Crafting Stories: From CNN to Sundance

Early in her career (2015-2017), Nikki Abban worked as a production assistant for CNN’s This is Life with Lisa Ling, PBS’ Driving While Black: Race, Space and Mobility in America, then later, as an associate producer for Emmy award winning filmmaker, Kristi Jacobson.

SFF24 - Festival Associate Manager, Community Youth Programming

While working with Kristi, Nikki worked during the distribution run of the HBO Max Emmy award winning film, Solitary and S1 EP1 of the Webby nominated 5-part documentary series, The Election Effect.

In 2019 Abban was a producer on Uncivilized, a feature documentary - directed by Michael Lees - exploring a young man confronting himself, society, and the off the grid living. The film screened at the 2020 Brooklyn Film Festival, Pan African Film Festival, Third Horizon Film Festival and more.

Most recently, Abban worked with the Sundance Institute, where she led the planning, programming, and outreach for the 2024 Sundance Film Festival Student Screening Program and the Filmmakers in the Classroom Program. Through these initiatives, she engaged with over 3,000 high school students across Utah, curating a selection of films designed to spark dialogue, inspire critical thinking, and deepen understanding of the power of storytelling.

New Directions: Film & Community

Recently, Nikki has been exploring grief, identity, and belonging. She asks herself, “How can we heal by coming home and what does it mean to belong?”

This question and more will be explored in her upcoming autobiographical experimental documentary feature, in which she returns to self and to her familial homeland—Ghana—as both director and subject.

To deepen her creative practice and storytelling voice, Nikki will begin an MFA in Filmmaking at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) this fall.

Outside of the entertainment industry, Abban has worked as an educator in the US, Morocco, and Ghana. Her long term goal is to build a Youth Community Arts Center starting in Ghana, with future expansion throughout the diaspora.

Director (2023)