About the Film
Synopsis
Memoirs of a Black Girl is a Coming-of-Age story of a girl and her friends who are forced to grow up and make tough decisions. Aisha Johnson, an astute and bright student, is one of the finalists for a coveted scholarship. One day after Aisha does the right thing, her life spirals out of control and her once-promising future is in jeopardy. Aisha learns to survive, navigate life at school and on the unforgiving streets of Roxbury while keeping her eyes on the prize.
Producer, Writer and Director
Thato Mwosa is an award-winning illustrator, screenwriter and filmmaker. Thato won the coveted “Emerging Filmmaker Award” at the 2005 Roxbury Film Festival. Since then, her films have screened at multiple film festivals and have been broadcast nationally and internationally. Memoirs of a Black Girl is Thato’s first narrative feature. The production of the film started August of 2019 and the film will be completed August of 2020. Thato currently teaches TV, Film and Documentary Filmmaking at Brookline High School in Brookline, MA.
Thato graduated with a dual degree in TV/Film Production and Marketing/Advertising Communications from Emerson College in 2001. Additionally, Thato has an MFA in Writing for Stage and Screen from Lesley University. In early 2019, Thato was a finalist for the Mass Cultural Art Fellowship in the Dramatic Writing category. Thato serves on the boards of Boston local television station, Boston Neighborhood Network and Women in Film New England.
meet the Team
Executive Producer - Kioko Mwosa
Producer/Production Manager - Cindy Severino
Producer/Casting- Jessica Estelle Huggins
Kioko Mwosa has supported and partnered with his wife Thato through her many production ventures including several documentaries and short films. Memoirs of a Snitch is their biggest and most ambitious production yet.
Producer/Casting- Jessica Estelle Huggins
Producer/Production Manager - Cindy Severino
Producer/Casting- Jessica Estelle Huggins
Boston native, Jessica Estelle Huggins is the Founder and CEO of JEH Creative Media LLC. Huggins is an acclaimed Filmmaker. Various films that she has produced have been accepted into dozens of film festivals around the country and has received awards. Titles include Perfect Day, Chi~Voices: A Poetic Film Series, Ride Shade and independent feature comedy set in Chicago, Call Center. Currently, Huggins serves as the Program and Impact Consultant for The Redford Center. Her duties include developing the center’s filmmaker support program and co-managing the fiscal sponsorship program. Huggins enjoys spending time with her loved ones and a rich glass of cabernet. Huggins continues to develop multifaceted characters honing in stories about Black Americans in her personal film work.
Producer/Production Manager - Cindy Severino
Producer/Production Manager - Cindy Severino
Producer/Production Manager - Cindy Severino
Cindy is a freelance multimedia producer who helps organizations and businesses to reach their audience using media and video across multiple platforms. Previously, she had worked for companies like Biogen, CBS Boston, Tuli-Art, RGB Enterprise, Step Forward To A Better You-Conference, Infocus-Entertainment among others. Currently, Cindy works as a multimedia teacher in Boston Public Schools . Cindy graduated with a degree in Journailism from Emerson College.
Meet the main Cast
AISHA - Khai Tyler
MARISA - Carolina Soto
MARCUS - Nick Walker
Meet phenomenal actress Khai Avery Tyler who plays Aisha Johnson in Memoirs of a Black Girl. Khai is a Boston born actor of the Caribbean and African American descent. She has a BA in theater studies from Ithaca College and has a passion for acting and writing for film and television.
MARCUS - Nick Walker
MARISA - Carolina Soto
MARCUS - Nick Walker
Meet Nicholas Walker, a rising senior Theater Arts major at Boston University. Nicholas plays the role of Marcus in Memoirs of a Black Girl. He’s excited to be working on Memoirs of a Snitch. “What a group! I’m having fun playing along with everyone. And Marcus is pretty cool—he’s jovial, funny, and pretty fabulous.” Thanks to everyone working on the film!
MARISA - Carolina Soto
MARISA - Carolina Soto
SHAKIA - Alexandra Cruz
Meet Carolina Soto, a Dominican-American actress who plays Marisa in Memoirs of a Black Girl. This is her first feature film but she’s been acting on stage since the 7th grade. She is currently a freshman studying Theatre and Performance at Salem State College in MA .
SHAKIA - Alexandra Cruz
SHAKIA - Alexandra Cruz
SHAKIA - Alexandra Cruz
Alexandra discovered her love for acting at an early age. She attended Boston Arts Academy to work on her performance skills. Alexandra has appeared in numerous short films and well as a national commercial. Memoirs of a Black Girl is her first feature film.
RUDY - Juliette Estime
SHAKIA - Alexandra Cruz
TONYA - Taylor Phillips
Haitain-American Juliette plays the role of Rudy. Juliette was raised in the Brookline area. She has played in various independent theatre productions around the Boston area. Memoirs of a Black Girl is Juliette’s first feature film.
TONYA - Taylor Phillips
SHAKIA - Alexandra Cruz
TONYA - Taylor Phillips
Meet Taylor Phillips who plays the role of Tonya in Memoirs of a Black Girl. This is Taylor’s first role as an actress and she is already rocking it. Taylor knows how to get into character. She brings positive energy to the set.
KEVON - Juvan Elisma
EVELYN - Alexia Etienne
EVELYN - Alexia Etienne
Meet Juvan Elisma, an outgoing, fun-loving Haitian-American who plays Kevon Johnson in the film. Juvan has been building up his resume starring in a few independent films, booking commercials and taking up with his training in the last year. Juvan is grateful to be working with a talented cast and crew.
EVELYN - Alexia Etienne
EVELYN - Alexia Etienne
EVELYN - Alexia Etienne
Meet Alexia Etienne who plays the part of Evelyn, the mother of Aisha in “Memoirs of a Black Girl.” Her acting career started in her home country of Dominica, where she participated in community theatre. Her first film acting role was in a BBC TV series, “The Orchid House,” filmed in Dominica. In the United States, Evelyn is a full-time teacher and a part-time theater director. Despite her active roles, she has made time for the stage. Most recently, she performed in the Ghost of Christmas Past at the Canton Community Theater in Canton, MA. Her passion for acting has pushed her to sharpen her craft through training in Massachusetts, New York, and California.
MS. JONES - Kim Tavares
EVELYN - Alexia Etienne
MS. JONES - Kim Tavares
Meet Kim Tavares who plays Ms. Jones in Memoirs of a Black Girl. This is Kim’s first lead role in a feature film. She has acted in short films and some commercials. Kim has done some background work on several television shows and movies. She is a singer/songwriter and has been a Boston Police Officer for 18 years. Kim said “It was fun playing Ms.Jones. I immediately connected with her character. She’s a little stern, but very understanding, caring and loving towards her students.”
meet the CREW
John Adekoje - Director of Photography
John Adekoje - Director of Photography
John Adekoje - Director of Photography
John Oluwole ADEkoje is an award-winning filmmaker and playwright. He is the national award-winner of The Kennedy Center's ACTF Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award as well as a recipient of The Roxbury International Film Festival's Emerging local Filmmaker award. John's first feature film, Knock Around Kids, won him many awards and accolades. John was the Cinematographer for the TV Shows, The Halls and Red Monster. He is a part of Beyond Measure Productions. John is a graduate of Humboldt State University where he earned a MFA in Dramatic Writing and a MA in Film Production.
Wesley Ortiz - Gaffer/Light Engineer
John Adekoje - Director of Photography
John Adekoje - Director of Photography
Wesley is a cinematographer and gaffer who has worked on several feature documentaries and films. He has an educational background in animation. Wesley manages his company, FixitPost, a full-service digital media company specializing in branded video content.
Adam Veaner - Sound
John Adekoje - Director of Photography
Eileen Slavin-Editor
Adam has been working in Boston as an audio engineer and sound mixer since 2012. Over the years, Adam has worked with a diverse clientele, ranging from Grammy award winning bands such as Imagine Dragons, to award winning video games such as BioShock Infinite, to Super Bowl champion Tom Brady. Adam is currently working in the sound department of Castle Rock Season 2, which is shooting in Devens, MA.
Eileen Slavin-Editor
Myra Boutros-Story Editor/Editing Consulant
Eileen Slavin-Editor
Eileen Slavin is a freelance film editor with 9 years of experience who loves the collaborative nature of filmmaking. Her previous narrative projects include 4 feature films and 37 short films, and her work has screened at festivals around the world. She is thrilled to be editing Memoirs of a Black Girl and can’t wait to screen the film to future audiences.
Myra Boutros-Story Editor/Editing Consulant
Myra Boutros-Story Editor/Editing Consulant
Myra Boutros-Story Editor/Editing Consulant
Myra was born in 1985 in Beirut. She studied at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts (ALBA) where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in cinema and filmmaking.
She moved to Boston in 2012, where she started focusing on editing documentaries, and learned more about the art of storytelling. She worked as an Associate Editor on several independent feature documentaries as well as documentaries for PBS Nova, American Experience and American Masters. She calls “editing” her happy place.
Anto Astudillo - Camera Operator
Myra Boutros-Story Editor/Editing Consulant
Myra Boutros-Story Editor/Editing Consulant
Anto's background in psychophysical theater have led them to interweave their exploration in experimental narrative and documentary filmmaking with performance.
In 2017, Anto received a Flaherty Seminar Curatorial Fellowship thanks to Ford Foundation. Anto is one of the founder members of the Boston Film Collective AgX where they develop personal work, lead production workshops and have a role programing screenings to promote alternative practices in filmmaking.
Sabine -Camera Operator
U-meleni Mhlaba-Adebo-Stylist
Sabine -Camera Operator
Sabine is a cinematographer and filmmaker from Lebanon. She received her B.A. in Radio, TV and film in 2011 from the Lebanese American University, Beirut.
In 2015, she moved to Boston, Massachusetts to pursue her Masters degree in Filmmaking which she earned in 2019. She has been working as a freelance cinematographer and camera operator since.
Alexia Jay-Makeup
U-meleni Mhlaba-Adebo-Stylist
Sabine -Camera Operator
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Alexia Jay is a Boston based, freelance Hair and Makeup Artist with more than 5 years of experience. Alexia decided to combine her love for Beauty and Art by specializing in Fashion Editorial Hair and Makeup. She has had the opportunity to work with celebrities, designers, musicians, bloggers, weddings, photoshoots, music videos, film and maintains her own local clientele. Alexia graduated from Empire Beauty School and Boston Arts Academy.
U-meleni Mhlaba-Adebo-Stylist
U-meleni Mhlaba-Adebo-Stylist
Bandie Rantao-Production Manager
U-Meleni Mhlaba-Adebo is a Zimbabwean American poet, author, actress, singer and educator who has performed internationally in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Nigeria, Portugal and Ireland. Her book Soul Psalms, a collection of poems is available worldwide. As a global citizen, world traveler, and multi-talented artist U-Meleni through her company Urban Thriftologee she brings a global eclectic sensibility and holistic approach to the art of styling & fashion.She is passionate about sustainable fashion, an expert Thriftologist previous style work included her “ Fire” upcycled fashion collection part of Boston’s Green Fest: Elements Eco-Fashion Show in 2014 , personal styling high profile clients and style collaborations with GoodWill Boston. Memoirs of a Black Girl is her first feature film
Bandie Rantao-Production Manager
Bandie Rantao-Production Manager
Bandie Rantao-Production Manager
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Bandie graduated From Johnson & Wales University in Providence, RI. She has worked in diverse fields such as Hospitality, Architecture, Logistics and the Postal Industry where she gained extensive experience in Marketing and Client Relations. Bandie is an avid writer, she has a collection of short stories. Her passion for theater and motion pictures combined with her talent in the creative arts attracted her to this project.