Lena Waithe to Receive Producing Honor at Variety’s ‘10 Directors to Watch’ Brunch at Palm Springs International Film Festival

Variety will honor Emmy-winning writer-producer-actor Lena Waithe with the Creative Impact in Producing Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival on Friday, January 3^rd as part of Variety’s annual “10 Directors to Watch” brunch at the Parker Palm Springs. The brunch is presented by AT&T.

Lena Waithe is the screenwriter and producer of Universal Pictures and Makready’s Queen & Slim, directed by Melina Matsoukas. The film received the Impact Award and was listed as one of the top 10 Best Films of the Year by the African-American Film Critics Association.

Lena Waithe is one of the most prolific writer-actor-producers working in Hollywood right now, with an extraordinary ability to get projects with black filmmakers and talent produced for film and television,

With Queen & Slim, Lena wrote and produced a story that has been central to the conversation regarding representation and storytelling in the black community. Her determination to get these stories told is inspiring.
says Claudia Eller, Variety Editor-In-Chief.

Previously announced honorees of the brunch include Robert De Niro and Todd Phillips. The Palm Springs International Film Festival (www.psfilmfest.org) will be held January 2-13, 2020.