When Black filmmakers lacked access to mainstream financing, industry unions and found themselves racially typecast, they paved their own way. One of the earliest examples of this was the L.A. Rebellion, a group of Black film students at UCLA in the 1960s-90s, who decided collectively to make films they wanted to see. This 30-year film movement launched the careers of Charles Burnett and Julie Dash.
Their work provided a runway for Black filmmakers today to show the full breadth of Black life and culture on screen. From the southern gothic horror thriller “Sinners” to cute romcoms such as “Rye Lane,” recent releases by Black filmmakers are getting wider recognition and popularity than ever.
And this renaissance has not passed over Indianapolis. In honor of Black History Month, we caught up with Black writers, cinematographers, directors and actors who are chasing their dreams in the city.
LaKesha Lorene
Actor, director, producer and writer
LaKesha Lorene acted in her first play when she was 8 at Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre. She studied music and communications at Tennessee State University and University of Indianapolis. Later, while working at Radio Disney in Carmel, she met Coco Jones and R&B sister duo Chloe x Halle early in their careers.
When it comes to the creative industry, Lorene has always been an advocate for “why not?”
“I love acting and storytelling through filmmaking and then storytelling through producing theater. Why can’t this be my job too?” she said.
Lorene always found faith-based films to be “really wack.” She said they felt shallow and detached from real life suffering. In 2015, she founded Loving Life Productions to create Christian themed films of her own. Her first short film, “Earth Cry,” based on Proverbs 1:20 follows four women who go through personal obstacles and have to choose whether to follow society or God. She recently struck a distribution deal with Tubi to release her first feature film, “5 Hours to Georgia.”
Currently, Loving Life Productions is producing the docuseries “Naptown Narratives” in collaboration with Circle City Storytellers. She’s also fundraising $150,000 to finish her first TV series,“Line of Justice.”
Deonna Weatherly
Director and cinematographer
The art of storytelling showed up in Deonna Weatherly’s life when she created movie scenes with her Barbies as a kid. She took theater and photography classes at Pike High School, and her dad bought her a digital camera that she used to document family road trips.
Weatherly studied telecommunications and film at IU Bloomington as an undergraduate and graduate student. She directed and filmed her first film, “Angela’s Tale,” in 2022. The short thriller stars LaKesha Lorene, created with Bayonet Media.
“(Filmmaking) excites me like nothing else does. I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else … I never had a plan B,” she said. “Creating a world is something that’s so incredible to me. You’re a genius if you can create something out of nothing.”
Recently, Weatherly is focused on documentary filmmaking. She worked on Manon Voice’s “Root Black” and documentaries with Jerald Harkness, fellow Indianapolis-based filmmaker.
Weatherly heads her own production company, Weatherhouse Company, to create more opportunities for herself and women of color on film sets. Its nonprofit arm launched the Indiana Youth Film Festival in 2024. Students ages 12-24 can submit films to be considered for the festival. The deadline is April 1 and the festival is June 26-28.
Related
Watch films by Indy’s young filmmakers this weekend
Over 30 young filmmakers will screen short films, documentaries and music videos at the Indiana Youth Film Festival June 27-28.
Jerald Harkness
Producer and director
Jerald Harkness released his first documentary, “Steppin’,” about African American fraternity step shows in 1992.
Harkness is the president and CEO of Studio Auteur, a content creation company specializing in broadcast documentaries. Through his company, he has produced and directed projects for major networks such as ESPN, VH1, A&E, PBS, CBS Sports Network and Tubi. His latest work includes producing and directing a documentary, “When Everyone Swims.”
He has won several national and regional awards such as an Emmy for “Sports Century.”
Harkness, an ’91 IU graduate, has a collection of raw footage and master tapes from previous projects in IU Bloomington’s Black Film Center & Archive.
Did you know? The state of Indiana is home to the only Black Film Center & Archive dedicated to the collection and preservation of Black cinema. The center — located at Indiana University Bloomington — was founded by professor Phyllis Klotman in 1981.
Stephan DeKemper
Actor, producer and cinematographer
Stephan DeKemper used to think movies were real. He and his brothers made home videos growing up, and he learned early on that he had a passion for acting and entertaining.
After graduating from Pike High School in 2009, he moved out to Los Angeles to attend the New York Film Academy, which he said was on the backlot of Universal Studios. He eventually finished at Columbia College Hollywood.
DeKemper has worked on TV shows and films such as “Coming 2 America,” “Godzilla: King of the Monsters,” “The Hate U Give” and “Greenleaf.”
He moved back to Indianapolis in 2020 to help his father, who was diagnosed with cancer. This personal narrative is at the heart of his new TV show “Miami Steve,” which he wrote and stars in. He pitched the show for several years to big production companies before deciding to shoot it himself. He filmed a short version of the series in Columbia. Production for the show is on pause until he’s able to raise more money to continue.
Studio 16
Grant Sailes: writer, cinematographer and digital artist
Musifiky Mogwe-Mulwale: director and cinematographer
Grant Sailes founded Studio 16 to represent the positive nostalgia Gen Z have for the year 2016. It’s also the year Sailes graduated from Ben Davis High School.
“2016 was a really great year for many people our age. I really wanted a group of artists to come together and work on stuff … I wanted it to be a central hub for resources. We’re a family with open arms,” Sailes said.
Sailes, 28, is a digital art graduate student at Herron School of Art and Design. In 2025, he released the first Studio 16 production, a skate film, “Raspberry.” He also released a photo book for the film. Currently, he’s working on a manga.
Sailes and fellow Studio 16 member Musifiky Mogwe-Mulwale both grew up making stop motion animation films.
Mogwe-Mulwale, 27, helped create music videos for local indie rappers like P.S. Maldonna and Mike the $eventh. He works part time at Robert’s Camera and freelances as a camera operator and first assistant camera specialist for corporate marketing and documentary films. In the future, Mogwe-Mulwale wants to make a short film based on an artist’s mixtape or album similar to Childish Gambino’s “Because the Internet.”
Saharra Jhané
Script supervisor, director and writer
Saharra Jhané said “Moonlight” shifted the way she thinks about filmmaking through its cinematography, meaning and representation of Blackness.
The 23-year-old film student at IU Indianapolis has tried her hand at almost anything related to cinema. She’s worked on the video production team at Eastern Star Church and 40 West Digital at the MLK Center. She got paid to be a script and continuity supervisor during the production of a small indie film.
“I’ve done everything behind, in front of, next to, the side under the camera … in indie filmmaking you have to wear every hat available,” she said.
Her favorite hats to wear are scriptwriting and cinematography. No one wants to watch an ugly movie, Jhané said. And her favorite genre of film and TV is anything strange and Black, such as “Random Acts of Flyness” and Donald Glover’s “Atlanta.”
Jhané has created personal projects, but doesn’t plan to release them until they are “perfect.” As she prepares to graduate in May, she’s in pre-production to make a short film about a past situationship.
Sherry Harris
Producer, director and writer
Sherry Harris always had a “desire to work in the arts.” The Purdue University graduate studied mechanical engineering and has since pivoted into life coaching. She’s written two books.
Filmmaking for Harris is a medium to teach Black children about their heritage.
“I encourage (Black) kids to learn about their rich history and to live in their greatness. They can be and do anything they want to do in this life,” Harris said.
Her niece bugged her for 10 years to make a film. In 2023, she founded a production company, Big Afro Productions. That same year, she premiered her first film, “I AM SHE: The Matriarch of America,” at Kan-Kan Cinema & Bar. The documentary was entirely filmed on her iPhone.
Her next film, “Young Gifted and Black,” will premiere at Kan-Kan on April 11.
Jeff Martin
Director and writer
Acting was Jeff Martin’s way into filmmaking. He attended Broad Ripple High School for its Arts & Humanities magnet program and starred in student plays there.
Before attending Full Sail University in 2016, he experienced a lot of “trial and error” as a filmmaker and relied on YouTube to learn techniques. His first project was a music video for a local rapper, Dead G.
Martin told Mirror Indy he was a camera utility on the set of “The Duel,” a 2024 movie starring Dylan Sprouse. The movie was filmed at several locations in Indianapolis, including Midland Arts and Antiques and Inferno Room in Fountain Square.
Now, he’s focused on creating a new educational podcast called “Filmmaker’s Workshop.” He is also working on various narrative short films that he eventually wants to develop into feature length projects.
“Just having that creative itch, (filmmaking) is something I consistently think about. I’ve tried to quit, but I just see in scenes,” Martin said.
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Mirror Indy reporter Mesgana Waiss covers arts and culture. Contact her at 317-667-2643 or mesgana.waiss@mirrorindy.org.
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