Ayana Baraka was named Variety’s 10 Cinematographers to watch in 2024. She is also an Emmy-winning Producer and Director of Photography based in New York. She is a voting member for the TV Academy and holds membership in both the IATSE Local 600 and IBEW as a Director of Photography. She is one of only six Black female DPs in the Local 600.
With films premiering in back-to-back years at the Tribeca Film Festival, Ayana most recently served as the DP of ESPN’s docuseries, IN THE ARENA: SERENA WILLIAMS, which chronicles the career and life of Serena Williams. The series premiered at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival. Ayana was also the DP of the Paramount+ feature film, UNCHARTED, a vérité music documentary spotlighting Alicia Keys' “She Is the Music'' camp, which premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival.
Ayana also DP’d BEHIND THE CURTAIN: ECLIPSED, starring Lupita Nyong’o and Danai Gurira, which documented the ‘herstoric’ Broadway production of “Eclipsed.”
Ayana served as both Executive Producer and DP on the short film, MY ASIAN, for which she won the New York regional Emmy for Public Service Announcement and was nominated for the New York regional Photographer Emmy.
Her work as a contributing cinematographer can also be seen in the Emmy-nominated doc THE HUNTING GROUND; the Emmy-nominated film, UNITED SKATES; and AFTERSHOCK, which premiered at Sundance in 2022.
She was also named a ‘person on the rise’ in Hollywood by director-producer Mel Jones. She is the recipient of the Innovative Storyteller Award from Nashville Film Festival; the Culture Catalyst Award from the Digital Diversity Network; and the Best Cinematography Award from the Victoria, TX Independent Film Festival.
In addition to her work in film, Ayana is the creator of GREENWOOD AVENUE: A VIRTUAL REALITY EXPERIENCE. It is used as an educational tool to teach Black History in NYC, Chicago, LA, and Tulsa through partnerships with the Chicago Bulls, Oklahoma City Thunder, TechRow, and RedFlight Innovation sponsored by Russell Westbrook. Ayana’s foray into immersive storytelling came while attending USC’s School of Cinematic Arts for her MFA. She joined a team of innovators at USC's Mixed Reality Studio, a Siggraph-winning team for creating photo-real animation in virtual reality. Ayana went on to become a 2018 YouTube VR Creator Fellow, 2018 Oculus Connect Fellow, and a 2019 Black Public Media 360+ Incubator Fellow.