Nneka Onuorah

Nneka Onuorah (born 1988)[1] is an American director and producer. She is best known for her directorial debut, The Same Difference (2015), about gender roles in the Black lesbian community.[2][3]

Early life and education

Onuorah was born in Queens, New York and raised in the LeFrak City neighborhood.[4] Her father is Nigerian and her mother is African-American.[5][6] She moved to Atlanta to live with her grandmother in fifth grade and moved back to Queens for high school. She studied dance at Broadway Dance Center,[7] and later received her associate degree in psychology from LaGuardia Community College.[8]

Career

Onuorah took an internship at BET in 2009 and was later hired as a producer. [3] She worked on Black Girls Rock! and various music documentaries.[5] After six years, Onuorah left the network to work on her first film, The Same Difference.[3] Her stated inspiration to produce the documentary was the dearth of representations of Black LGBTQIA people in mainstream media.[5][3]

Onuorah launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund The Same Difference, a documentary about strict behavioral roles for studs and femmes in Black lesbian communities.[4][6] She has spoken about experiencing backlash from other lesbians when she chose to dress feminine rather than her usual masculine of center presentation.[6] Onuorah failed to reach her fundraising goal and instead independently financed the film.[4][7] The Same Difference premiered in June 2015.[4]

She directed the Netflix series First and Last and produced My House, a Viceland series about New York's Black and Latinx ballroom community.[4][9] She attended balls during adolescence and walked in the Butch category.[9]

In 2019, she announced a project co-directed and co-produced with Giselle Bailey about Nigerian LGBTQ people who have left the country seeking asylum due to anti-LGBTQ laws.[5] That year they also released a documentary called Burn Down The House about Parisian dancer Kiddy Smile, which premiered at NewFest LGTBQ Film Festival.[2]

Personal life

Onuorah is a lesbian.[4] She began to identify as a lesbian at age 14.[7] She was raised Christian.[6]

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gollark: --tel call MatsWidenBacon
gollark: What?!
gollark: --tel call MatsWidenBacon
gollark: --tel call MatsWidenBacon

References
  1. Finn, Robin (2011-05-18). "Dancer at Heart, and Executive in the Making". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  2. Ramos, Dino-Ray (2019-09-19). "NewFest: LGBTQ Film Festival Unveils Lineup Including Docu 'All We've Got', 'Drag Kids' and 'The True Adventures Of Wolfboy'". Deadline. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  3. Compton, Julie. "OutFront: Filmmaker on a Mission to 'Make the Invisible Visible'". NBC News. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
  4. Clark, Michell C. (June 10, 2019). "Filmmaker Nneka Onuorah Wants The LGBTQ+ Community "To Walk In Freedom, Not Survival"". MTV News. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
  5. Bowen, Sesali. "Meet The Two Black Women Capturing Global Queer Stories". Nylon. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
  6. Marty, Robin (2016-06-21). "The Stereotypes Lesbians Must Fight Against". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  7. "Filmmaker Nneka Onuorah On Her Passion For TV And Film". AZ Magazine. 2016-11-21. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  8. "LaGuardia Graduate Climbs Black Entertainment Television Network Ranks". City University of New York. June 20, 2014. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  9. Barksdale, Aaron (2019-07-03). "'my house' shows voguing is much more than madonna and 'drag race'". i-D. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
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