Also known for her exceptional poetic skills, Liza began her poetry career at the Nuyorican Poets Café and was a vital member of the enclave of notable poets that inspired Russell Simmons to bring spoken word to HBO where Liza appeared on two episodes of Def Poetry.
Liza is author of ALL DAY; A Year of Love and Survival Teaching Incarcerated Kids at Rikers Island (Hachette publishing). The book is currently in development for a tv series. Liza was featured in Ava Duvernay’s, The 13th, and was a consultant on Bill Moyer’s documentary, Rikers, (PBS). Her Afrofuturistic short film, MERLINA, won Best experimental short at New York Independent Short Film Awards
Director Statement
Black Love Manifesto is my directorial debut. It was nothing short of a collaborative process with my amazing editor and co-director Jason K. Battle. With strong credits as a writer and actor I was very reluctant to embrace the title of director. But here I am, forged by fire. What started out as “just a poem” slowly and then rapidly over time evolved into a whole film with a score, an archival producer and grant support from Art for Justice Fund. The current climate of racial tension in the country kept rising and every year every month it seemed to bolster the urgency of this piece. Once I began the archival journey with Jason it bloomed into a short film.
Experimental Film & Music Video Festival 