Nailah Jefferson
Nailah Jefferson is a New Orleans born filmmaker intrigued and inspired by the enduring human spirit, whose work spans fiction and nonfiction. Her most recent film,
“Commuted,” premiered at the 2023 New Orleans film festival where it won the AudienceAward for Best Documentary and Best Louisiana Documentary. “Commuted”told the story of Danielle Metz, a woman whose triple life drug sentence was commuted by President Obama after serving 23 years. The film is available on PBS. 2023 also saw the debut of Nailah’s acclaimed HBO Original documentary, “Donyale Luna: Supermodel” about the first Black supermodel to grace the covers of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, but whose legacy was lost to history. The film was nominated for a 2024 Grierson Trust Award for Best Arts Documentary.
