"My love and practice of cinema has revolved around my belief in its unique ability to combine the artistic, emotional, intellectual, and political."
Deron Albright (b. 1975) has been a filmmaker since 1994, with work spanning documentary, installation, poetic animation, and short- and long-form narrative. His 2005 short film, The Legend of Black Tom, played at over 25 festivals worldwide and garnered 13 awards of excellence. In 2008, he was awarded a Fulbright Senior Scholar Fellowship to Ghana, where he lived with his family for a year and filmed his first feature film, The Destiny of Lesser Animals (Sibo ne kra, Dabo ne kra). The film, which premiered in 2011 as part of the prestigious Museum of Modern Art and Film Society of Lincoln Center's New Directors/New Films program, is set in Africa. Focused on the emotional journey of its middle-class protagonist, the work avoids ubiquitous narratives of poverty, war, and starvation, which tend to provide audiences with a narrow and tragic view of the continent. It has been praised by festival audiences for its honest portrayal of contemporary life in this part of the world.
His current works-in-progress include Invisible Son, a modern drama of immigration co-written with actor Yao B. Nunoo, which is part of the 2012 IFP Emerging Film Project. Albright is also developing Leave Worry Behind, a road movie featuring the art and music of Richard Swift from the Shins; Molineaux, a historical boxing drama based on Albright's award-winning short film "The Legend of Black Tom"; and Ceramic Flowers, a modern mash-up of The Odyssey and Ulysses, set in Las Vegas.
