Michelle Flowers-Taylor and Danny Hastings
FILM: LEADING UP TO 44
Director: Michelle Flowers-Taylor
Michelle Flowers-Taylor is an award-winning impact media maker and co-director of the highly anticipated film Leading Up to 44, premiering at the NVISION Film and Music Festival. In addition to her work on Leading Up to 44, Michelle is known for her impactful films including Reimagining Freedom West (2022), narrated by acclaimed actor and activist Danny Glover, and Black Panther Leader: Marsha Turner Taylor (2021). Reimagining Freedom West made its debut at the San Francisco Black Film Festival and has been recognized with multiple awards, such as the Better Communities and Better Planning and Design Awards at the United Nations’ Habitat Better Cities Film Festival, the Award of Excellence from The Best Shorts Film Competition in Los Angeles, and Best Writing in a Documentary at the Short Film Awards. The film Black Panther Leader: Marsha Turner Taylor, which showcases Michelle’s late mother-in-law’s leadership in the Black Panther Party’s Free Breakfast Program in Oakland, CA at the age of 16, premiered at the Seattle Black Film Festival.
Michelle lives in Seattle, WA, and remains committed to producing compelling narratives that illuminate crucial social issues and motivate communities to enact positive change.
Director: Danny Hastings
Hastings has shot and designed an unprecedented number of album covers for some of the biggest names in the music industry, and worked alongside artists as diverse as Nas, Taylor Momsen, Marc Anthony, Wu-Tang, Eminem, and Jay-Z to name a few. Utilizing his wide network and personal expertise of cinematography (studied at NYU), the young sage began directing music videos, commercials, short films and feature films soon after. In 2015, Hastings started the annual Official Latino Film Festival to provide opportunities to Latino filmmakers and actors in the U.S. due to the lack of representation of his community in film and TV. After 9 years of carrying the film festival, Hastings embraces the NVISION rebranding and is excited for the years to come. “We Are Changing The Narrative.