Sharon Lewis

Sharon didn’t set out to be a “speculative fiction” director but she grew up on stories from the Caribbean about jumbies, obeah, soucouyants – ghosts and vampires and so they find their way in various forms in the stories she weaves. You can’t control the spirits. Sharon’s award winning directing and show running career includes over 100 hours of broadcast television with a mix of scripted and unscripted projects. Sharon began work in the arts as an actor, she landed the title role in the Cannes nominated film, “Rude,” the first all Black above the line Canadian feature film. This early success inspired her to hone her craft behind the camera at UCLA as a director and focus on writing stories by and about strong black women. Sharon made history when her play “Sistahs,” which she co-wrote in 1994, was sold out in a matter of days, and has now been funded for development as a film. Sharon continued work in front of the camera and garnered the highest ratings for hosting the CBC live political talk show, counterSpin. She is the first woman of color in Canada to host a national prime time talk show. She is a Canadian Screen Awards nominated television host for ZeD an interactive television and web CBC show. Sharon takes all that success she has had and focuses it into telling gripping and visually compelling stories. She is known for her strong work with actors and her moody cinematic feel.

Pan African Film Festival