Section 01

PERFORMANCE & PERFORMANCE MAKING

Selected work across film, music, theater, and whatever other categories we're supposed to fit into.

Web Series

THE UNITED COLORS OF AMANI

“The United Colors of Amani” is a critically acclaimed satirical web series, which follows the trials and tribulations of being an “ethnically ambiguous” actor in Hollywood.
Created by Amani Starnes
Visit Site ↗
Music Project

KISMET

kis·met /’kiz-met, -mət/   noun
  1. destiny; fate.
  2. A joint music project between performer Amani Starnes and songwriter-producer Shruti Kumar. Their sound marries throwback instrumentation with modern production — a reconciliation between old and new world orders. These songs are Amani’s fight to stand ground as a woman and a lover confronted by modern paradoxes of choice and identity.

Featured music film: "Best"
Official Selection — Raindance Film Festival

Composed entirely of replications of scenes from Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, ‘Best’ flips the white male gaze through a female spin on the iconic film’s imagery and psychological thrills. Shot on 35mm, ‘Best’ literally functions as a music film, following the psychic fragmentation of its protagonist, Kismet’s Amani Starnes.
kismet.ltd ↗
Short Film

REGGIE & DOTTIE

Reggie & Dottie {in post-production}
Starring: Andrew Allan James & Amani Starnes
Written and Directed by Amani Starnes
An imagined encounter between Modern dance pioneers.
Reggie & Dottie — film poster
Reggie & Dottie — film still 1 Reggie & Dottie — film still 2 Reggie & Dottie — film still 3 Reggie & Dottie — film still 4

Oldish: Crisis in the Life of the Actress

Many moons ago, 1847 to be exact, Danish philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard, waxed poetic about the evolution of an actresses's career, craft, and relationship with the public in his essay “The Crisis and a Crisis in the Life of an Actress.” Her biggest challenge? Getting "old"... 30 to be exact. Her biggest artistic achievement? Getting "old." In an autoethnographic response, Old-ish: Crisis in the Life of the Actress, I move through and examine this paradox and its contemporary implications.

Written, directed, and performed by Amani Starnes.
Crisis in the Life of an Actress — performance Image Crisis in the Life of an Actress — performance Image Crisis in the Life of an Actress — performance Image Crisis in the Life of an Actress — performance Image
Voice

VOICEOVER

I am an active professional voiceover artist. Checkout some of my work here: www.amanivoiceover.com ↗