Photo: Rachell Morillo
Dessane Lopez Cassell is a New York-based critic, curator, and producer. Her work spans the intersections of film and visual art, with a focus on artist’s moving image, documentary, and experimental film.
Dessane’s writing and cultural criticism has been published in various outlets, journals, and books, including the Los Angeles Times, Film Comment, MUBI Notebook, The Criterion Collection’s Current, Hyperallergic, and Metrograph Journal, as well as catalogues issued by MoMA, El Museo del Barrio, The Studio Museum in Harlem, and The Whitney Museum of American Art. She is currently an Executive Producer at Mostly Works, an artist-run studio that makes and supports formally adventurous films, including creative nonfiction, artist’s moving image, and experimental film. Dessane previously served as Editor-in-Chief of BlackStar’s journal, Seen, where she platformed nuanced film, art, and visual culture writing by and about people of color. She was also the first dedicated reviews editor at Hyperallergic, where she focused on growing the publication’s film coverage and championing artists and critics from underrepresented communities.
Dessane has organized exhibitions, performances, and screenings at MoMA, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Anthology Film Archives, Bartram’s Garden, the Black Women’s Film Conference, and Metrograph (in partnership with Abrons Arts Center), among others. She programmed for BlackStar Film Festival from 2018 to 2023, and has also produced podcasts, campaigns, and content for brands including Microsoft, Roskilde Festival, Armani, and Hourglass.
A former Fulbright fellow, Dessane has received scholarly awards and fellowships from Duke University’s Center for Documentary Studies, the Ford Foundation, CUNY Graduate Center, and Oberlin College. She was named a DOC NYC Documentary New Leader in 2022 and serves as President of the board of The Flaherty.
Dessane’s name is pronounced [dah-sawn loh-pez kah-sell]. She is open to freelance writing and curatorial opportunities and available for hire as an editor. Please get in touch here.