Nyjia July

Nyjia July is a documentary director and Senior Producer. A Washington, D.C. native, her storytelling is deeply rooted in place, culture, community, and collective memory. She began her career in development at MTV before moving into television production, building a body of work across documentary and unscripted television. Her credits include United States of Scandal with Jake Tapper (CNN/Max), RapCaviar Presents (Hulu/Spotify), and Choir (Disney+), and she served as both Senior Producer and director on episodes of Citizen Detective (World of Wonder/AMC Networks/SundanceTV). Earlier in her career, she was a Corporation for Public Broadcasting Diversity Fellow and a digital media producer at the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM), where she created original content and contributed to programming its international film festival. Recognized as one of The Source Magazine’s “25 Women to Watch,” Nyjia is known for her editorial rigor and intuitive approach to character-driven storytelling, bringing a cinematic sensibility to stories that bridge intimate human experiences with broader cultural conversations. Her independent work centers on preserving cultural memory and examining the emotional residue of the systems that shape everyday life. She is drawn to coming-of-age stories and narratives rooted in reflection, stories that trace identity over time and capture the quiet shifts that define who we become. Her debut film, JUST US, explores generational incarceration, while her current feature, LISTEN TO MY HEARTBEAT, is a longitudinal portrait of Washington, D.C., told through the gaze of Go-Go music, the city’s indigenous sound. The film examines gentrification, displacement, and resistance. LISTEN TO MY HEARTBEAT has received support from ITVS through the Diversity Development Fund and Open Call. Nyjia is a Firelight Media Documentary Lab Fellow, PBS Wyncote Fellow, Sundance Uprise Grant recipient, and Center for Cultural Power Artist Disruptor Award winner. She’s an alum of the Sundance and Women in Film Financing Intensive, Black Public Media’s 360 Incubator, and the BAVC MediaMaker Fellowship. Her work is observational, intimate, and culturally embedded; she documents the emotional architecture of identity and culture, capturing the heartbeat of stories in transition. Drawn to stories that live in the in-between, Nyjia approaches each project as both an excavation and an adventure, creating character-driven narratives that move within the moment.

‍

ABOUT LISTEN TO MY HEARTBEAT

Washington, D.C. may be the political epicenter of the world, but residents beyond Capitol Hill have long battled socioeconomic disparity and fought to have their voice heard. As the city gentrifies, Black residents have been pushed to the outskirts, along with their homegrown folkloric music: Go-Go. Listen To My Heartbeat looks at the Gentrification of Washington, D.C. but through the lens of Go-Go music. We peel back the layers on a changing city, the people displaced, and the future of the music that gave them a voice. Listen To My Heartbeat isn’t just about gentrification, it’s a film about erasure—erasure of a people, and their voice.

‍