How does an "army brat" with no Hollywood connections become an Emmy-winning documentarian whose work sits at the center of one of the most urgent conversations in America? In this bonus brunch, filmmaker Luchina Fisher pulls up a chair to talk about the long, unexpected road from journalism to the director's chair—and the craft, ethics, and relationships that carry a story from the page to the screen to the front lines.
Luchina is an Emmy-winning filmmaker, educator, and 2026 North Carolina Media and Journalism Hall of Fame inductee. She's the director behind the new feature documentary The Dads—a follow-up to her Emmy-winning 2023 Netflix short of the same name, executive produced by Dwyane Wade—which follows fathers of trans and gender-expansive kids deciding whether to stay and fight or leave the country.
If you make things, fund things, or care about stories that move people toward action, this one's for you. Luchina shares the three questions every filmmaker should ask before any project, why "everything starts with the word" no matter how the technology changes, how an 11-minute short sparked a movement and a foundation, and an honest look at the money—including why the starving-artist myth has to go and what it actually took to pay her team.
Pull up a chair. Don't cry. Eat your chicken biscuit. (You'll understand by the end.)
In This Episode
[00:00] – Big news: Sista Brunch joins the 2026 AIR New Voices AMPLIFY cohort (supported by Apple Podcasts), plus shout-outs to cohort shows worth your follow
[02:30] – Welcome to the brunch table: meet Luchina Fisher
[04:00] – Her Journey: growing up an army brat, the '70s–'80s golden age of screen, and a big brother directing the neighborhood kids in backyard Star Trek
[06:00] – Childhood in Germany, learning the language, and watching reel after reel on the military base
[08:00] – UNC Chapel Hill, journalism, the Miami Herald, a lifelong friendship with Tananarive Due, and the leap to study film at the University of Bristol
[12:00] – The three questions every filmmaker must ask: Why this? Why now? Why me? On bias, ethics, and "can I sleep at night?"
[14:00] – Her brother's charge to "do something," her mother's story, and seeing firsthand the power and urgency of story
[16:00] – Becoming a mother, parenting a trans child, and how Gloria Allen became Mama Gloria
[18:00] – Why The Dads: the fathers who show up, and the narrative we don't hear enough
[19:30] – Let's Talk Tech: from journalist to documentarian, shooting on everything from 16mm to digital, and why the story—not the gear—is the thing
[24:30] – The short as poetry: getting it under 12 minutes, designing for middle America, and the Netflix call the day after the SXSW premiere
[28:00] – Filmmaking is relationships: how the retreat itself grew out of Luchina's idea to film these dads
[31:30] – Financials: paying your team a livable wage, the post–George Floyd commission wave, her 2024 Daytime Emmy, the lean stretch after, and teaching at Yale and Fairfield
[36:30] – Building the feature: Stephen Chukumba's "let's keep filming," house-party fundraising, Dwyane Wade, and Elevate Studios
[42:00] – Support Sista Brunch + a peek at this summer's Sista Sessions
[42:50] – Where and how to see The Dads: festival run, Pride Month screenings, and community screenings you can bring to your own town
[44:30] – Sista Brunch: Luchina sits down with her 19-year-old self in Chapel Hill—a chicken biscuit, and the words she needed to hear
[46:30] – Closing love and gratitude
Resource Stack
Luchina Fisher & her work
Director's site: luchinafisher.com
Production company: Little Light Productions
The Dads (feature): thedadsfilm.com
The Dads Foundation: thedadsfoundation.org
The Dads (2023 Emmy-winning short) — on Netflix
Mama Gloria — Luchina's documentary on Black trans elder activist Gloria Allen
