Dehanza Rogers is an Emmy-nominated Afro-Panamanian American filmmaker whose work is in direct conversation with Blackness, specifically Black girlhood. Dehanza participated in Film Independent’s diversity program, Project Involve. Her films have screened both nationally and internationally, including at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), and most recently at the Venice Biennale and The Kennedy Center, and screened on both the Public Broadcasting Service and cable television. Her films have also been in exhibition including the historic Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia. Dehanza is currently an Assistant Professor of Filmmaking at Emory University in Atlanta. She received her B.A. in Anthropology from California State University, Northridge with a focus in folklore and refugee studies, and an M.F.A. in Directing and an M.F.A. in Cinematography from the School of Theater, Film and Television of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Her current feature film project focuses on Black girlhood and Black motherhood in the carceral system.

Her Mother’s Day — Born while her mother is incarcerated, a little girl grows into a woman through yearly Mother’s Day visits with her estranged mother.