Tchaiko Omawale

Tchaiko is a director-writer, and producer whose filmmaking is influenced by growing up in eight countries by the age of 16. Themes of living both in and in-between fill her work. Her impulses for fantasy connect to African indigeneity and the healing powers of body and spirit. She centers an ethic of care, a creative process grounded in intuition, and deep listening to her body, her dreams, and her motherhood. Tchaiko’s debut feature film SOLACE, about a Black girl navigating an eating disorder, is streaming on Paramount + and KweliTV, and won Special Jury Mention for Best Ensemble cast at the LA Film Festival and an Audience Award at the New Orleans Film Festival. The film was workshopped in a South African township, where the audience was invited to recognize their community’s relationship to self-harm and disordered eating with compassion. Outreach included a conversation about food, trauma, and the Black body with Roxane Gay. Tchaiko’s short fantasy film “SITA” was exhibited in the Project Row House show “Black Women Artists for Black Lives Matter” co-curated by Simone Leigh, the first Black woman to represent the US at the Venice Biennale. Tchaiko’s episodic work includes QUEEN SUGAR,  SACRIFICE and GOOD TROUBLE.