AFROCINEMATIKA: A Conversation about Film, Art and Futurism @ MoAD
Like nearly every other aspect of life today, creativity is being re-shaped by technology. At the same time, humanity’s age-old relationship with storytelling has changed relatively little over millenia. After all, storytelling is hard-wired into our DNA; it’s how we understand the world, communicate with each other, affirm our connection to the human community and imagine new existences. We crave stories, in every possible format, and as long as we’re human, we always will.
In this visionary conversation concepted and curated by filmmaker/visual artist/curator Celia C. Peters, we'll explore the relationship between cinematic storytelling, contemporary visual art and futurism. Guided by Black women creatives rooted in the Bay Area, we’ll discuss the ways film, visual art and futurism are birthing powerful creative expressions of human experience yet to come.
Each guest will provide a short audiovisual statement that presents their creative practice within the context of our topic.
OPENING REMARKS BY:
Keren Southall, Executive Producer: OBJECT PERMANENCE
Keren Southall is a actor and creative producer from Oakland CA. She is dedicated to telling thoughtful, purpose-driven stories that inspire meaningful change and push beyond limitations. Her work has screened at festivals including Cinequest, Micheaux, BraveMaker, Essence, and more. She has appeared in major brand campaigns for Rakuten, Coca-Cola, Zoom, Visa, Toyota, Comcast, and Adobe, and starred in the award-winning film I Thought You’d Never Ask, written and directed by Jamal TruLove. In 2024, she co-founded and hosted the inaugural Worst Film Fest, celebrating bold creativity and failure alike.
CONVERSATION HOST:
Celia C. Peters, Filmmaker: OBJECT PERMANENCE + Visual Artist + Curator
Celia C. Peters is a filmmaker creating daring futurist narratives with authentic characters. She builds narrative and visual worlds that reflect the diverse world we live in. Her work is informed by her fascination with the human psyche; a love of science + math; a taste for the avant-garde; and a strong attraction to the edge. She is currently developing the afrofuturist sci-fi feature film GODSPEED with producer Gabrielle Glore and Color Farm Media. In 2025, Peters presented My Future, My Choice, an exhibit of Afrofuturist art she curated for NEXUS by MoAD-SF. She was also selected for the 2025 Stowe Story Labs Narrative Lab for her Roxë15 pilot. As a 2024-25 Betti Ono Foundation Artist-in-Residence, she produced The Next 15 Minutes: Full Spectrum Futures, an immersive reading featuring underrepresented Bay Area screenwriters. In 2024, Peters curated the BHM film program at the SFO Museum and presented at Chabot Space and Science Center. She directed the documentary Shutdown (2023) and launched her sci-fi audio drama DOMESTICATED (2022). As a Cultural Strategist in Government for Oakland, she created media based on Black Oakland's history. Peters curated WNET-NYC/All Arts’ afrofuturist film festival Blackness Revisualized (2021) and lectured at Ohio State University (2019-20). She has delivered a keynote at the NAACP National Convention and is an alumna of the Reykjavik International Film Festival’s 2018 Talent Lab. Currently, is President of the Oakland Art Murmur Board of Directors and advises Sundance Co//ab screenwriting workshops.
CONVERSATION PARTICIPANTS
Niema Jordan, Producer and Director of CINEMAMA
Niema Jordan is a journalist, TEDx Speaker, and an award-winning filmmaker from Oakland, CA. She has a passion for character-driven stories and harnessing the power of media for positive community impact. Early in her career, Niema navigated the New York media landscape and got her start at Essence magazine. She later returned home to pursue graduate degrees in journalism and public health. Her work has been published in Ebony, and Glamour. Her production credits include Oasis, The Chosen Life, Bobby Kennedy for President, The Me You Can’t See, Eyes On The Prize: Hallowed Ground, and Bree Wayy: Promise, Witness, Remembrance. She is also a producer on HBO’s, Eyes On the Prize III: We Who Believe in Freedom Cannot Rest. Niema is the Executive Director of Cinemama and serves on the board of Oakland Kids First. She is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and an alum of Northwestern University and UC Berkeley.
Taylor Smalls, Visual Artist
Taylor Smalls is a contemporary palette knife painter based in Oakland, California, whose practice celebrates the depth, resilience, and beauty of Black and brown skin. Since 2012, she has centered her work on amplifying the kaleidoscopic nuances of melanated womxn, countering their frequent erasure or misrepresentation in art and media. Through layers of highly pigmented color and an exploration of water as both metaphor and material, her paintings embody fluidity, strength, and rooted pride. Inspired by the intersection of identity, history, and resilience, Smalls draws on the rich traditions of Black communities while pushing the boundaries of contemporary portraiture, offering images of unapologetic agency and self-expression from her West Oakland studio.
Courtney G. Williams, Actor
Courtney Gabrielle Williams is an actress, voice artist, and arts educator from Oakland, CA. A graduate of Fordham University with a B.A. in Theater, Courtney further honed her craft as an alumna of the Steppenwolf Conservatory Program and also trained at the London Dramatic Academy. Courtney is best known for her role as Young Cookie on Empire (FOX) and has appeared in a variety of TV and film projects including Blindspotting (STARZ), Soundtrack (Netflix), Chicago Med (NBC), and the acclaimed short film Civic noted in the New York Times as one of the best films of 2023 which can currently be viewed on Criterion. Her extensive theater credits include work with prominent companies such as SF Playhouse, Lorraine Hansberry, Shotgun Players, Aurora, PS 122, Clubbed Thumb, Dixon Place, The Brick, The Flea, and The Kitchen, Courtney's upcoming projects include FLEX, a new production set for 2026 at SF Playhouse. Instagram: @letcourtneytellit
This program is presented in conjunction with Thrive@MoAD sponsored by Kaiser Permanente