Zinha Productions
Envisioning New Suns
Biography
Emma “Zinha” Morgan-Bennett is a writer/director, a film programmer, and author. Zinha trained as a director at Goldsmiths University of London. Her award-winning and nominated short films Mama, I’m Through (‘22) and If Her World Ends (‘23) played at Rhodes Island Flicker Film Festival, Watersprite Film Festival, Tallgrass Film Festival, the BFI Future Film Festival, YoFiFest, The Yonkers Film Festival and more.
Zinha has been a programmer and occasional jury member for Sheffield DocFest since 2022. She has been named a resident of the Birmingham Open Media (BOM) lab; Rosemary’s House Writing Residency; Sheffield DocFest’s Alternate Realities Talent Artists; and the Future of Film Incubator. Her writing on Reproductive Justice and Black Motherhood has been published by Haymarket Press in So We Can Know and in 2020, Zinha was awarded the prestigious Marshall Scholarship after receiving her BA (High Honors) from Swarthmore College.
Zinha is currently developing a number of immersive film and narrative short film projects.
Professional History
Education and Positions
Education
September 2016 - May 2020
Swarthmore College. Graduated with Phi Beta Kappa and with High Honors. Awarded National McCabe Scholarship by Swarthmore for 2016-2020.
Marshall Scholar '20
November 2020 - Present
Awarded the Marshall Scholarship for 2020-2022. Pursuing a MA of Filmmaking (Screen documentary) at Goldsmiths, University of London for 2020-21. Then will begin a Doctorate of Social Policy and Intervention at Oxford for 2021-22.
Co-Director, E.A.T.T. Company
March 2015 - Present
Co-founder and Executive Director of Eat at the Table Theatre Company; a fiscally sponsored, sole proprietor, non-profit organization. Established EATT, a youth multi-media company, to create space for young creatives of color to explore and celebrate race through repurposed and original theatrical pieces. Obtained partnership with Manhattan Class Company (MCC) Theater. Oversaw $10,000 budget from 2015-2020.
Awards and Honors
Awards, grants and fellowships won individually or as a group
2020
NCAA WOTY (Finalist)
Nominee and top 30 finalist for NCAA Woman of the Year. The NCAA Woman of the Year award honors graduating female student-athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletics excellence, service and leadership.
2019
William J Cooper Grant
A Foundation Grant awarded in support of topical events in a future academic year featuring guests who are eminent in their fields. Awarded $27,300.00 for creation and coordination of, “Beyond The Field: Activism, Athletics, and Empowerment in the Modern Political Era” a day for the Eagles champion and anti-incarceration activist, Malcolm Jenkins, to visit Swarthmore and discuss the intersections of political dissent and athletic capital.