CONTESSA GAYLES – Director, Producer, Director of Photography, Editor, Writer Contessa is a non-fiction director, DP, editor and Emmy-nominated producer. She tells stories about identity, socio-political movement, healing, Black liberation and radical imagination. Contessa’s feature-length documentary visual album, SONGS FROM THE HOLE, world premiered at SXSW 2024, where it won the Visions Audience Award. Her work has been supported by Impact Partners, Field of Vision, Open Society Foundation and the IDA. She is a former Firelight Media, Chicken & Egg Pictures and Soros Media Justice Fellow. Other directorial credits include THE FEMINIST ON CELLBLOCK Y (CNN, 2018) and DEBUTANTES (Tribeca premiere, 2024).