Dianne Houston is paying tribute to a fellow trailblazer. The Academy Award nominee will write and direct “The Melony Armstrong Story” for Moving Picture Institute, Deadline reports.

Based on the true story of Melony Armstrong, the pic tells the story of “a mother who works at a shelter for battered women and decides to start a natural hair braiding business to achieve financial independence for herself and others. But to do so she must overcome unexpected obstacles imposed by a powerful cartel and the state of Mississippi,” the source details.

Production is expected to kick off in 2021.

Houston received an Oscar nod for her 1995 short “Tuesday Morning Ride,” making her the first Black woman to be nominated for a work she directed. She was the sole Black nominee that year.

“Empire,” “When We Rise,” and “City of Angels” are among Houston’s other credits. She co-wrote “Seacole,” an upcoming biopic about Mary Seacole, a Jamaican nurse who cared for wounded British soldiers during the Crimean War. Gugu Mbatha-Raw stars,

Back in 1996 Houston shared a telling story with The Washington Post. When she and her exec producer pulled into a line of cars outside an Oscar lunch in Beverly Hills, “the parking attendants signaled for them to get out of the line. One valet told her the line was for nominees only. Rolling down the window in the pouring rain, she showed him her nominee invitation. ‘Hollywood is no different from the rest of the country,'” Houston observed.

The writer-director told the newspaper that she was beginning to notice changes in the entertainment industry. “Hollywood has discovered we black women go to the movies,” she said, “and that we pay to see images of ourselves and that we relate to images of ourselves.”