In Conversation with Shaznay

We spoke with Shaznay, a filmmaker and visual storyteller whose work reimagines classic film noir through a Black lens. Drawn to the genre’s melodrama, bold visuals, and emotional intensity, she has always been interested in the way noir handles themes like power, corruption, isolation, and identity — themes that rarely centre Black characters, and almost never Black women.

In her latest work, Shaznay brings these familiar elements into a new space. By merging noir’s atmosphere with the Black femme experience, she creates something that feels layered, introspective, and visually striking. “Noir interrogates the madonna–whore complex,” she explains, “a framework that has historically divided women into binaries of purity and danger — a burden doubly felt by Black women through stereotypes like the mammy and the jezebel.”

By challenging these binaries, Shaznay opens up room for a different kind of storytelling. She explores what agency, self-perception, and emotional honesty might look like when Black women are not seen through a patriarchal lens. Her work aims to expand how Black women’s inner worlds are portrayed: complex, contradictory, and fully human.