Art and Pep are the owners of the iconic bar Sidetrack, Chicago. And they're also civil rights leaders who have been fighting for LGBTQ+ equality for decades, their activism is the focus of their struggle to live and love freely.
As a storyteller, Mercedes Kane is drawn to the stories of real people and how they exist within and make sense of the world around them. The founder of Daisy May Films, Mercedes most recently directed the documentaries Art and Pep (2022, Peacock), More with Less: The Power of HBCUs in America (2022), What Remains: The Burning Down of Black Wall Street (2021) and Breakfast at Ina’s (2016, Amazon Prime). Art and Pep premiered at OutFest before winning the Audience Award at the Chicago International Film Festival and being acquired by Peacock and APTV.
Mercedes is currently writing a feature story and developing a documentary about the dementia choir movement and the power of social singing. She received an MFA in narrative nonfiction from the University of Georgia in August of 2024 and has been published in Gravy Magazine, Salvation South and Capital and Main. She happily resides in Atlanta with her husband, Sanghoon, their children Jasper and Daisy, and two mischievous tuxedo cats. Untold stories – and her young children – have been known to keep her up at night.
