From Stage to Screen: Adapting and Directing IS GOD IS with Aleshea Harris
About this Spotlight
Spotlights feature conversations with high-profile film and television industry professionals who share helpful advice and insights on their career experiences and creative processes.
“Make your daddy dead. Real dead.”
Join Sundance Collab for an in-depth conversation with playwright and filmmaker Aleshea Harris on transforming her award-winning play Is God Is to the screen. Her feature debut follows twin sisters (Kara Young and Mallori Johnson) who set out on a road trip in the South to confront a violent family history that will push them to extraordinary lengths.
Lined up with a star-studded cast (Janelle Monáe, Vivica A. Fox, Erika Alexander, Sterling K. Brown), the revenge thriller tackles themes around sisterhood, spirituality, female rage, and the capacity to forgive. The film premiered in theaters May of 2026 to critical acclaim, earning a “Certified Fresh” label on Rotten Tomatoes®.
In this live online event, Harris will discuss adapting her play, working with collaborators to create a unique visual language, and leveraging her stage career in order to break into the film industry. Find where to watch Is God Is here.
If you would benefit from an accommodation to fully participate in this event, please complete this form, contact us at (435) 776-7790, or email us at accessibility@sundance.org to discuss your specific requests. Every effort will be made to accommodate advance requests; however, requests made within 5 days of the event may not be guaranteed.
A recording of this Spotlight will be posted to Sundance Collab's Event Recording Library two business days after the live event. All registered attendees will receive an email with a link to view the recording at no cost for two business days after it is posted. After that, on-demand access to the recording can be purchased for $10.
SpotlightTeam
Aleshea Harris
Aleshea Harris’s Is God Is won the Relentless Award, an OBIE for playwriting and was recently adapted into a critically-acclaimed film released by Amazon MGM Studios. What to Send Up When It Goes Down was featured in American Theatre Magazine and received a special commendation from the Blackburn Prize. On Sugarland was a Pulitzer Prize Finalist and winner of the Kesselring Prize. Honors: Windham-Campbell Literary Prize, Hermitage Greenfield Prize, Alpert Award, Helen Merrill Award. Residencies: MacDowell, Hermitage Artist Retreat, Hedgebrook, Casa Ecco and the Doris Duke Artist Award. Harris has been featured in major publications including VOGUE and the NYT.
Katherine Street
Moderator | Digital Course & Event Producer, Sundance Collab
Katherine "Kat" Street is an LA-based award-winning filmmaker and Philadelphia native. A cinephile at heart, she writes female-driven stories with complex (oftentimes damaged) main characters, centered around self-discovery, self-love, and belonging.
She has written numerous short-form projects, including original shorts, pilots, and features. She wrote and directed the dramatic short film “Cycles,” which received festival recognition in both acting and best romantic short. She also created her award-winning flagship web series "The New Adult,” which is currently streaming on Kweli TV.
Kat is a Stowe Story Lab SAGIndie Fellow and a participant in the BlackMagic Collective Emerging Filmmakers Initiative. In 2021, she founded the Black Film Challenge, a project that showcases filmmakers of African descent and the movies they create.
She earned her BFA from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts with a concentration in Cinematography and has literary representation with Yak Yak Mgmt.