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ZAIRE: A Film Noir-Inspired Story

Filmed during DC's 2025 military occupation, ZAIRE explores the quarantine distance that united two souls who longed for human comfort beyond closed doors.

  • Iman DuPree
    Director
  • Iman DuPree
    Writer
  • Britteney Black Rose Kapri
    Writer
  • Essex Hemphill
    Writer
    Tongues Untied
  • David Warren Frechette
    Writer
  • Iman DuPree
    Producer
  • Carmen Banks
    Producer
    The Miss Pat Show, WandaVision, BET’s The Game
  • Aaron Allen Davis
    Producer
  • Carmen Banks
    Key Cast
    "Zaire Okundaye"
    The Miss Pat Show, WandaVision, BET’s The Game
  • Benji
    Key Cast
    "Marcus Johnson"
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Genres:
    Drama, Romance, LGBTQ, Trans, Transgender
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 14 minutes 36 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    February 28, 2026
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.4.1
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Distribution Information
  • The Iman DuPree Arthouse
    Distributor
    Country: Worldwide
    Rights: Internet, Video on Demand, Pay Per View, Theatrical
Director Biography - Iman DuPree

hailing from chesapeake, va iman dupree is a trans nonbinary, maryland based artist. after a 10-yr stint in tech consulting, dupree turned their sights toward cinema. although they were accepted into film school (mica) they prioritized making their debut picture, ZAIRE: A Film Noir-Inspired Story, a 3x “Best LGBT Film” award winner.

iman’s narratives focus specifically on intersectionality. their debut film ZAIRE explores a love story’s beginning, which centers a Black trans woman and a Black bisexual cis male. fascinated by the ways we of subcultural communities often oppress ourselves, iman dupree unearths edifying perspectives of blackness, queerness, fatness, identity and disability with unique connections to poetry.

iman dupree has earned multiple grants from the maryland state arts council to self-fund the cinema they believe is quite overdue. their forthcoming portrait OCEANS DEEP follows a returning citizen’s character study. dupree’s dream is to create intersectional cinema internationally.

until then, you may pre-order zaire today at www.irisofiman.org

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

The lockdown period of Covid-19 impacted every soul on earth. Yet the era remains deeply under-explored in cinema. In my debut portrait ZAIRE, I revisit the premature lifting of lockdown restrictions in the US. Considering my love for film noirs (which were created on the heels of calamity) I imagined a noir aesthetic for a story of two souls who perhaps lost it all, longed for human comfort, united, and chose not to lose one another.

But whom would they be?

When lockdown restrictions lifted, I took up a lover. Surprisingly, one I’d known for years: a Black woman who happens to be a woman of trans experience. Our season was magical. But fleeting. Unspoken words divided us. Years later, as the lives of local Black trans women increasingly met a premature end, I questioned what I could do. How could I inspire an end to the shame that impedes Black men from openly loving Black trans women? How could I enable that kind of love to be unapologetically realized? To create a beacon of hope, I reimagined my inner reality into an outer form: cinema.

Thus, Zaire and Marcus’ story was born.

Please see the full director statement in our linked press kit.