Production · Writer / Director · Est. Chicago
Eliyannah Amirah Yisrael
A working director. A Chicago storyteller.
I make Hood New Wave cinema for Black America. Films with the formal seriousness of Italian Neorealism and the raw subjectivity of a Drill-era music video, shot on film, for the people the films are about. My focus is the Black Midwest, the region too often left out of the story of Black America. The stories of Black America deserve high art the people who live those stories can actually watch. That is what the work is for.
01 / A
Hero Image Slot
Your strongest single still or portrait. A frame from Caterpillar, a BTS still you love, or the Sunshine Moxie photo you've always loved. One image at the top of the call sheet.
HERO · 01A 35MM / DIGITAL
Current Production
The Caterpillar
and The Butterfly
Feature · In Development
Status
Actively
Pitching
Actors · Producers · Agents
Based In
Chicago
& LA
Will Travel For Work
Now On Deck
From
The Forest
Newsletter · Launches May 3
Scenes Scheduled Today 04 on the call
SC 02 Scenes / The Work
Feature, webseries, commercial, music video. The working filmography, scene by scene.
NARRATIVE
Open →
SC 03 Crew / About
Above the line, below the line, references, continuity. The director in full.
CREW LIST
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SC 04 The Forest
The parent company. The ecosystem. What I mean when I say I'm building.
PARENT CO
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SC 08 Hit Me Up
Representation inquiries, project conversations, press. One clean path.
CONTACT
Open →
The Mothership · Monthly
From the Forest — dispatches from the woman doing the building.
A personal letter from Eliyannah, once a month. What she's writing, directing, building, and reading. Cultural commentary, behind-the-scenes, the view from inside the forest. Launches May 3.
This site is a working document. A call sheet. A binder kept by a director who takes production seriously and takes her own joy seriously. Pages will be added. Scenes will be revised. The pink page means the revision matters.
— E.A.Y., Producer of the Day