Melanin Synopsis
Melanin is a poem written by a 13 year old girl as a class assignment about learning and encouraging her friends to appreciate all different skin tones during a time when it can be offensive in certain communities. A group of young girls, who are discouraged and feel unprotected in their neighborhood, learn of a sisterhood of girls from a foreign culture, who encourage them to learn from each other, stick together and celebrate the diversity of skin.
About the Filmmaker
kiki Finley is an Atlanta, GA born independent film director & producer. In 1997, kiki moved to New York to pursue her career in acting. She lived in New York, became an award winning equity actress and toured the entire United States and Alaska. kiki performed in some of theatre’s most recognized productions, such as Swan Lake, West Side Story, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf, Oliver Twist, Little Orphan Annie, The Wiz, The Color Of Justice and many others.
She has performed in some of the most prestigious venues such as The Kennedy Center in Washington DC, The Promenade Theatre in New York and The Fox Theatre in Atlanta, GA.
kiki moved Atlanta in 1999 and took her talents to the big screen. She was able to garner rolls on such films as Road Trip, Boycott, Remember The Titan’s and Drumline.
In 2004 kiki moved to Las Vegas and shifted into a couple new phases of her career. She became a Professional Makeup Artist to the Famous Las Vegas Showgirls, celebrities and additionally the performer became a storytelling educator. kiki began teaching acting to the underprivileged youth of the City of Las Vegas and City of Henderson that included gang-members and teen runaways. She taught acting and vocal training to kids aged 6-14 during the school year and artistically mentored troubled teens aged 15-18 on stage with their own writings during the summer months.
Currently, kiki lives in Los Angeles pursuing her passion as an innovative cinematic storyteller. With her educational history of studying Psychology and Human Behavior at Grand Canyon University, she has been able to make films that her audience would remember for years to come.
In addition, her knowledge allowed her to write and direct several beauty commercials, short films, documentaries, and web-series. kiki is also the President/Founder of Front and Center Theatre Productions Inc., a 501c3 that offers free theatre arts, filmmaking, and films scoring to teens of Los Angeles, CA, and Atlanta, GA. She aims to provide the award-winning stories of the big screen with the intent to educate and bring awareness to envelope-pushing subjects.
More from the Filmmaker
I wanted to make sure this message was told from this young lady’s perspective. She has been taught to appreciate her skin tone no matter what and pass the wisdom to her friends at a time when skin tone and gender can actually be an offense.
