Director In-Residence Program
Comfrey Films is thrilled to announce the launch of our Director in Residence Program for Black transgender, gender non-conforming, and intersex (TGNCI) filmmakers.
In the upcoming cycle, we will select two filmmakers as directors in residence at Comfrey Films. "These filmmakers will receive support including thought partnership, funding, networking opportunities, and other access to resources as they become available such as professional development workshops and mentorship to support the creation and exhibition of their short film.
Comfrey Films is focused on cultural organizing and narrative power led by and for Black Trans, Gender Non-Conforming, and Intersex people. We are dedicated to amplifying the voices and experiences of Black TGNCI individuals and communities through film. This is why we launched the Director In Residence Program in 2022. We encourage filmmakers to submit short films of any genre that challenge Black TGNCI erasure and transphobic narratives, while cultivating joy, healing, and resilience in our community.
The two selected Directors will receive a $25,000 fund distributed incrementally throughout the 18-month fellowship period to support the creation of their short film.
2023-2024 Director In Residence:
Mickaela Bradford
Mickaela “Micky” B is a descendant of the first “free” Black welders on lands stewarded by the Mvskoke-Creek tribes (Southwest Georgia). They find freedom in welding artistic expression and southern organizing culture to make liberation irresistible. Micky is a 2nd degree Blackbelt in TaeKwonDo, a Kemetic yoga practitioner, amateur photographer, poet, playwright, vogue femme dancer, and advocate for Black trans communities right to self defense weapons and firearms.
For 8 years, across the deep south and nationally, Mickaela "Micky B" has trained grassroots activists in organizing intersectional power since she was a youth organizer for Spark Reproductive Justice NOW. Following the leadership of a multi-racial national coalition, they co-wrote “The Trans Agenda For Liberation”, and now lead as “Co-Deputy Director of Programs & Policy” at the Transgender Law Center. Micky has been grounded by and lifted up as alumna of Auburn Seminaries Sojourner Truth Leadership Circle (2018 cohort) , 2018 Atlanta Pride Grand Marshal, co-founder and board director of Southern Fried Queer Pride festival (till 2019) and 2020 film fellow with Comfrey Films fka House of Pentacles.
You can find them in East Atlanta eating fried plant-based foods after long days of voguing in resistance to the police state.
Under False Colors
In Reconstruction Era Memphis, two Black women, Frances Thompson and Lucy Smith, redefine the words freedom and community by holding and healing one another in the aftermath of a historic massacre.
Directed by: Mickaela Lluvia Bradford
Written by: Mickaela Lluvia Bradford & Serayah Silver
Produced by: Joie Lou Shakur
Starring: Simone Immanuel and Maxine Éloi