Ellie Foumbi is an actor/writer/director born in Cameroon, West Africa. Her award-winning short film,
Zenith was a semifinalist of the 44th Student Academy Awards. It won several prizes, including the IFP
Audience Award, Best Student Director at the Black Star International Film Festival, and the Grand Jury
Prize for Best Short Screenplay at the Rhode Island International Film Festival. Her films have been
selected to screen at several international film festivals, including BOGO Shorts, Champs-Elysées Film
Festival, among others. One of her feature film projects, Close, was selected for the IFP No Borders
Project Forum. Her producing credits include the Student BAFTA Award Winner and Gold Student
Academy Award-Winning short film, Nocturne in Black. She’s the recipient of the Jesse Thompkins III
Award in Screenwriting and an IFP Marcie Bloom Fellow. Foumbi holds an MFA from Columbia
University’s School of the Arts in directing.