HIDDEN GEM STORIES
Treasures Untold.
In Plain Sight.
HIDDEN GEM STORIES is a production company committed to bearing witness to and centering perspectives too often overlooked. Our work is rooted in the power of cinematic storytelling to expand how we see one another and what we imagine possible.
Meet the Founder
LORI ANN WEBSTER is a native of Eastern North Carolina, where you’re either kin, friends, or one hello away from a good story. For Lori, life is cinematic—a way of seeing, sparked by her own bored kid attempt to write one stormy afternoon, when her aunt cut off the TV “while the Lord does his work.” She’s been at it ever since.
A Writer and Director, Lori’s work centers on the Black experience through a lens of memory justice, often exploring liberative imagination and women who color outside the lines.
She is a current fellow of Firelight Media's Firelight Fund and winner of the SeriesFest x Wondaland Pictures Storytellers Initiative. Her work has also been supported by Sundance Episodic Intensive, Gotham TV Series Lab, and SFFILM Rainin Grant. Lori’s career spans television, big tech, and nonprofit sectors across four continents. She holds a B.A. from UNC Chapel Hill and an M.F.A. from USC School of Cinematic Arts, where she's served as Adjunct Associate Professor. Most recently, she served as Visiting Faculty at UNCSA School of Filmmaking.
Grounded by humble beginnings and her roles as a caregiver and advocate, Lori tells stories that feel like home.
Signs & Wonders
A feature documentary
Directed by Lori Ann Webster
Valerie McMillan, one of only four Black certified ASL interpreters in North Carolina, has been voicing for others since she first learned to speak. Now at midlife, she must decide what it means to step into her own – a move that stands to shift the landscape for an entire community.
Supported by:
Soul City
A One-hour TV series
Created & Written by Lori Ann Webster
When a hurricane barrels through a small North Carolina town, the vanishing of a girl and a fugitive sets off the reawakening of a Black utopia, hidden and long-forgotten.
Supported by:
