Iman June Blackwell is a Malay-American film director, documentarian, writer, producer, and composer with a mission to use digital media as an agent for social and environmental justice. Born and raised in a bi-cultural household in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Blackwell graduated Cum Laude from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service with a degree in International Affairs (Concentration: Energy/Environment) and Film and Media Studies. She is currently based in Los Angeles, with close roots in Arkansas and Perlis, Malaysia.

In 2014, she was a regional finalist for the International Youth Silent Film Festival. While at Georgetown, Blackwell worked with the National Geographic Archival Library in D.C. and the U.S. Department of State in Costa Rica for their social media team. She was also chosen as 1 of 12 Fellows to develop an original documentary series on the Malaysian and Indonesian palm oil industry with the Unscripted Serial Storytellers Program at the Bay Area Video Coalition. Blackwell later interned for the D.C. Environmental Film Festival, the largest environmental film festival in the world. She also interned in Production at National Geographic and FX Networks to support Emmy-winning series such as Trafficked, Explorer, Shogun, The Bear, and Alien: Earth.

In 2023, Blackwell founded the DMV’s first public piano organization called Sharps & Flats DC. Sharps & Flats DC grassroots funded a public piano grand opening at Bus Boys and Poets – Anacostia, a historic neighborhood in SE Washington, DC that is disproportionately underfunded by the federal and municipal government. The piano is free and accessible to play 7 days a week in Anacostia and has served thousands of Busboys & Poets visitors since 2023. She directed, produced, edited, and scored the short documentary Sharps & Flats about her journey starting the public piano organization. The short doc premiered at the 2025 Bentonville Film Festival, with a selection committee spearheaded by Academy Award Winner Geena Davis. It will release for online viewing once it wraps the festival cycle in 2026.

Currently, Blackwell works as a Post-Production Coordinator for 20th Television in LA, where she manages post teams for shows including Paradise, Tell Me Lies, and Malcolm in The Middle.

She is available for bookings for independent directing, writing, and composing photo, video, and film. Her upcoming projects include:

• FIRST NATION FOOD INSECURITY – A photojournalism project shot in Uqtiagvik, Alaska that explores the price inflation and inaccessibility of basic food systems in indigenous Arctic communities. (Stage: post-production)
• UNT. PALM OIL PROJECT – A short documentary shot in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia that uncovers gender-based discrimination in the industrial palm oil industry. (Stage: pre-production)
• HOLY HUSTLE – A coming-of-age short narrative film shot in the Arkansas Delta about an unlikely duo: a college Bible salesman and a hijabi teenager. (Stage: development)
• UNT. INDONESIAN WWII PROJECT – A feature war drama set in occupied Jakarta in WWII. (Stage: development)

In her free time, Blackwell loves learning languages, surfing, skateboarding, and playing soccer. For all business inquiries, please fill out a contact form here or email imanjuneblackwell@gmail.com. You can follow her creative journey on Instagram, Tiktok, Youtube, and LinkedIn, where she also shares resources to empower and uplift female filmmakers of color and filmmakers from rural communities.