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Luna was born Peggy Anne Freeman in Detroit in 1945 and began going by the name Donyale Luna in her late teens as she launched her modeling career. In March 1966 she became the first model of color to grace the cover of the British edition of Vogue (wearing a Chloé dress and photographed by David Bailey). She also appeared on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar and other leading fashion publications. Richard Avedon and William Claxton are among the greats who photographed her. On the catwalk, she modeled for Yves Saint Laurent, Valentino, and Paco Rabanne, among others.

In addition to her modeling work, Luna became associated with Andy Warhol’s Factory, and appeared in his 1964 film Camp. She also played roles in the films Fellini Satyricon (1969), and Salomè (1972). Luna met surrealist artist Salvador Dalí in Europe and he promptly declared her to be one of his muses.

Luna died in 1979 at the age of 33, leaving behind her husband, Italian photographer Luigi Cazzaniga and an 18-month-old daughter, Dream Cazzaniga.

FILM FESTIVALS

WORLD PREMIERE - 2023 American Black Film Festival

2023 Sheffield Documentary Film Festival

Now Streaming on MAX

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In 1993, Danielle Metz, a first time nonviolent offender, was found guilty under a “Super Kingpin” statute, as a part of her husband’s New Orleans drug ring and sentenced to triple life plus twenty years. She was twenty-six at the time and had two small children, Carl (7) and Gleneisha (3).

Danielle was sent to prison in Dublin, California, two thousand miles away from home and as she tried coping with life on the inside, her children were doing their best at adjusting to life without her.

Danielle’s mother, Barbara, brought the kids to visit Danielle every Christmas and prayed, “Lord, please let Danielle come home next Christmas.”

She repeated that prayer for over two decades until her prayers were finally answered in 2016, when President Obama granted Danielle clemency.

“Because of your actions you’ve forfeited your right to live in a civilized society.”

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With those words, in 1993, at the age of twenty-six, Danielle Bernard Metz was sentenced to triple life plus twenty years for non-violent drug offenses as a part of her husband’s drug ring. Danielle was sent more than two thousand miles away from her home of New Orleans to serve out the remainder of her life in a Federal Correctional Institute, in Dublin, California, leaving behind her two small children, Carl and Glenisha.

In 2016, at the age of forty-nine, after serving twenty-three years, Danielle’s triple life plus twenty-year sentence was commuted by President Obama as a part of his Clemency Initiative to address unfair sentencing practices during the war on drugs era of the 80’s, 90’s, and 2000’s.

Descended From the Promised Land:

The Legacy of Black Wall Street

If the Tulsa Race Massacre had never happened, would Black Wall Street have influenced the entire nation?

In 1921, North Tulsa’s Greenwood District, the most prosperous Black community in America, was set ablaze, bombed, and looted during a racially motivated violent attack against the thriving Black community. Businesses, homes, and lives were lost and Black Wall Street as it was known, has never reclaimed its former glory. The Tulsa Race Massacre was only the first in a line of repeated targeted attacks on the progress of the Greenwood District and its residents.

Guided through the lens of Black Wall Street descendants Byron Crenshaw, Jacqueline Blocker and Michelle Blocker, Director Nailah Jefferson draws a century-long thread from the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre to the present, exploring the lingering economic, psychological, and emotional impacts that have undermined the rebuilding of the once-thriving community.

Through intimate interviews and lyrical verite, Byron, Jacqueline, Michelle, and their family members reach back to uplift the stories of their forebears, the success they created, the pride they possess, while also reckoning with the unfulfilled potential of what could have been a Black Promised Land.

Official Selection of Doc NYC, The New Orleans Film Festival, The Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival, American Black Film Festival, Social Justice Film Festival

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After an environmental disaster puts their fishing village at risk, a father and son navigate life in a dying culture.

Winner of the #createlouisiana 2016 Screenwriting Grant.
HBO/ABFF 2017 Short Film finalist.

Read about it in nola.com.

Read about it in the NYTimes.

Nailah Jefferson's VANISHING PEARLS chronicles the untold story of personal and professional devastation in Pointe à la Hache, a close-knit fishing village on the Gulf coast, following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. This 2014 Slamdance Film Festival Official Selection delves into the worst environmental disaster in American history just as news cameras leave the scene of the crime. While 49 million barrels of oil settle in the once vibrant coastal waters, a generations-old community of black fishermen pledge to fight for justice, accountability and their way of life.

Official Selection of the Slamdance Film Festival

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

Essence Black Girl Magic Episode 4.png — Black Girl Magic Ep. 4

Made by ESSENCE and directed by Nailah Jefferson, this episode follows New Orleans teen Berneisha Hooker as she uses her artistic voice to spark change. Berneisha hopes to create a positive image for her generation and hopes to do this through a play she’s writing; her play depicts a young black man wanting to leave his community to pursue his dreams and make something out of himself despite negative stereotypes.

Nominated for a 2017 National Magazine Ellie Award.

Watch: Stream on the Essence site.