Nicole Sylvester

Detroit native, Nicole Sylvester began her career as a Producer/Director at Comcast Cablevision, directing live-action television, call-in talk shows, teen programming and music specials. Her days at the cable company culminated in her documentary Lonely Eagles: Airmen of Tuskegee, being nominated for both a national Cable ACE and a Cable ICE Award. She continued to make a name for herself as a coordinator for independent and studio productions such as The Next (25/7), 8 Mile (Universal), Hard Ball (Paramount), Chasing Sleep (Forensic Films), *61 (HBO) and Jeff Daniels' company Purple Rose Films where she was Distribution Coordinator for the feature Super Sucker. Nicole made the transition to film production by producing and directing the short films The Stop and minor blues before making her feature film directorial debut with Layla's Girl, a heartwarming film about one woman's journey toward peace and healing after the death of her estranged mother. The film, co-starring Richard Gant (Men of A Certain Age, The Big Lebowski) had its premiere at the Museum of African American History, and has since played at the Brooklyn Indie House, the Detroit Women of Color Int'l Film Festival, Urban Mediamakers Festival and the Waterfront Film Festival. She joined forces with 25 filmmakers from 13 countries to produce and direct the first of its kind international collaborative feature film, The Owner. The film, which follows the journey of a "backpack" as it makes its way around the world, screened earlier this year to packed theaters in all 13 countries. Other projects that Nicole has produced include the TV Pilot, County of Kings, the feature film 17000 Block, (distributed by First Look Entertainment), the web series Queen Hussy, a raunchy mock reality show comedy based in 1974 and numerous short films and music videos.