Safiya Songhai is an American film director, Emmy Award-winning television producer and broadcast journalist. The Philadelphia native trained with highly acclaimed playwright Ntozake Shange, “Sankofa” director Haile Gerima, and Oscar-winning director Spike Lee.

Songhai’s first films, LadyLike and In Silent Spaces, both follow Black female protagonists and explore themes of sisterhood, mother/child relationships, religion, spirituality and the male gaze. Her first films starred the late Chadwick Boseman.

In addition to filmmaking, Songhai has worked as a television commentator for CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront,” discussing topics concerning racial profiling, the George Zimmerman trial, police brutality and the impact of the murder of Trayvon Martin. Since 2014, Songhai has covered international news as a TV anchor and reporter for Arise News and Peace News Network. Songhai has also served as voice-over talent for several documentaries, commercials, promotional work, and PSA’s. As a television producer, Songhai hosted a five-part PBS series on the legacy of Brown v. the Board of Education and produced the undercover prison-cell footage for the 2-hour “Dateline” special on the BTK Killer.

Songhai travels as a college professor and for panel discussions. Songhai is a summa cum laude graduate of Howard University and completed her MFA at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts Kanbar Institute of Film and Television.