Rising Voices: Winter Dunn And The Seduction Of Silence In ‘Play Hard’

Source: WORTHI PR / WORTHI PR

One thing we learned from speaking with the Black filmmakers in this year’s “Rising Voices” competition at Tribeca Festival is that cinephiles everywhere are in for a treat if things go according to plan.

Part of that is due to the incoming rise of Winter Dunn. She’s a director, producer, actress in her own right and already a NAACP Image Award winner — last year she took home “Outstanding Short Form (Live Action)” for her 2Pac-inspired 2022 short film, Dear Mama. A few years before that was Junebug in 2020, which itself was propelled by her work as a producer on the 2019 SXSW crowd favorite, Jezebel. With Play Hard, her latest festival darling that had us hooked from start to finish, it’s clear that Winter knows what she’s doing regardless of what side of production she’s standing on.

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Assisted by amazing chemistry between actress Alexis Floyd (Grey’s Anatomy, Inventing Anna) and rapper D Smoke as co-stars, Play Hard takes quite the unique approach for a film that spans just 14 minutes by removing majority of the dialogue and allowing the music and movement to carry the narrative. The decision proved to be genius, all while keeping in the competition’s theme of capturing “the future of work” by showing the importance of always making room to play no matter how hard things get.

Taking a quick break while on set of her next project — hopefully more on that later! — Winter gave us a breakdown of her best works to date, and why Play Hard holds a special place in that roster. She also talks on the importance of always keeping culture in the conversation, and why narratives for Black girls and women specifically remain the priority.

Watch our conversation below with director Winter Dunn for a look into her “Rising Voices” story as a Black filmmaker:

• Rising Voices: Winter Dunn And The Seduction Of Silence In ‘Play Hard’
• Rising Voices: Wes Andre Goodrich And The Taxing Truth To Be Told In ‘Meal Ticket’
• Rising Voices: Anndi Jinelle Liggett And The Afro Love Story Of ‘Tender Thoughts’
• Rising Voices: Omar S. Kamara And The Thriller Tech Tale Of ‘Bitter Leaf’