Directing
"Kana Azhari is a queer Black writer, filmmaker, performer, and organizer born and raised in Oakland and Berkeley, CA. Being a student and lover of comedy, she finds humor even in the bleak moments. Kana has always leaned into the oral tradition in order to survive in a deeply racist and ableist society. It’s also the way she makes sense of “the” world and her world. Her favorite genres to write are horror, sci-fi and comedy— each offering space to play with expansive characters and political topics. Kana agrees that her role as a writer and artist is to, “make the revolution irresistible.” ~Toni Cade Bambara. It’s in this tradition that she feels called to write. She also writes simply because she must. Azhari’s screenplays address the personal and provocative as well as her love and critical analysis of hip-hop culture, multicultural and intergenerational Blackness, queer Black feminism, revolutionary praxis, afro-futurism, horror and satire. In 2022, she wrote, co-directed and co-starred in, Killer Hoes From Outer Space, a short independent film and tv pilot. Her avant- guard debut film encourages audiences to consider a world where sex workers are their own liberators. She also explores the themes of friendship, self discovery, state /patriarchal violence and self defense. Killer Hoes From Outer Space has been screened at Eastside Arts and Cultural Center, The New Parkway Theater and at San Francisco State University’s community screening of Boots Riley’s “I’m A Virgo” (at The Roxie Theater)."