Avril Z. Speaks

Producer/Showrunner

Avril Speaks has been carving out her path as a bold, innovative storyteller for years, not only as a Producer and Director but also as a film mentor and advocate through Film Independent, the Sundance Institute, and Distribution Advocates, and formerly as a professor at Howard University. Avril has produced several award-winning films including Jinn, which premiered at SXSW and won Special Jury Recognition for Writing, Hosea, and the South African film African America, which was nominated for an NAACP Image Award, four African Movie Academy Awards and was acquired by Netflix. She also produced the documentary Black America Is…, which premiered at the Afrikana Film Festival and won Best Feature Documentary at various film festivals.

As a director and showrunner, Avril has worked on docu-series such as Uprooted on HBOMax, Keep This Between Us on Freeform/Hulu, and Files of the Unexplained, which debuted as the #1 show during its first week on Netflix. Avril is a recipient of the inaugural Dear Producer Award, the Sundance Momentum Fellowship, and the Film Independent/Netflix Amplifier Fellowship. She is a recurring creative advisor for Global Media Makers, and is one of the co-founders of Distribution Advocates, where she hosts the podcast Distribution Advocates Presents. Avril is also a proud member of Producers United.