Playing with Magic: A Conversation with Naima Ramos-Chapman and Jayna Brown
Jayna Brown, Naima Ramos-Chapman
Screening of Earl Sweatshirt - Nowhere, Nobody
Naima Ramos-Chapman is from Brooklyn, New York. Currently a writer and director on the critically acclaimed HBO series, Random Acts of Flyness, Ramos-Chapman makes stories, stemming from true events, which incorporate magical realism and seek to juxtapose psycho-spiritual realities alongside the brutal mundanities of everyday life. Ramos-Chapman’s first short, AND NOTHING HAPPENED, which explores the psychological aftermath of sexualized violence, premiered at the 2016 Slamdance Film Festival and screened at the L.A. Film Festival, BAMcinemafest, Blackstar Film Festival, Rooftop Films, Urbanworld, CinemAfrica in Stockholm, and Tacoma Film Festival where it won Best Director. It is a Vimeo Staff Pick. In 2017, Ramos-Chapman received a Sundance Institute Screenwriting Intensive fellowship for her first feature-length script SAD SONGS IN LANGUAGES I DON’T UNDERSTAND, currently in development. Naima’s second short film, PIU PIU, premiered at Blackstar Film Festival in 2018, won its first award—for best cinematography—at Tacoma Film Festival, and screened at Slamdance Film Festival in 2019. In 2017, Naima received a Sundance Institute Screenwriting Intensive fellowship for her first feature-length script SAD SONGS IN LANGUAGES I DON’T UNDERSTAND, currently in development.