Lightbeam.tv grants awards to visionary filmmakers at this year’s 22nd African American Women In Cinema International Film Festival

(Black PR Wire) New York - Lisa Durden, an award-winning director/producer, content creator and multi-hyphenate media maker wins national short documentary pitch competition about extraordinary people helping others. Lightbeam.tv collaborated with African American Women in Cinema Film Festival (AAWIC) on the documentary pitch competition.

Lightbeam tv is a storytelling platform for short documentaries shining a light on extraordinary people and organizations. Lightbeam is building a global network to champion filmmakers who produce films that spur social impact and contribute to the growing call to action to help close today's empathy gap.

“We look for impactful stories that inspire change,” explained Stephanie Sharis, Lightbeam’s CEO. “We’re honored to support fresh voices like Lisa Durden and excited to share these uplifting films with our global audience.”

 “I’m thrilled for these women of color filmmakers to have an opportunity to realize their dreams," said Terra Renee, AAWIC’s President.

“It’s an amazing opportunity to partner with Lightbeam TV, to produce ‘Blind Divas,’ a documentary following Krystle Allen and Naquela Wright-Prevoe, two blind, Black, women entrepreneurs, determined to challenge the stigmas and stereotypes about the blindness community, through their annual Miss Blind Diva Empowerment Pageant. As an independent filmmaker, I've had to be tenacious, because funding is scarce for content creators of color, particularly Black women, so I am thrilled to be one of the recipients of this grant,” said AAWIC winning filmmaker, Lisa Durden.

Lisa Durden, also a national media contributor, is committed to sharing compelling narratives that speak to the diversity of the Black community, not just the trauma. “Blind Divas” is in pre-production and will debut in the Fall of 2022.

Additionally, Lisa Durden earned her Masters In Fine Arts Degree, in Social Documentary film, from New York’s School Of Visual Arts. Ms. Durden took the leap and launched Lisa Durden Unlimited Productions, a Multi-Media Company, specializing in developing content for linear television, film, digital and live audiences, with a focus on telling compelling stories about underserved communities, featuring big, entertaining, characters.

Some of Ms. Durden’s most recent projects include: Director/Producer, short documentary Girls Matter, which WON Best Animation at the Tokyo International Short Film Festival ‘21; Assistant Director of the Verizon Commercial, Conversations With Mom; Producer of award-winning PBS 2019 Online Festival Short Film, Paris Blues in Harlem; Senior Producer of ImageNation’s star studded Revolution Awards; Co-Producer of the provocative, award-winning, feature film TITLE VII; Conceived & Produced PBS Maya Angelou Film’s successful Live Twitter Chat, which garnered 8 Million Impressions; The former Broadcast Manager with the Black Public Media, AfroPoP Series; Associate Producer of PBS’ documentary, Soul Food Junkies; and Associate Producer of Peabody award-winning, Prime-Time Emmy and NAACP Image awards nominated, Sundance Channel’s, docu-series, Brick City 1.

 “I love highlighting varied perspectives and experiences within our community. We are our content creators and our storytellers,” says Lisa Durden.