Lacey Duke, C. Fitz, Pratibha Parmar, Deborah Kampmeier, and Stacey Muhammad will be among the ranks of “Queen Sugar’s” all-women directors. A press release has announced that these helmers will direct on Season 4 of Ava DuVernay’s OWN family drama. They join the previously-confirmed fourth season helmers Cheryl Dunye, Carmen Marrón, Numa Perrier, Heidi Saman, Bola Ogun, and Tchaiko Omawale.
Duke works primarily as a music video director. She has collaborated with Janelle Monáe, SZA, Summer Walker, and more.
Fitz has directed feature docs “ShowGirls, Provincetown, MA” and “Jewel’s Catch One.” Her career has spanned scripted and unscripted work, as well as TV, film, and digital.
Among Parmar’s many directing credits are documentary “Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth” and LGBT rom-com “Nina’s Heavenly Delights.”
Kampmeier’s latest is “Tape,” a drama about the dark side of the entertainment industry that’s currently in post-production. Her other films include “Hounddog” and “Virgin.”
A Commercial Director’s Diversity Program alumna, Muhammad has worked on the digital series “For Colored Boys, Redemption.” She’s currently developing her first feature film, “The Return.”
Throughout its entire run, “Queen Sugar” has employed exclusively women directors. With its latest hires, the series has given 32 women filmmakers the chance to make their U.S. scripted TV directing debuts.
DuVernay made history with her last feature, 2018’s “A Wrinkle in Time.” The adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s beloved sci-fi/fantasy novel marked the first feature directed by a woman of color with a budget over $100 million. Her latest project is “When They See Us,” a Netflix miniseries about the Central Park Five.
“Queen Sugar” returns June 12. Dunye is Season 4’s producing director.
Check out the detailed bios for the new “Queen Sugar” helmers below, courtesy of OWN.
Lacey Duke is an award-winning director known primarily as a music video director providing defining visuals for Janelle Monáe, SZA, Summer Walker, Bryson Tiller and H.E.R to name a few, the latter received a 2019 NAACP award nomination for Best Music Video. Duke is also the recipient of the 2019 Prism Prize for Special Achievement for her contribution to music video art. She has also worked alongside notoriously global brands CoverGirl, Pantene, Samsung’s Emmy campaign starring Issa Rae and the AICP nominated Netflix campaign for Strong Black Lead featuring Ava DuVernay, Lena Waithe and Spike Lee. Duke is born and raised in Toronto, Canada. “Queen Sugar” marks Duke’s television directorial debut.
Pratibha Parmar, born in Kenya and of Indian decent, is an award-winning filmmaker and artist whose credits include the definitive feature biography, “Alice Walker: Beauty In Truth,” which tells the life story of the American literary icon. Her ground-breaking body of work spans fiction, documentary and video art. Recognized as a pioneer of South Asian world cinema, “Nina’s Heavenly Delights,” her debut feature was a pioneering South Asian LGBT romantic comedy set in Scotland. Pratibha was awarded The Visionary Award for her body of work from the One in Ten Film Festival, is a winner of the Frameline Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award and was nominated for a GLAAD Global Voice Advocate Award. She is currently a Professor in the Film Program at California College of the Arts, San Francisco. “Queen Sugar” marks Parmar’s U.S. television directorial debut.
Deborah Kampmeier is an award-winning filmmaker, having written, directed, produced and edited multiple short and feature films. Her first feature “Virgin,” starring Elisabeth Moss and Robin Wright was nominated for two 2004 Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Actress for Elisabeth Moss and the John Cassavetes Award. Her second feature, “Hounddog,” starring Dakota Fanning and Robin Wright was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. Deborah’s third feature, “SPLit,” won Best of Show at the 2016 Female Eye Film Festival and was nominated for the Independent Vision Best Film at the 2016 Sarasota Film Festival. Deborah is in post-production on her fourth feature “Tape,” starring Isabelle Fuhrman. And she is prepping her next feature “Dirt Rhapsody,” which will begin production in fall 2019. “Queen Sugar” marks Kampmeier’s television directorial debut.
C. Fitz is an accomplished film and television director, producer and writer, as well as marketing professional. As a filmmaker, TV showrunner and film director she has won multiple awards for her scripted and unscripted work, as well as developed TV series’ (Bravo’s “Queer Eye for The Straight Guy”, ABC Family’s “Knock First”). In her digital work, she has produced award-winning social media branding content winning four Webby Awards for creative digital campaigns. Recently Fitz directed, produced and co-wrote her second feature documentary, “Jewel’s Catch One,” distributed by Ava DuVernay’s company ARRAY. Currently she is working as a director and developing scripted series and documentary films. “Queen Sugar” marks Fitz’s scripted television directorial debut.
Stacey Muhammad was one of thirteen directors chosen by the Directors Guild of America and the Association of Independent Commercial Producers for the inaugural Commercial Director’s Diversity Program. Her digital series “For Colored Boys, Redemption,” was named one of the top digital series by IndieWire, and as a writer, director and producer, she continues to receive rave reviews for her cinematic approach and distinctive style to storytelling and for creating emotionally charged, character-driven stories. Stacey’s recent work includes serving as director and co-executive producer on multiple docu-series projects including “From The Bottom Up,” directing the “Being Mary Jane: After Shows” and directing the award-winning short film “The Creed” starring Yolonda Ross (“The Chi”). Stacey is currently in development with her first feature film titled, “The Return.” A New Orleans native, she is also in production on her latest feature documentary project titled “Second Line.”
