Cai Thomas is a documentary filmmaker and cinematographer telling vérité stories at the intersection of location, self determination, and identity about Black youth and elders. She grew up in Miami’s Liberty City neighborhood and is deeply interested in stories rooted in place. Her most recent film, Change The Name, which follows young activists organizing in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood premiered at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival and was broadcast on BET. Her previous film, Queenie, about a Black lesbian elder in Brooklyn premiered at NewFest in 2020 and won the NY Short Grand Jury award. She is also a NeXt Doc Fellow.
Cai Thomas
Chicago, Illinois
Films
Beneath The Surface
Not currently available to stream
(2023)
Trina Reynolds Tyler, a data scientist on the South Side of Chicago, investigates police misconduct complaints filed by Black women against the Chicago Police Department.
Change The Name
Stream on BET
(2021)
Student activists and educators from Village Leadership Academy in Chicago campaign to change the name of a park from a slaveholder to abolitionists Anna Murray and Frederick Douglass.
Queenie
Stream on Criterion Channel
(2020)
Queenie Lawrence, a 73-year-young Black Lesbian and resident of the Marcy Projects, navigates applying for the Stonewall Houses, NYC’s first LGBT Elder affordable housing.
