Amhalise Morgan
Director

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Amhalise Morgan is an award winning Director with her short films gaining worldwide recognition from film festivals in Greece, India, Brazil, Nigeria, Italy, Germany, Mexico, Sweden, England, France, Dubai as well as across the US.

Amhalise’s entry into film was through working as a Casting Director in NYC for over 20 years. In that long career she worked with some of the most prolific directors, found talent for commercials for some of the world’s most prestigious brands and cast music videos for some of the most sought after artists.

In 2017 she took the leap to directing and completed her first short film These 3 Waters which was an official selection at the 2018 Blow-Up International Arthouse Film Festival in Chicago and won Best Experimental Short at the 2019 Pittsburgh Independent Film Festival.
This piece was also included in a group art show in 2021 in Brooklyn and jointly hosted online on v21 artspace.

In 2018 in addition to creating a content film for Brooklyn based jewelry designer Sade gold. she completed her second short film WORDS starring Nicholas Pinnock and Djaka Souare which was a Finalist at the New York Cinematography Awards 2020, Official Selection at the 2020 Garifuna International Indigenous Film Festival, 2020 Bridges International Film Festival in Greece, 2021 Kalakari Film Fest in India as well as a Semi-Finalist at the 2022 Rio de Janeiro World Film Festival

In 2019 she created a short film starring fine artist Cassi A. Namoda while vacationing in Mallorca, titled The Exiled Heart which was an Official Selection at the 2020 International Mobile Film Festival, 2020 Bridges International Film Festival in Greece, the 2020 African Smartphone International Film Festival as well as the 2022 Masters of Cinema International Film Festival (Rome, Italy).

She also teamed up with Nicholas Pinnock again to complete, In The Room which also features Tony Award winning actor Denis O’Hare.

In 2020 she directed a music video for Shabazz Palaces while in quarantine with footage shot in Ontario Canada, Toronto Canada, Seattle and her home in Brooklyn New York which was an Official Selection at the 2021 Kalakari Film Fest in India, the 2021 Berlin Lift-Off Film Festival, the 2021 Every Leaf Film Festival in Mérida, Yucatán Mexico as well as being a Semi-Finalist at the 2021 BLOW-UP International Arthouse Film Festival.

In 2021 while in Mérida, Yucatán Mexico at the 2021 Every Leaf Film Festival she shot footage and returned to New York and worked with her editor/collaborator Barbary and created the short, Thought’s Tempo Change with Tamara Taylor lending her voice for the voice over which was a Finalist in the 2021 Boden International Film Festival in Sweden as well an Official Selection at the 2022 Bridges International Film Festival in Greece.

Completed in 2022 Amhalise created a short film for the fine artist, Yamila Diaz Rahi, titled Yamila Diaz Rahi: An Artist Life in Poetic Form, which was featured on Short Verse, from the creators of Short of the Week as well as being an Official Selection at the 2022 Lift Off Film Festival London, Official Selection at the 2022 Scarab Short Film Festival in Dubai and a Winner at the 2022 Cannes Shorts Film Festival in the South of France

In 2023 Amhalise directed and produced a content film for Alexis Smart Flower Remedies featuring a voice over from Norman Reedus, models Tyler Kristian and Ama Elsesser and once again collaborating with her regular team, editor Barbary, composer Chris Joyner and Aria Isadora who moves between BTS photography and on this, DP.

In 2024, at the curation of Mahogany L. Browne, the poet in residence at Lincoln Center and as part of her Seen, Sound, Scribe series, Lincoln Center hosted a night playing 4 of Amhalise’s works with poets, Cyrus Aaron, Fred T. Joseph and Joél Leon performing after the first 3 films.

Amhalise’s work is often referred to as visual poetry, that description is further cemented by the fact that she is often is the writer on her films creating a rhythm between the visuals, poetry and sometimes long pauses. Amhalise performed Spoken Word in the 90’s, had a demo deal with PolyGram records, had a song on “Acid Jazz U.S. Past and Present Vol. 1” titled “Blue Like The Sky” as well as being the opening face in the Me’Shell Ndegeocello music video “If that’s your boyfriend” reciting an original piece of poetry in the music video directed by Jean Baptiste Mondino. It was also her short stint of being in front of the camera Amhalise realized her true talent and love existed behind the camera and not in front of it.

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