“Black Head Cow” Photo Courtesy of Short of the Week
Nichols’ 2017 short “Black Head Cow” was just released online, and is now being featured on Short of the Week. The short, set in a rural Maasai village in Tanzania, follows a primary school girl suddenly confronted by an arranged marriage. Nichols shot “Black Head Cow” with her students in Tanzania. During its festival circuit, the short played at TIFF and the Berlinale, and won Best Narrative Short at the New Orleans Film Festival.
Simultaneously, Nichols launched Orkeeswa Story Lab, a program and platform whose students are taught how to make their own films, podcasts, and more. At the Orkeeswa School, their goal is to "empower [their] students to find their voices and to create constructive dialogue about critical issues in their community." Nichols is currently working on five different projects with her students that they are producing, shooting, and editing themselves.
Read more about Orkeeswa.