GEMMA is a coming-of-age story about a Black Catholic schoolgirl from New Orleans, who comes into a set of mysterious powers as she starts her first year of high school.
GEMMA is a coming-of-age story about a Black Catholic schoolgirl from New Orleans, who comes into a set of mysterious powers as she starts her first year of high school.
Renée Wilson is an award-winning director, writer, producer, and performer whose work spans film, music, and audio storytelling. A proud native of New Orleans, she made her feature acting debut portraying Raelette Pat Lyle in the Academy Award-winning film “Ray” and has since built a directing practice centered on character-driven stories rooted in place, history, and emotional truth.
She is the executive producer and lead actress of “Red for Revolution,” a Tribeca Award–winning narrative audio drama centering intergenerational stories of Black women, love, and liberation. The series is currently nominated for two AMBIE Awards for Best Fiction Podcast and Best Scriptwriting, Fiction.
Renée wrote, directed, and co-produced the documentary “Crepe Covered Sidewalks,” a portrait of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, which was the centerpiece film of the New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival and earned her a Best New Filmmaker award. Her short film “Ode to Joy” won the Audience Award for Stunning Short Film at the Maui Film Festival. Her work has also been recognized with the BAVC and Reel Stories Triple Threat Award, and she was named a Jewish Film Institute Filmmaker in Residence and an Alliance of Women Directors Film Fellow through the Black Directors Advancement Initiative.
Through her production company, Meta Mana Media, Renée develops and produces projects that amplify underrepresented voices and honor stories rooted in culture, care, and collective humanity.
