Philana Payton

Scholar and Assistant Professor, UC Irvine

Dr. Philana Payton is a Black feminist film scholar and assistant professor of film and media studies at the University of California, Irvine. Her research focus uses Black studies, performance theory and film theory to explore blackness and visual culture through Black women’s filmmaking and performances. Dr. Payton is credited as an associate producer for the 2025 AppleTV documentary Number One on the Call Sheet and has published work in the Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, Film Quarterly, Seen by Blackstar, and Film Criticism. She is currently completing her first manuscript, titled, Supernova: Black Women, Hollywood, and the Fallacy of Stardom.

Photo credit: Russell Hamilton