Amberly Alene Ellis-Rodríguez
- Writer
- Director
- Cinematographer
Amberly Alene Ellis is an independent filmmaker, photographer and writer based in Havana, Cuba. She is the director of Film for The People Productions. She was born in Baltimore, Maryland. Ellis is a graduate of University of Maryland's School of Communications and holds an MFA in Film from American University. In 2012, she studied cinema at the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing arts in Prague, Czech Republic. Her 2014 documentary Bullets Without Names was selected as an installation at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum in Baltimore to bring awareness to gun violence and was also nominated for Best Documentary at the American Vision's Awards. She was the recipient of a 2014 Tinker Grant to research cinema and social policy in Cuba at ICAIC, the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry.
In 2016 she was awarded a Ruby Artist Grant from the Baltimore Cultural Alliance to film the journeys of African American youth from West Baltimore as they travel to Havana, Cuba to learn African history. In 2017, her poem Black dedicated to Afro Colombian activist, Francia Márquez Mina screened at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. Her writing examines issues of race, gender and culture in Latin America and the Caribbean. Her latest documentary, Hermanas en Ruedas (Sisters on Wheels) premiered in Havana, Cuba on January of 2017. Hermanas in Ruedas follows the stories of young women in the underground skateboard culture in Havana. The film won 'Most Inspirational' at the 2017 First Up TV Festival in Oakland, CA. Her photo series Havana in Squares will premiere on exhibit at the Motorhouse Gallery in Baltimore in fall of 2018. She is now filming a documentary series, Puerto Rico Rising, that tells untold stories from the island in a time of struggle and change.
In 2016 she was awarded a Ruby Artist Grant from the Baltimore Cultural Alliance to film the journeys of African American youth from West Baltimore as they travel to Havana, Cuba to learn African history. In 2017, her poem Black dedicated to Afro Colombian activist, Francia Márquez Mina screened at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. Her writing examines issues of race, gender and culture in Latin America and the Caribbean. Her latest documentary, Hermanas en Ruedas (Sisters on Wheels) premiered in Havana, Cuba on January of 2017. Hermanas in Ruedas follows the stories of young women in the underground skateboard culture in Havana. The film won 'Most Inspirational' at the 2017 First Up TV Festival in Oakland, CA. Her photo series Havana in Squares will premiere on exhibit at the Motorhouse Gallery in Baltimore in fall of 2018. She is now filming a documentary series, Puerto Rico Rising, that tells untold stories from the island in a time of struggle and change.