Phumi Morare is an NAACP Image Award-winning, Oscar-shortlisted writer/director from South Africa. She is passionate about redeeming the African and feminine identity in cinema. She explores the Black female gaze in telling intimate stories of ordinary heroes, people of color, and women. Phumi’s short films have played at international film festivals, including Telluride Film Festival, Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival, and the American Black Film Festival. Her short film “Lakutshon’ Ilanga” (When The Sun Sets) was shortlisted for the 94th Academy Awards, won an NAACP Image Award, and was acquired by WarnerMedia OneFifty. It also won a Student Academy Award Gold Medal, won the 2021 HBO Short Film Competition, and was nominated for the 2021 Student BAFTA Awards. Her upcoming project, Why The Cattle Wait, participated in the 2021 Tribeca Chanel Through Her Lens Women’s Filmmaker Program and the 2021 Berlinale Talents Durban program. Phumi is a Film Independent Fellow for the 2022 Film Independent Screenwriting Lab. She completed her MFA in Film Directing at Chapman University. She has a background in investment banking at Goldman Sachs and management consulting at McKinsey & Company. She freelances as a strategist at Statement Films, a company that incubates African women creators.