23 Jan Philadelphia Artist Spotlight: Tshay

BY IREASHIA BENNETT

The cinéSPEAK Journal publishes a monthly Philadelphia Artist Spotlight highlighting local filmmakers and moving image artists doing unique and impactful work.

Vibrant. Visceral. Emotive. Passionate. These words come to mind when describing Jamaican-American filmmaker and artist Tshay’s still and moving image work. Originally from Amityville, NY, Tshay has made a home and a name for herself in Philadelphia, where she has grown into an award-winning writer, director, producer, shooter, and editor. Tshay creates stories and builds whimsical worlds across fiction, documentary, and hybrid film. Her 2021 debut narrative short film, GALES., was screened at BlackStar Film Festival, American Black Film Festival, Pan African Film Festival, and across a number of universities and organizations worldwide. She is currently developing Tell me when you get home., a short animated film that has personal significance, alongside Sydney Rodriguez, Velarde Julia, and Tang Danski through her production company Studio Tshay.

The cinéSPEAK Journal spoke with Tshay about her latest film and the themes of spirituality, interconnectivity, and love in her work.

cinéSPEAK: What inspired you to become a filmmaker?

Tshay: I was inspired by watching movies as a teenager. I always wondered what it would be like to create my own movies, but I was discouraged from exploring that path. In 2015, I became a part of the Movement for Black Lives and started protesting and understanding the connection between the movement for racial justice and media representation of Black people. That year I made my first documentary, a short film called Walking Wounded, which covered the topic of street harassment in Philly. I also worked with Scribe Video Center and BlackStar Film Festival in 2015 under the mentorship of Louis Massiah and Maori Holmes, respectively. This is when I first learned about indie film and saw a place for myself as an artist with something to say. [My inspiration] grew from there.

cinéSPEAK: How did you get started on your most recent film project?

T: Tell me when you get home. (TMWYGH) is a 7-minute animated short film that is a testament to love and a testament to family.  I want this film to reach young people living with loss and grief and trying to find a way through. I wrote the script after losing my older sister, Sonja, and watching my parents take care of her two children in the wake of her death. My hope is that whoever watches this film can feel how important it is to be loved and how love stays with us no matter the conditions.

I knew that to address loss, grief, and the spiritual nature of our connections, I needed to build this world through animation. To honor my upbringing as a Jamaican-American, the film is set against the backdrop of a reggae party, much like Lover’s Rock, directed by Steve McQueen. I want to immerse viewers in a visual world that is whimsical and surreal, like Spirited Away or Midnight Gospel. I also want the film to feel grounding and culturally relevant for Afro-diasporic audiences. I want viewers to walk into the movie feeling drawn to familiar sounds, sights, and colors of our family parties while witnessing a landscape unlike anything they have seen before.

cinéSPEAK: What topics and themes do you explore in your films?

T: TMWYGH is set in a land of my own imagination. There are three moons in the sky, a sentient power source, and homes that float on top of water. I hope the short film can be a window into a cinematic universe that includes a feature film–currently in development–a TV series, and a video game.

Like Small Axe: Lover’s Rock, I want to immerse audiences in a movie that looks, sounds, tastes, and smells like a reggae party. We’re working with an incredible artist, Black Buttafly, to create an original soundtrack inspired by the Caribbean parties I attended as a child.

The world feels full of the magic and whimsy and silliness that’s inside of me and is also infused with the deeper lessons that I’ve learned about what’s valuable to me: our connections with each other, the importance of teaching young people about where they come from, and the role that grief plays in allowing us to connect with our loved ones. The story is steeped in my love for family and wider community and a sense of curiosity about the world and how we live in it. 

cinéSPEAK: How has Philadelphia shaped you?

T: I’ve been immensely shaped by my community in Philly. If it weren’t for BlackStar and my filmmaking community here, I’m not sure where I’d be. There are so many avenues to explore the arts here, and there is a genuine connection and love between people. I’m hella grateful to be making my life as an artist in this city now.

cinéSPEAK: What impact do you hope to have in Philadelphia?

T: I began my career as a filmmaker working with two amazing Philly institutions: BlackStar Film Festival (now BlackStar Projects) and Scribe Video Center. My mentors at these organizations, Maori Karmael Holmes and Louis Massiah, showed me the power of using cinema as a tool to advance the call for justice in Black America and the Afro-diaspora at large. The filmmaking community in Philly makes me feel that it is not only possible but necessary, as a young Black person, to tell my story through the form of film. In Philly there is fellowship around cinema: I constantly attend screenings, talk-backs, gatherings, and events with local artists, media-makers, and film enthusiasts who see the power and potential of movie-making and video. This is a community of people who care about aesthetics, technical skill and craft, and who also understand the need to raise the consciousness of the people, to borrow Amiri Baraka’s language. The filmmaking community in Philly understands that movies can and should be employed to create a world where all of us are free from the harms of colonization and war-mongering. Being in Philly created a watering hole for me. And it ended up being the place where I made lifelong friends, collaborators, and chosen family. 

If you would like to keep up with Tshay’s work, you can check out her website or follow her on Instagram @studiotshay. You can also support her upcoming film, Tell me when you get home., by donating to her Seed & Spark.

*Featured Image: Image of Tshay. Image credit: Naomieh Jovin.

Would you like to be featured in a future spotlight? Please fill out the Philadelphia Artist Spotlight form. The cinéSPEAK Journal maintains sole discretion over the publishing of any information provided via the form. Questions: journal@cinespeak.org

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Ireashia M. Bennett (they/them) is a Philadelphia-based filmmaker, photographer, and writer whose work aims to celebrate Black queer and disabled folks in the form of new media, short films, and photoessays. They earned a B.A. in Journalism from Columbia College Chicago and are pursuing an MFA in Film and Media