Tchaiko Omawale

Tchaiko Omawale

Writer/Director/Producer: Tchaiko grew up in seven different countries while her father worked for UNICEF. Her family moved to New York where she attended the United Nations High School and graduated from Columbia University with an African American Studies degree.  She interned for Spike Lee, Mira Nair and assisted directors George C. Wolfe and Tom Vaughan.  Tchaiko produced the short film His/Herstory with Franklin Leonard (The Black List), which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival.  She went on to direct several short form projects including documentary America’s Shadows - HIV Risk in Black and Latino Youth (a Ford Foundation grantee) and a series of music videos that were featured on Black Dog’s website in 2009.  She was awarded the Gaea Sea Change Residency for artists working for social change where the idea to make a film inspired by her journey with an eating disorder and self-harm was born. Solace is a coming of age narrative feature film starring Lynn Whitfield, Glynn Turman, Hope Olaide Wilson and Syd from the music group The Internet. It is currently in postproduction with support from several notable figures including Roxane Gay and its Executive Producer Chelsea Peretti. In 2016 the project participated in Tribeca All Access, the IFP Narrative Lab, the Creative Visions Creative Activist Program and Big Vision Empty Wallet diversity program. In 2017 it was a Women In Film grantee and a Film Independent Efilm/Company 3 grantee. Tchaiko was a 2017 School of Making Thinking Resident fellow where she created the VR film “Shapeshifters” making its festival run in 2018. You can see her work at www.tchaiko.com
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