Katiana Weems-Ado

Katiana Weems-Ado is a Black American multidisciplinary filmmaker from Baltimore, Maryland. Known for her work as a cinematographer, director, & editor, her films serve as containers, rooted in their temporal explorations of grief and mourning. 

As an educator, her pedagogical concerns reach past form and mode to focus on the collective affect of film-making. How do we create together and in service of what? She has served as a professor of practical filmmaking at Goldsmiths’ Media & Communication Department & Towson University's Electronic Film & Media department as well as a member of the film faculty within Baltimore School of the Arts' Film & Visual Storytelling department. Outside of permanent positions, she has facilitated film-based workshops focusing on cinematography and visual storytelling.

Katiana holds an MFA (2024 from The Royal College of Art) and a BFA (2020 from Syracuse University's Film Production Program) and an additional AA in Film Studies. She is the creator of AXIOM24, a kinofuturist manifesto that formalizes a de-hierarchized approach to filmmaking in pursuit of a truly collaborative and radically supportive industry. 

Her commitment to innovative filmmaking has earned her recognition as a semi-finalist for the 2022 Janet & Walter Sondheim Prize, a fellowship with the 2023 iteration of the Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund, & an artist residency at The House of Koko in 2024/2025.

Katiana’s passion for storytelling and dedication to a collaborative filmmaking process continue to drive her work & she is overjoyed to be joining the Brighton Rocks Film Festival team. 

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