Avril Speaks

Background

About Avril Speaks

Avril Speaks has been carving out her path as a bold, innovative content creator for several years, not only as a producer and director but also during her former days as a professor at Howard University. She produced the award-winning film Jinn, which premiered in Narrative Competition at SXSW and won Special Jury Recognition for Writing. Jinn gained distribution through MGM/Orion Classics and continues to be seen throughout the world. Avril has also produced several films including Hosea, the South African film African America,(both of which will release in fall 2020), and the comedy Dotty & Soul, starring Leslie Uggams, Gary Owen, David Koechner and Margot Bingham. Avril was also an Associate Producer on the TNT docu-series “American Race” and has helped produce both scripted and unscripted content for BET, Coca Cola, Essence, and others. Avril has been selected for producing labs with Film Independent, Sundance, IFP, Rotterdam and Cannes, and she is currently a 2020 Sundance Momentum Fellow and a Blackhouse Multi-Cultural Producer’s Lab Fellow. Avril has coordinated international film education programs such as Global Media Makers and the inaugural Hollywood Foreign Press Association Filmmaker Residency. She is a contributing writer for DearProducer.com and has also directed feature films, including The Round Table and the award-winning Sophisticated Romance. For more information about Avril Speaks and her current projects, visit her at