TRAILER: Shine On: The Story of Tom Lee, short film
When the riverboat M.E. Norman capsized on May 8, 1925, Tom Lee was the first on the scene, saving the lives of 32 people in his small motorboat. Celebrated for his heroism, Tom Lee was honored after his death by the naming of Memphis's riverfront park in his honor. Produced by Last Bite Films. Written and scored by Amanzi Arnett Dowdy. Directed by Matteo Servente.
TRAILER: Kira Cummings: Against the Grain is short documentary for Mississippi Creates spotlighting the Jackson, Mississippi-based artist Kira Cummings. The film explores the idea that powerful art emerges through vulnerability. Beneath a performance of what is palatable, profitable, and most acceptable, deeper expressions persist, breaking through even the most opaque facades.
We witness her joy in depicting Mississippi icons and her deeply personal, cathartic process of using art to navigate grief. The film also reveals her relationship with both celebrating Mississippi art and her own difficulties with feeling a sense of belonging in the local arts community.
Written and directed by Amanzi Arnett Dowdy
TRAILER: Jaz: A World in Transition is a short documentary that follows Memphis-based, transmasculine writer Jasper "Jaz" Joyner as they reflect on gender identity, embracing change, and the constant process of becoming. It centers Jaz’s idea that their gender is “Black," not just in a cultural sense, but a spiritual and ancestral one -- shifting, and resistant to being confined to a single label. The film utilizes this concept to explore gender as a mirror to the natural world as it can be expansive, grounding, and always transforming. Writing and meditation become the tools Jaz uses to navigate that inner world of loss, love, and healing. Each creative act becomes its own small transition, a moment where Jaz emerges changed. The film also explores the reality of being openly trans and queer in the South, highlighting the risks involved and how art can serve as a sanctuary of safety and honesty. Jaz’s story invites viewers to see change not as uncertainty, but as liberation.
Written and directed by Amanzi Arnett Dowdy
In 2021, Amanzi was awarded the Indie Memphis Screenwriting Fellowship for Black Memphis Filmmakers. The project, handpicked by notable filmmaker Numa Perrier, was a screenplay titled I’ll Fly Away about a Black Memphis family grappling with grief, loss, memory, and what haunts them in the wake of reconciliation.
