Emmy-winning director Daresha Kyi, who writes and produces film and TV in Spanish and English, has signed with WME.
Kyi directed Mama Bears, a film about the impact of a support group for conservative, Christian mothers of LGBTQ children, that debuted in the documentary feature competition at SXSW this year. The doc will also play at Michael Moore’s Traverse City Film Festival.
Kyi also directed a short documentary for Time Studios and the SpringHill Company, Georgia Going Blue, about a Georgia-based grassroots organizations working to fight voter suppression in Georgia and around the U.S.
She is currently in postproduction on Black Voters Matter, a feature documentary that follows Cliff and April Albright’s and LaTosha Brown’s rise from aspiring acolytes to game-changing civil rights leaders and the pivotal role they played in helping Georgia flip from red to blue in 2020 and 2021.
The ACLU commissioned Kyi to direct Trans In America: Texas Strong, a portrait of Kai Shappley, a 6-year-old trans girl fighting Texas’ anti-trans bathroom bills with her mother, Kimberly.
That film earned around 3.5 million views online, premiered at SXSW and went on to win the news & documentary Emmy award for outstanding short documentary, as well as two Webby Awards.
In 2017, Kyi co-directed and co-produced Chavela, an award-winning Spanish-language documentary about iconic, lesbian ranchera singer Chavela Vargas, while she also produced Dispatches from Cleveland.
Kyi continues to be managed by James Shani of ColorCreative.
