Emily Kuester
Documentary
Messwood
A feature documentary
Director/ Producer
My feature directorial debut.
Following the 2019 season of a unique football team formed by two high schools — one predominately white, public and suburban, the other predominately Black, Catholic and urban — Messwood is a sports story that goes deep into how young men come together to navigate the difficult terrain of race, class and boyhood as they try to win on and off the field.
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Executive Produced by Participant Media
Co-directed by Brad Lichtenstein
Co-produced by 371 Productions
Dr. Smith’s African American Heritage Museum and Black
Veteran Archive
A short documentary
Producer
2018 Milwaukee Film Festival
Meet Dr. Smith, an eclectic artist who has turned his Louisiana home into a sculpture garden of literally hundreds of figures from black history. He’ll make you laugh out loud one minute and dig deep in your soul the next as he takes you — and three kids — on a tour of his self styled Museum of African American History and Veteran Archives. Whether he’s imploring his visitors to read the paper or sharing his grief from Vietnam, Dr. Smith is one artist you will never forget.
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Directed by Brad Lichtenstein
Produced by Madeline Power
American Reckoning -
Associate Producer
American Reckoning reveals the truth that today’s anti-Black violence is nothing new. Digging into the case of Wharlest Jackson, Sr., an NAACP leader and one of hundreds of unsolved civil rights era murders, we discover how not only how the FBI and US Government failed Black families then, but also now by not solving any cases despite the 2007 Emmett Till Act’s allocation of money to do so. Filming in Natchez, Mississippi, where the murder took place, the film discovers a story of Black resistance that was never widely known, and also speaks to the resistance that’s always been part of the struggle against white supremacy in America.
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Directed by Brad Lichtenstein & Yoruba Richen
In Partnership with Retro Report & Frontline
Fiction
Black Girl Training
Creator, Writer
Based on my life and experiences as a transracial adoptee.
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Growing up, everyone wishes they could fit in. But throw in being the adopted black girl in a community of white folks, and it takes fitting in off the table. Here we find a young Mia Kosh, beginning her college journey where she finally has the chance be around black people. The problem? Her blackness, or rather, lack thereof. Mia doesn’t know anything about being black, but her roommates have the perfect solution: Black Girl Training.
Last Will
Producer
2019 Milwaukee Film Festival
Following the death of their sister, Doris and Elaine are gifted with her entire estate - on one condition: they must complete a list of tasks that she left them.
Accompanied by their sister's cautious lawyer, they must travel to places of their past. From going back to their favorite childhood diner, to kissing an old crush, to skinny dipping, the list makes them look hard at their relationship with their sister and with each other.
We Were Here
Producer
Set in the future, a group of people wait to audition for the part of the late Tom Hanks. As the different personalities come and go in the waiting room, they learn about each other's identities, shortcomings, histories, and dreams. Lines are drawn, relationships are formed, songs are sung, and someone walks away with the part.
Without Further Adieu
Writer/ Director
A young couple prepares for the end of the world in this 22 minute long one take.
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This was my senior thesis and first film.
Virtual Reality
The Colored Girls Museum
Creative Producer
2018 Microsoft Hack for Good!
In March 2018, the Alliance for Media Arts + Culture partnered with the Museum to conceive and build the VR Colored Girl Museum. The goal of the project was to co-create an immersive museum experience in virtual reality -- in the browser. Combining photogrammetry, archiving, oral history and the latest webVR technologies, we dreated an exact replica of the museum in Germantown that is accessible to audiences around the world.
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Ashe '68
Production Assistant
2019 Sundance, US Open
Ashe ’68 is a unique multi-component documentary project. It celebrates the life and legacy of Arthur Ashe, the groundbreaking tennis champion and civil rights activist, during the 50th anniversary year of his historic 1968 US Open championship victory, the year that marked his emergence as a civil rights figure. The film, VR experience, and photo exhibit focus on the origin story of Ashe’s social activism, which was launched to the world in 1968, a momentous and tumultuous time for Ashe, America and the world. Ashe became famous by breaking racial barriers in tennis and speaking out against oppression the world over. His moment resonates today as America struggles with racism, inequity and injustice.