Sontenish Myers

About

Sontenish Myers is a Jamaican-American writer-director based in Harlem, NY. She is a graduate of NYU's Graduate Film program where she’s now an adjunct professor.  Myers often explores racial identity, womanhood, power dynamics, and the heroic journey in her work. She is particularly interested in doing so across genres, from dramas, science fiction/fantasy, to dark comedies.

Her most recent short film, CROSS MY HEART, follows an American teen who upon visiting her family in Jamaica, discovers a secret that changes the way she sees the people she loves. The film has screened all over the world, and made its North American Premiere at Seattle International Film Festival. Sontenish was also awarded the Alexis Award for Best Emerging Student Filmmaker at Palm Springs International Shortfest for the short. CROSS MY HEART was also included in Refinery29's list of The Most Exciting Woman-Directed Films at the 2018 Palm Springs Shortfest. CROSS MY HEART won the Vimeo Staff Pick Award at Hamptons International Film Festival for its “outstanding performances from its two young leads and a nuanced directorial approach.”

Sontenish was a 2018-2019 IFP Marcie Bloom Fellow in Film. She is developing her first feature film, STAMPEDE, which has been accepted into the 2019 HIFF Screenwriting Lab, Film Independent Screenwriting Lab and IFP Week 2019.  It is also a selected script on this year’s Black List, and a recipient of SFFILM’s Rainin Grant.