Ayana Baraka on Clubhouse

Bio

Ayana Baraka was the Cinematographer for “Behind the Curtain: Eclipsed,” starring Lupita Nyong’o and Danai Gurira, which documented the ‘herstoric’ Broadway production of “Eclipsed.” She was also a cinematographer for the Oscar hopeful, “The Hunting Ground,” the Emmy nominated film, “United Skates,” and “Giving Voice,” which premiered at Sundance 2020. Baraka was named a ‘person on the rise’ in Hollywood by producer Mel Jones. She’s a winner of the 2016 award for Best Cinematography at the Victoria TX Independent Film Festival and the 2019 Culture Catalyst award recipient at the Digital Diversity Network’s Innovation & Inclusion Awards.

Baraka is the content creator for a virtual reality experience about Black Wall Street and the Race Massacre of 1921 called “Greenwood Avenue.” Baraka’s foray into immersive storytelling came while attending USC’s School of Cinematic Arts for her MFA in Cinematic Art, Film, and Television. She joined a team of innovators at USC's Mixed Reality Studio, a Siggraph winning team for creating photo-real animation in virtual reality. Baraka went on to become a 2018 YouTube VR Creator Fellow, 2018 Oculus Connect Fellow, and a 2019 Black Public Media 360+ Incubator Fellow.