LaTajh
LaTajh Weaver is an writer and director born and raised in Oakland, CA. She is dedicated to reclaiming and telling stories of LGBTQIA and Black communities.
One of LaTajh’s recent projects, the web series CYCLES, follows a youth advocate worker and a young gang member as they search for their purpose amid danger in Oakland, where the murder rate remains the second highest in the country. After successfully raising $20K for production, CYCLES was selected to screen at over ten film festivals. In early 2019, after directing a short film reflecting on her experience as a black woman growing up in America, she was chosen for a National Queer Arts grant. In 2019, LaTajh was selected for a Writing Downtown Residency to commence work on her latest screenplay, PIPELINE. She has also been commissioned to direct a series of short films for the SF Foundation, Prisoner Support Committee, Black Girls Code and The Asian Law Caucus.
Films
CYCLES, follows Crystal, a successful youth advocate social worker at Highland Hospital and Brandon, an Oakland youth caught up in the cycle of gang violence. When Brandon lands in the emergency room with a fresh gunshot wound, Crystal wants to help - but is he ready to break the cycle? Through their stories, this short web series unravels layers of internal impacts in a community affected by gun violence and the obstacles to intervention. The show is shot in Oakland by Oakland locals.
In-Development
Watch LaTajh pitch Queerling to Deniese Davis (Issa Rae Productions), Lauren Mcbride (Selah and the Spades), and Maya Emelle (Solace, Jinn)
Aspiring writer, Taj, struggles to stay both morally grounded and financially stable in a rapidly gentrifying Oakland. After She lands a high paying job, she finds herself benefitting from the same luxuries that are destroying her community.
Told through the eyes of Taj. After her landlord raises her rent, she finds herself living two lives. Secretly making commercials for Tech companies by day and attending community organizing meetings by night.
"Chess, a young Black painter, spends a day in his hometown Oakland, looking for space to exist."
Black Girl: A Self-Portrait
Blending video, poetry, song, and music, LaTajh examines what it's like to be in her body. What the obstacles are to making her journey to an integrated life. Exploring issues of gender, queerness, love and the steps taken to be entirely in her body.