Renata Romain

Renata Romain is an American documentary filmmaker of Afro-Panamanian descent whose work engages diasporic histories through an intersectional lens.

Romain spent years as a national radio broadcaster at SiriusXM and a television producer at Court TV, where she developed interviewing expertise spanning politics, culture, and entertainment.

She holds a Master’s degree in Documentary Film from New York University, where her research focused on the tension between artistic form and nonfiction storytelling, with an emphasis on documentary as a cinematic art rather than a didactic record. Her professional experience includes work with Florentine Films and alongside filmmaker Sam Pollard, contributing to historically grounded, archival-driven projects.

Romain is currently developing her feature debut film, Panama in Black. The film emerges from both personal lineage and sustained research, tracing Afro-Caribbean Panamanian histories through archival investigation in Panama and the United States. Her connection to the material is rooted in family history, diaspora, and a long engagement with the political and cultural legacy of the Canal Zone and its global Black networks.

She approaches the film as both director and originating producer, with a commitment to authorship, ethical collaboration, and cinematic discipline.