Kelley Kali is an American director, actor, writer, and producer. She is the creator of the 2021 indie film '' I'm Fine (Thanks for Asking)'', which has won several awards in the

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upo ...

circuit. Other directing credits include ''Lalo's House'' (2018), '' Kemba'' (2022), and '' Jagged Mind'' (2023).

Early life and education

Kali was born Kelley Kali Chatman, in

Northridge, California Northridge is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of the Los Angeles, California, City of Los Angeles. The community is home to California State University, Northridge, and the Northridge Fashion Center. Originally named List_of_mino ...

. She got her bachelor's degree in anthropology, with majors in archeology and minors in film and classical civilization from

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...

. As a student there, Kali directed on multiple episodes for the Belize dramatic television series '' Noh Matta Wat!'' She attended the

USC School of Cinematic Arts The University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts (SCA) houses seven academic divisions: Film & Television Production; Cinema & Media Studies; John C. Hench Division of Animation + Digital Arts; John Wells Division of Writing for Sc ...

in TV and Film Production program, graduating with a Master of Fine Arts in 2018. She released the short film ''Lalo's House'' (2018), a drama concerning child sex trafficking in Haiti. According to Kali, the film was nine years in the making and had been part of her application project as well as her thesis project for

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

(USC). The film won the Programmers Award at the

Pan African Film Festival Pan African Film Festival (PAFF) is a non-profit corporation in Los Angeles, California, that states its goal is to promote "cultural understanding among peoples of African descent" through exhibiting art and film. It hosts a film festival and an ar ...

. Kali was professionally trained in acting at Ivana Chubbuck Studios and received training in directing from the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Franci ...

. Whilst a student, she was the President of the

Graduate Council, and represented the school at USC Graduate Student Government events within the USC.

Career

In 2020, Kali directed, wrote, produced, and starred in the feature film, '' I'm Fine (Thanks for Asking)'', which was released in 2021. She was also selected to work with

Ron Howard Ronald William Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He first came to prominence as a child actor, guest-starring in several television series, including an episode of ''The Twilight Zone''. He ...

and

Brian Grazer Brian Thomas Grazer (born July 12, 1951) is an American film and television producer and writer. He founded Imagine Entertainment in 1986 with Ron Howard. The films they produced have grossed over $15 billion. Grazer was personally nominated f ...

's company New Form to develop her web series, ''The Discovery of Dit Dodson''. In 2022, she directed the film '' Kemba'', which was produced by MPI, and premiered at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival in 2023. In 2023, she directed and produced the film '' Jagged Mind'' starring Maisie Richardson-Sellers. The film premiered at the American Black Film Festival, Miami in June 2023.

Awards

* 2021 Academy Gold Fellowship * SXSW Special Jury Recognition for Multi-Hyphenate Storyteller to Kelley Kali * 45th Annual

Student Academy Award The Student Academy Awards are presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in an annual competition for college and university filmmakers. Description The awards were originally named the Student Film Awards and were first ...

Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Directors Guild in 1936, the group merge ...

Student Filmmaker Award * KCET Fine Cut Award * Shadow and Act's “Rising Award” * Diversity in Cannes Showcase, sponsored by Viola Davis and Julius Tennon's JuVee Productions - Jury Award and Audience Award *

Florida Film Festival The Florida Film Festival, produced by Enzian Theater in Maitland, Florida, is an annual international film festival. Overview The Festival includes narrative and documentary features and shorts, animation, midnight movies, and educational forum ...

- Special Jury Award for Persistence of Vision to Kelley Kali * Paul Robeson Award – '' Noh Matta Wat!'' * Best Short Film at Calcutta International Cult Films Festival – ''Lola's House'' * Carthage Film Festival Award – ''Lola's House'' * The Programmers' Award at the Oscar - qualifying

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kali, Kelley Living people Actresses from Los Angeles Film directors from Los Angeles People from Northridge, Los Angeles Year of birth missing (living people)