About the Director

Kelley Kali, a California native and Howard University Alum, received her MFA from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. She began her film journey with an internship at National Geographic Television and Film, which sparked her interests in using the art of film to spotlight social issues within her local community and the world at large. She has since produced and directed award-winning films in Belize, Haiti, China, and locally in the USA. In 2016, Kelley was selected to work with Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s New Form Digital, to develop her web series, The Discovery of DitDodson which has screened in competition at, the Atlanta Film Festival, American Black Film Festival, the Pan African Film Festival and many others.  She was then fortunate to have her more recent film, Lalo’s House, filmed on location in Haiti and executive produced by Garcelle Beauvais and Lisa L. Wilson, win the Programmers’ Award at the 2018 Pan African Film Festival. Kelley was also featured at the 2018 American Black Film Festival in the Emerging Directors category and is a finalist in the 45th Annual Student Academy Awards.