Katherine Cheairs Pro

Katherine (Kat) A. Cheairs made her first documentary video in 1997 when she received a grant from her undergraduate institution, Tufts University, to travel to Ghana, West Africa and produce a short documentary called The Youth. The documentary was about job training and HIV/AIDS prevention amongst street children. Since that time, Ms. Cheairs has worked as a freelance cinematographer on music videos, features, short films, and independent documentary projects. She was also Production Assistant on the PBS/BBC Co-Production documentary series, Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State at KCET in Los Angeles. Documentary filmmaking allows Ms. Cheairs to combine her artistry, politics, and commitment to social change. Katherine has worked with such organizations as Physicians for Human Rights and The Carter Center, and was a Research Fellow with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Katherine is also the producer/director/editor of Makeda’s Daughters, a documentary profiling the work of black women artists in California. Ms. Cheairs is also the founder/CEO of 3rd Eye Films, Inc., a non-profit media arts company producing documentary films and social justice projects. Katherine is a 2004 honoree of Film Independent’s Project: Involve for minority filmmakers and has been featured in the publication Rolling Out and was selected as DeKalb Champion of the Week in 2007 for her HIV/AIDS outreach efforts. Ms. Cheairs has delivered HIV/AIDS workshops to college students, women’s organizations and church groups. Ms. Cheairs presented a panel at the Economic Justice Summit Conference sponsored by the National Organization for Women and the National Council of Negro Women where she shared footage from her last documentary Shame the Silence/Shame the Stigma: HIV/AIDS in the African American Family. Some of her work can be seen at www.3rdeyefilmsinc.vpweb.com Katherine has a Master of Fine Arts in Film & Television Production from the Conservatory of Motion Pictures at Chapman University. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Certificate in Community Health from Tufts University. Ms. Cheairs is from Atlanta, GA.