Kira Powell is an award-winning, NAACP Image Award–nominated writer-director and SAG-AFTRA actor of African American and Ecuadorian heritage. She holds an MFA in Directing from the American Film Institute Conservatory. Her films explore identity and inheritance through multiracial and immigrant experiences.

Her AFI thesis short Best Eyes earned the Directors Guild of America Jury Award for Outstanding Directing at the 2024 Directors Guild of America Student Film Awards. The film premiered at the Academy Award–qualifying Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (LALIFF) and was nominated for Outstanding Short Form (Live Action) at the 57th NAACP Image Awards. It also won First Place in the Afro-Latino Short Film Competition presented by the African American Film Critics Association (AAFCA) and the Latino Entertainment Journalists Association (LEJA).

Her films have screened at festivals including Urbanworld, Screamfest, Tallgrass, and Black Harvest Film Festival. She is also the creator and performer of the award-winning solo show Caught in the Mix, which explores Black–Latinx identity.

As an actor, she has appeared in film, television, national and international commercials, including the indie feature The Endless (Tribeca Film Festival), Jif’s “That Jif’ing Good” campaign—named one of Adweek’s Top Commercials of the Year—and projects with directors Larry Charles and John Hillcoat.

She is currently developing her feature films Best Eyes and The Second Child.

Outside of filmmaking, she has traveled to over 40 countries and maintains a deep love for the theater, both onstage and in the audience.

GRANTS & ACCOLADES

• 2026 57th NAACP Image Awards nominee - Outstanding Short Form (Live Action), Best Eyes.

• 2025 AAFCA/LEJA Afro-Latino Short Film Competition, sponsored by Lexus — 1st Place, Best Eyes.

• 2025 Grand Jury Award, Narrative Short— Awareness Film Festival, Borders.

• 2025 Georgia Latino International Film Festival — Best Student Short, Best Eyes

• 2024 DGA Student Jury Award, Student Film Awards — Best Eyes (national honor from the Directors Guild of America for outstanding directing)

• 2024 Perenchio Family Endowed Scholarship – AFI Conservatory (awarded for artistic excellence)

• 2023 Gary Winick Scholarship – AFI Conservatory (recognizing directing talent and creative promise.)

• 2023 Scott Patterson Scholarship – AFI Conservatory (honors talent and creative vision)

• 2022 SAG Foundation Dales Scholarship — awarded to long-standing SAG members to support continued studies and career transition.

• 2021 Hollywood Fringe Festival — Soaring Solo Social Impact Award, Best of Broadwater, and Diversity Scholarship for Caught in the Mix (award-winning solo show written, directed, and performed by Kira Powell)

LABS, FELLOWSHIPS & PROGRAMS

• Sundance Institute – Feature Film Program (Development Track) – Second-Round Contender, Best Eyes (feature screenplay), 2025.

• Sundance Institute – Cultural Impact Residency – Finalist, Best Eyes (feature screenplay), 2025.

• Athena Film Festival Writers Lab – Shortlisted, Best Eyes (feature screenplay), 2025.

• The Gotham Film & Media Institute — Accountability Sprint: Artist Statements — Selected Participant (2025)

• Walmart x mítu Filmmaker Program – Shortlisted, Hi Mija (short screenplay), 2025.

• Cherokee Film & Amazon MGM Studios Directors Elevation Program- shortlisted. (inaugural directing apprenticeship), 2025.