About the Film

FANNIE is produced by Christine Swanson and Aunjanue Ellis. The film is executive produced by Angela Harmon, Abeni Bloodworth, Emil Pinnock, and Stephanie Frederic.

The nine-minute short, presented by multi-media platform chromatic black™ in association with Faith Filmworks, is powered by a community of 10,000 Black artists/activists, technologists, community organizers, and journalists. chromatic black builds cultural power through the disruption of the master narrative through good storytelling. Through its signature project, the Ida B. Wells Fund, chromatic black™ aims to support innovative, brilliant, and creative new voices in a way that the existing system does not.

CHROMATIC BLACK in association with FAITH FILMWORKS
Producers CHRISTINE SWANSON AUNJANUE ELLIS MICHAEL SWANSON ANGI BONES JOHN CORBA
Executive Producers ANGELA HARMON ABENI BLOODWORTH EMIL PINNOCK STEPHANIE FREDERIC
Associate Producers SANDY GORMAN Music By LEON LACEY Edited By GRISHA ALASADI Director of Photography CHRISTOPHER REJANO
Written By FANNIE LOU HAMER Directed By CHRISTINE SWANSON Starring AUNJANUE ELLIS

Meet the Team

THE DIRECTOR: CHRISTINE SWANSON

A visionary filmmaker from Detroit, Christine Swanson most recently directed the records- breaking, smash-hit film The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel. The film was awarded a 2020 Best TV Movie Award from the African American Film Critics Association, was nominated for a Critics Choice Award for Best Movie Made for Television and was also nominated for five NAACP Image Awards, including Outstanding Directing in a Television Motion Picture.

Christine’s other celebrated movie credits include All About You, The Miki Howard Story, To Hell and Back, All About Us and For the Love of Ruth, for which she also earned an NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Directing in a Television Motion Picture. Christine is currently producing and directing the upcoming project, The Kemba Smith Story, based on her screenplay.

THE MUSE: AUNJANUE ELLIS

Oscar-nominated actress Aunjanue Ellis brings to life civil rights icon Fannie Lou Hamer in a riveting live-action short, FANNIE. Directed by award-winning filmmaker Christine Swanson, the film examines the acclaimed freedom fighter's gripping account of the brutality Black Americans faced along the journey to full equality and voting rights.

Ellis, nominated last year for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in “King Richard,” is the sole performer in this unflinching cinematic dramatization of one of the most important figures of the civil rights movement.

THE PRODUCER: ANGELA HARMON

Angela Harmon is an Emmy-nominated producer, storyteller, and creative with over two decades working in unscripted and scripted development for production companies and labs. From casting to TV/film development, Harmon has developed close to 40 TV shows for several major networks including Netflix, NBC, A&E, and HGTV. Her expertise as a chromatic creative has garnered her a catalog of production house credits curating films and finding projects for blackfilm.com, Academy Award winners, Jonathan Demme and Spike Lee’s 40 Acres and a Mule.

THE EQUITY ARCHITECT: ABENI BLOODWORTH

Abeni Bloodworth is a writer and producer, co-founder, and chief executive officer of chromatic black™. Ms. Bloodworth has over 25 years of experience supporting organizations through periods of growth, change, and transition – disrupting systems by linking philanthropy to narrative change and leadership to transformative impact. Abeni Bloodworth currently serves on the Boards of the Predistribution Initiative, Righteous Rage Institute, and the Vindicate Society Venture Capital Fund. She received her B.A. in English and Political Science from Spelman College, an M.S. in Managerial Sciences from Georgia State University, and holds a Certificate of Fundraising Management from the Lilly School of Philanthropy at Indiana University. Most recently, she received the NAACP’s National Women of Impact Award for the Keep Black Love Alive Health Equity Campaign. For fun, she enjoys exploring our country’s National Parks, listening to Gregory Porter, and cooking elaborate Sunday meals for friends. Now, she finds herself dreaming of New Zealand and re-reading James Baldwin, Octavia Butler, Malidoma Some, and Rumi. Abeni Bloodworth lives in Atlanta, Georgia.