PRESS/AWARDS
2023 Wandering Cinema Artist Residency
Student Excellence Award, Johns Hopkins, 2022 (M.S. in Ed)
Panelist University of Pittsburgh Undergraduate Film Symposium, 2015
Early in her career (2015-2017), Nikki Abban worked as a production assistant for CNN’s This is Life with Lisa Ling, PBS’ Driving While Black: Race, Space and Mobility in America, then later, as an associate producer for Emmy award winning filmmaker, Kristi Jacobson.
While working with Kristi, Nikki worked during the distribution of the HBO Max Emmy award winning film, Solitary and S1 EP1 of the Webby nominated 5-part documentary series, The Election Effect.
In 2019 Abban was a producer on Uncivilized, a documentary - directed by Michael Lees - exploring a young man confronting himself, society, and the off the grid living. The film screened at the 2020 Brooklyn Film Festival, Pan African Film Festival, Third Horizon Film Festival and more.
Recently, Nikki has been exploring grief, identity, and belonging. She asks herself, “How can we heal by coming home and what does it mean to belong?”.
This question and more will be explored in her upcoming - autobiographical experimental documentary feature. As director and subject, Nikki returns to self and to her familial homeland - Ghana.
Outside of the entertainment industry, Abban has worked as an educator in the US, Morocco, and Ghana. Her long term goal is to build a Youth Community Arts Center starting in Ghana, with future expansion throughout Africa.
Feature Documentary
Producer | Uncivilized (2019)
Production Intern | “Driving While Black” (2016)
Corporate / Non Profit Shorts
Docu-Shorts & News
Associate Producer | “Election Effect: Hebh Jamal” - (2017)
Assistant Producer | Africa-USA Now | “Ripple Effect of SVB on African Tech” (2023) S1EP7
Narrative
Producer | What Somalia Wants | TV- Pilot (2023)
Radio/Podcast
Production Intern - 90.5 WESA NPR Pittsburgh -2015
Feature piece - Pittsburgh Music Scene. Piece starts at 35:00 and ends at 41:00.