Today we’d like to introduce you to Abie Ekenezar

Hi Abie, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?

I have been a creative most of my life. After I left the active duty in the Navy in 2008 and moved out to Washington State to being my active reserve duty, I’ve always wanted to get back into creative work. I started off as a background actress to get a feel of what production was like, especially more professional productions but eventually I wanted to do more. I started principle acting in 2016 and fell out of love for the extremely stereotypical roles that I would get cast in. Roles that had to do with drug addiction or gang banger, etc. I decided that I wanted to advance who I was as a creative and what it would be like to start writing in different projects. I had the opportunity to develop a world within the space of a show called Strowlers, and danced in a world where I was able to play create extremely compelling characters and see them brought to life. Eventually my road led me to producing and directing because even I was helping to write stories, I wasn’t always able to control the way I believed they should move. The first film I directed was called Prefer-Racial Treatment which had to do with the footage that I captured as a protestor during the BLM Protests in Seattle that showed the stories of two extremely different people that were able to come together despite their differences. I also had the pleasure of producing a Documentary called Bad Ass Women Doing Kick Ass Shit, that has won multiple awards as it follows the lives of 8 women of color in the political spectrum and the patriarchy that they face and overcome and most recently got a distribution offer. My most recent project was producing a virtual production for a short story called Sticky Buns, Ravioli and White Cake that is a concept short film based off of a feature called Her Mad Hatter which is also the adaptation of a book. I have a ton more projects this year that I’m super excited about which start shooting in July and September.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?

It has definitely not been a smooth road. As I talked about before, there were plenty of bumps that I had to figure out how to overcome, like typecasting, lack of diversity stories and overall disrespect in the world of film based on how “young” I look for my age and the color of my skin.

We’ve been impressed with BabsEk Productions, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?

I started my Production Studio BabsEk Productions in 2017 because I had a number of friends who didn’t know where to start when it came to production and what that entails. I wanted to have a production company that gives reason for people of color to have the chance and opportunity to write a script and see a dream come to life. As the owner of this studio, it allows me to operate as a collaborator for those that want to know how to run a production from start to finish. We specialize in fantasy and sci-fi based, BIPOC stories and as I stated before, the most recent production that was completed was Bad Ass Women Doing Kick Ass Shit. What sets me a part from others is that the stigma is black nerdism is so minute that I want to bring it more to the eyes of society. There is more than just being the token or being a stereotypical character and I show that in my work. Brand wise, I’m very proud of my documentary Bad Ass Women as someone who never had a love for politics, it changed my world around following these women and women presenting stories that were full of heroism and so much more. I want them to know that there are other films out there that need to be supported and seen. I want them to be exposed to other cultures and experiences that they’ve never been exposed to before.

What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?

I would love to eventually produce full time. It has turned into my passion and is a huge goal for me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.babsek.com
• Instagram: babsek79
• Facebook: babsek79
• Twitter: babsek79

Image Credits

Taryn Graham Photography