Kira Powell

Kira Powell is an award-winning writer-director and actor of African American and Ecuadorian descent whose work explores identity, belonging, and the immigrant experience. A graduate of the American Film Institute Conservatory with an MFA in Directing, she brings an actor's sensitivity to character and collaboration into her storytelling, informed by over a decade of professional on-set experience.

Her AFI thesis film Best Eyes, a coming-of-age story about a biracial Black and Latina girl, premiered at the Academy Award®-qualifying Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, selected to screen at the acclaimed Urbanworld Film Festival, and won a DGA Student Jury Award. Her work has also been recognized and awarded by the African American Critics Association (AAFCA) & the Latinx Entertainment Journalists Association (LEJA). She is developing the feature version of Best Eyes, which advanced to the second round of the Sundance Development Track and a semi-finalist for the Athena Writers Lab. Her additional shorts have screened at Screamfest, Tallgrass, and Black Harvest, among others.

Powell's acting work spans independent features, numerous national commercials, and the stage, where she wrote and performed her award-winning solo show Caught in the Mix on Black-Latinx identity. This multidisciplinary background informs her directing, infusing her films with emotional precision, cultural nuance, and authenticity.

She is a member of SAG-AFTRA, the Alliance of Women Directors (AWD), Film Independent, Women in Film, and The Gotham.