I am a visual anthropologist and ethnographic filmmaker. I specialize in documentary production and distribution. I am a filmmaker, film critic, producer, and film fest programmer.
About
Ife Olatunji, MA, BA, is a visual anthropologist, documentary filmmaker, writer, producer, and educator.Ife has conducted ethnographic observational fieldwork worldwide and in their communities in America. They won Best Experimental Documentary at the New York International Film & Video Film Fest of 2006 for their short film Fidel. But it wasn't until 2014, when they became a Kartenquin Diverse Voices in Documentary Fellow, that they started producing documentaries for distribution. In October 2014, they became one of Chicago's featured artists of the month in filmmaking and began an independent film festival, Collected Voices, Chicago's Ethnographic Film Festival. In 2017, Ife was among only a few documentarians honored by the National Endowment of the Humanities. They soon became an artist in residency at the University of Chicago from 2018-2021, screening ethnographic films and leading discussions on culture and films across Chicago. Most recently, Ife worked as the documentary production manager for Participant from 2022- until they closed in 2024, helping to produce more than 12 feature docs, including Descentant, Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power, Oscar Nominated All The Beauty and the Bloodshed, I'm Your Venus a sequel to Paris is Burning, and Separated by Eroll Morris among many more.
