Crystal Kayiza

Directing

Crystal Kayiza

Known for

Directing

Credits

10 titles

Crystal Kayiza is a Ugandan-American artist and filmmaker raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her most recent film, Rest Stop, premiered at TIFF and won the 2023 Jury Prize for Best US Short Film at Sundance. Her short, See You Next Time, was an official selection of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and was released by The New Yorker.

Known for

Rest Stop poster
5.0

A young Ugandan-American girl gains a new understanding of her family and her place in the world as she travels with her mother and brother from New York to Oklahoma, in this richly textured drama by Crystal Kayiza.

Rest Stop

2022

Bloodlines, Mississippi poster
NR

In the heart of the Mississippi Delta, Dr. Foluso Fakorede is fighting to save lives. Set in America’s Diabetes Belt and epicenter of the amputation epidemic, Bloodlines, Mississippi examines a medical system that is stacked against the Delta’s most vulnerable residents.

Bloodlines, Mississippi

2025

See You Next Time poster
NR

The intimate moments between a Chinese nail tech and her Black client in a Brooklyn nail salon.

See You Next Time

2019

Edgecombe poster
NR

Three snapshots of black life in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, a place where the racial injustices of the past continue into the present.

Edgecombe

2018

No artwork available
NR

A South Bronx community takes a stand against gentrification.

Why We Stay

2015

A Call Away poster
NR

Oklahoma is one of 26 states with a “failure to protect” law, which prosecutes parents who fail to prevent child abuse. However, the ACLU and other groups say this law disproportionately criminalizes women, who are often victims of domestic abuse themselves. Hear the story of Clorinda Archuleta, a mother of twin boys, both of whom suffered severe injuries as infants. Clorinda and her ex-boyfriend pled guilty, but Clorinda received three consecutive life sentences under the Oklahoma law, while her partner was sentenced to 25 years. As Clorinda seeks commutation, the film shows how the law has contributed to a cycle of family separation and trauma.

A Call Away

2020

Behind the camera

Rest Stop poster
5.0

A young Ugandan-American girl gains a new understanding of her family and her place in the world as she travels with her mother and brother from New York to Oklahoma, in this richly textured drama by Crystal Kayiza.

Rest Stop

2022

Rest Stop poster
5.0

A young Ugandan-American girl gains a new understanding of her family and her place in the world as she travels with her mother and brother from New York to Oklahoma, in this richly textured drama by Crystal Kayiza.

Rest Stop

2022

Bloodlines, Mississippi poster
NR

In the heart of the Mississippi Delta, Dr. Foluso Fakorede is fighting to save lives. Set in America’s Diabetes Belt and epicenter of the amputation epidemic, Bloodlines, Mississippi examines a medical system that is stacked against the Delta’s most vulnerable residents.

Bloodlines, Mississippi

2025

See You Next Time poster
NR

The intimate moments between a Chinese nail tech and her Black client in a Brooklyn nail salon.

See You Next Time

2019

See You Next Time poster
NR

The intimate moments between a Chinese nail tech and her Black client in a Brooklyn nail salon.

See You Next Time

2019

Edgecombe poster
NR

Three snapshots of black life in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, a place where the racial injustices of the past continue into the present.

Edgecombe

2018

No artwork available
NR

A South Bronx community takes a stand against gentrification.

Why We Stay

2015

No artwork available
NR

A South Bronx community takes a stand against gentrification.

Why We Stay

2015

A Call Away poster
NR

Oklahoma is one of 26 states with a “failure to protect” law, which prosecutes parents who fail to prevent child abuse. However, the ACLU and other groups say this law disproportionately criminalizes women, who are often victims of domestic abuse themselves. Hear the story of Clorinda Archuleta, a mother of twin boys, both of whom suffered severe injuries as infants. Clorinda and her ex-boyfriend pled guilty, but Clorinda received three consecutive life sentences under the Oklahoma law, while her partner was sentenced to 25 years. As Clorinda seeks commutation, the film shows how the law has contributed to a cycle of family separation and trauma.

A Call Away

2020

A Call Away poster
NR

Oklahoma is one of 26 states with a “failure to protect” law, which prosecutes parents who fail to prevent child abuse. However, the ACLU and other groups say this law disproportionately criminalizes women, who are often victims of domestic abuse themselves. Hear the story of Clorinda Archuleta, a mother of twin boys, both of whom suffered severe injuries as infants. Clorinda and her ex-boyfriend pled guilty, but Clorinda received three consecutive life sentences under the Oklahoma law, while her partner was sentenced to 25 years. As Clorinda seeks commutation, the film shows how the law has contributed to a cycle of family separation and trauma.

A Call Away

2020