directing and editing in order to “mobilize and amplify" the more discreet, often hidden aspects of film narratives, compelling viewers towards an immersive and sensorial experience.
She is the recipient of several awards and fellowships including the Fulbright-Hays Fellowship, the Edie and Lew Wasserman film fellowship, the Stanley Kramer Fellowship in Film Directing and the Women in Film Foundation's Loreen Arbus Fellowship in Cinematography. Her film Macarrão is a BAFTA shortlisted film. She won Jury Prizes at Zanzibar International Film festival and BlackStar International Film Festival as well as the Hellen Hill Jury Award at IndieGrits film festival. Amongst the places she has screened are Visions du Réel, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Camden, AFI Docs Festival, Chicago UndergroundFestival, and Museum of Moving Image . Other works to which she is a key collaborator have screened widely both domestically and internationally.
Selected Publications
Commercial Campaigns:
Until We All Win Campaign, Nike, Camera Operator
Selected Films:
2017 Practice, China, 9:55, Director, Co-Cinematographer, Editor
2016 The Offering, Chicago, 9:27, Director, Co-Cinematographer, Editor
2016 An Exercise in Transfiguration, Archival, 9 minutes Director, Editor
2016 Liberation, Chicago, 9:00, Director, Co-Cinematographer, Editor
2015 Macarrão, Brazil 19 minute Writer, Director
2013 Bound (feature length Documentary), USA Co-Cinematographer
2010 La Receta: (The Recipe) narrative, 8-minute short film, Director, Writer, Editor
2010 El Nazareno (Black Christ of Portobello), Panama (Documentary 20 minute) Director, Cinematographer
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
2017 Practice, Director and Co-cinematographer
2018 Bridge/Refrain,
2017 Palenque, Columbia, Co-Cinematographer & Production Team
2013 All Men are Flowers, Director of Photography
2012 Special Moments by Oksana, Director of Photography
2012 Maria Moderne, Director of Photography
2011, Los Gigantes, Co-Cinematographer
2010 Little Creatures, Director of Photography
Works in Progress
Liberation
Selected Screenings/ Exhibits
Selected Screenings/ Exhibits
Upcoming (2020):
•February 2020
Maccarão (Writer, Director):Screening at AAMP (African American Museum Philadelphia) in conjunction with the exhibit In Conversation: Visual Meditations on Black Masculinity by MFON: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora.
•April 2020 Presenter. Black Women's Film Conference, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem
Directorial Screenings
Works for which I was Director and/or additional roles
Practice (Director, Co-Cinematographer, Editor)
Past Screenings Practice
Visions du Réel
AFI Docs
Chicago Underground Film Festival
AricaDocs (Chile)
Camden International Film Festival
Tacoma Film Festival
Shint Worldwide Short Film Festival
San Diego Asian Film Festival
Video Consortium (NYC, NY)
London Short Film Festival,
Museum of the Moving Image
Fargo Film Festival
Indie Grits Film Festival
Las Palmas de Gran (Spain)
Salem Film Festival
BlackStar Film Festival
Concorto Film Festival (Italy)
New Orleans Film Festival
Bushwick Film Festival
Best of BlackStar @Colgate University
Nominations:London Short Film Festival Best Short Film, BlackStar Film Festival: Best Short Documentary
Awards: Received Helen Hill jury award
Macarrãro (Director, Writer, Editor)
Past Screenings Macarrão
•Rome International Film Festival(RIFF)
•Pan African Film Festival
•Zanzibar International Film Festival
•BlackStar Film Festival
• Newport Beach Film Festival
•Festival Du Film Salaam Kivo (Goma,Congo)
•Diaspora Festival of Black and Independent Fest
•Palm Beach International Film Festival
•UCSD Women Behind the Lens
Nominations:Student Academy Awards
Awards:BlackStar film Jury Prize Winner, Ousmane Sembene Jury Award (Zanzibar International Film Fest),BAFTA Shortlist, UCLA Spotlight Film Festival Director's Festival
Cinematography Screenings (SELCTED SCREENINGS)
Works for which I was Cinematographer or Co-Cinematographer (Production Team)
All Men Are Flowers (Dir. Shirley Kim-Ryu)
•Happy Food Night Market Film Screening Series
•Festival de Cortos de Bogotá / Bogotá short film festival
•Crown Heights Film Festival
•Auburn International Film Festival
Blue Bell Honor Award Nomination - Best Short Film Competition Category
•MICA International Film Festival
•Austin Asian American Film Festival (AAAFF)
•KAFFNY:THIRD CULTURE CINEMA Shorts Competition
•Melbourne Independent Filmmakers Festival
•32nd Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival "DAUGHTERS RULE THE WORLD" SECTION
•APA Film Festival
•65th Columbus International Film + Video Festival
24th UCLA Film Festival
Nominations: Melbourne Independent Filmmakers Festival, Best Dramatic Short and Best Cinematography
Awards: Best Cinematography UCLA Film Festival
Palenque (Dir. Sebastián Pinzón Silva)
•Locarno Festival
•New Directors/New Films
•Camden International Film Festival
•Festival dei Popoli
•FICValdivia
•Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal
•Antofadocs
•Portland International Film Festival
•Cinélatino, Rencontres de Toulouse
•True/False
•Festival Internacional de Cine de Cartagena de Indias
•New Adventures in Non-Fiction - Museum of the Moving Image
•San Francisco International Film Festival
•Cine las Américas International Film Festival
•Maryland Film Festival
•Palm Springs ShortFest
•Curta Taquary
•Documentarist
•Doc Buenos Aires
•La Guarimba
•Festival de Curtas Belo Horizonte
•Panorama del cine colombiano en París
•CineMigrante
•New Orleans Film Festival
Maria Moderne (Dir. Shirley Kim-Ryu)
•Melnitz Students and Alumni Festival
•2014 FiloFest
•2013 Shorts Competition, New York Korean American Film Festival, New York
•In The Palace International Short Film Festival, Varna, Bulgaria
•2013 Opening Night, UCLA Film Festival, Los Angeles, California