Creative Conversation with Keema Mingo & Sitara Sadler
- Sun, May 24
Run Time: 120 min. Release Year: 2026
Sunday, May 24, 2026 | 1pm – 3pm
Location: Independent Picture House | Champa & Vasant Patel Community Space
Event Details:
This event is free and open to the public.
Registration is required.
Limited seating available.
Join us for a community conversation with filmmakers Keema Mingo and Sitara Sadler to explore how identity, geography, and lived experience shape creative practice in film and media. Drawing from careers that span both major studio productions and independent filmmaking, the conversation will examine how working across spaces such as Charlotte’s growing film community and Boston’s cultural landscape informs their storytelling, production choices, and artistic voice.
The discussion will also consider how their identities as women navigating both union and independent spaces influence the types of stories they tell and the media they consume. By interrogating the intersections of region, identity, and industry, this panel offers insight into how filmmakers cultivate authentic, resonant work while responding to the cultural environments that shape them.
Keema Mingo is an award-winning filmmaker, producer, director, and casting director with over two decades of experience in film, television, and digital media. An HBCU alumna, she has built a career not only on telling compelling stories but on leading them from concept to completion while cultivating strong, authentic performances both on and off camera.
Keema works on independent projects as well as Hollywood productions including FOX’s Shots Fired, The 24th, The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, among others. Her short film Love By Design won 1st Place at the Charlotte Black Film Festival, where she was one of only 20 filmmakers to receive a competitive production grant. She also co-produced the feature film Goodbye Butterfly, which debuted at #1 on iTunes and Amazon.
Keema is equally passionate about teaching and mentorship. As a former Adjunct Professor at The Art Institute of Charlotte, she trained the next generation of filmmakers in everything from cinematography to screenwriting, while helping students secure real-world opportunities. As the creator of The Mingo Masterclass, she continues that work—coaching actors and filmmakers with a direct, practical approach that pushes them to grow and deliver at a higher level.
Known for her leadership, clear communication, and ability to get results under pressure, Keema brings both experience and authenticity to every project and every room she steps into.
Sitara Sadler, born and bred in Boston MA, is a tenured Associate Professor by trade and a filmmaker by passion. She received her BA at Johnson C. Smith University (Charlotte NC), where she holds her current professorship, and her MFA in Motion Pictures and Television from Academy of Art University (San Francisco CA).
John Burton Jr.
doesn’t just speak—he ignites transformation. A TEDx speaker, clinical faith-based therapist, and award-winning storyteller, he is on a mission to help students turn their struggles into strategy and their voices into movements that matter.
From counseling NBA athletes with the Los Angeles Clippers to shaping campaigns for Disney, Warner Brothers, and Wells Fargo, John bridges mental health, media, and meaning with raw authenticity. His insights have reached millions through ABC, CBS, NBC, and the Los Angeles Times, yet his most powerful work happens in moments like these: face-to-face with students ready to rewrite their narratives.
A Winston-Salem State University graduate with degrees from Fuller Theological Seminary and Harvard University’s Kennedy School, John understands the weight of expectation, identity, and ambition. As founder of The Burton Group PR and in private practice with A Talk With John Counseling & Consulting, and as creator of the documentary Hush! Somebody’s Calling My Name (premiered at the 2025 Charlotte Black Film Festival), he is living proof that passions can become platforms. John partners with brands, believers, and leaders to break boundaries, shape culture, and leave legacies that last.