MEET NIKKI

Nikki Abban is a Ghanaian-American filmmaker, writer, and educator. She has worked across CNN, PBS, and independent productions, including her work as a producer on the 2019 documentary Uncivilized. In 2024, she served as the Festival Associate Manager of Community Youth Programming at the Sundance Film Festival, supporting youth-centered engagement and education initiatives.

Photos by : Farah Sawat IG - @farah_skarim

Production Still - The Diary of A Lover Girl, DP : Kaori Taylor (@Numbuh.27)

Her most recent film, The Diary of a Lover Girl, is a lyrical experimental documentary exploring love, intimacy, and emotional memory through portraiture, community conversations, poetry, and vérité approaches.

Working primarily with analog mediums such as film and MiniDV, her diaristic and reflexive films explore memory, identity, spirituality, Black presence, and the textured space between perception and recall. Nikki’s work embraces grain, noise, and process as gestures of authenticity, often revealing the rough edges of filmmaking rather than concealing them.

Production Still - The Diary of A Lover Girl, DP : Kaori Taylor(@Numbuh.27)

Production Still - The Diary of A Lover Girl, DP : Kaori Taylor (@Numbuh.27)

She believes that cinema should serve as a translucent white veil, clear enough for perception, yet slightly out of reach. She recognizes this as a mirror to the memories in our mind’s eye — present, yet blurred just below the surface.

Alongside her artistic practice, she has worked in education and youth development across the U.S. and internationally, with a focus on culturally responsive teaching and supporting students with diverse learning needs.

Abban holds a B.A. in Communication from the University of Pittsburgh and an M.S. in Secondary English Language Arts and Special Education from Johns Hopkins University.

Currently, Nikki is pursuing her MFA in Filmmaking at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). She will graduate in Spring 2027.

In her down time, you’ll find Nikki watching YouTube videos about off-the-grid living, roaming through art museums, writing about movies, or planning her next trip abroad.

PRESS/AWARDS/RESIDENCIES

VISION/VALUES

RESIDENCIES

AWARDS

  • Student Excellence Award, Johns Hopkins, 2022 (M.S. in Ed)

  • Panelist University of Pittsburgh Undergraduate Film Symposium, 2015