From South Minneapolis to the Screen, How Maxie Rockymore Reflects Black Vulnerability and Community.
Maxie Rockymore’s artistic journey began on the porches of South Minneapolis and within the walls of Hosmer Library. Motivated by a lack of diversity in traditional theater audiences, she transitioned into screenwriting and filmmaking to create accessible art. Her recent short film, Fresh Cut, tackles mental health and the lived experiences of African American youth, staying true to her Nina Simone-inspired philosophy: an artist’s duty is to reflect the times.
When Maxie Rockymore went to see plays, most of the time the audience was white, she said. After noticing this, she thought about how she wants to create art that’s accessible, leading her to screenwriting and filmmaking.
Rockymore started writing plays and poetry as a kid. She grew up in South Minneapolis, an experience that has formed who she is today and her sense of community. The neighborhood was full of Black families who traveled north during the Great Migration.
Born in Gulfport, Mississippi, Rockymore moved to Minnesota when she was seven years old. Her grandparents owned 80 acres of land in Mississippi, she said, and a “sense of value in having your own was instilled in us. I saw that also reflected in the Southside Black community where I grew up.”
As an “old soul,” Rockymore would spend her time going door to door, talking to her adult neighbors. She would sit on their porch and listen to their stories.
“I felt a cadence, the richness of a story and belonging in them,” she said. “It just filled my soul with who I am and such richness that I try to bring that into my stories as well.”
Rockymore lived around the corner from Hosmer Library, so she also spent a lot of her time there reading Langston Hughes and Nikki Giovanni.
“I was reading all of these stories and all these books and all these poems, so all of that actually filled my head. That also gave me a sense of writing and who I could be and what I could create as an artist.”
In high school, for a dollar she would write love poems for her classmates’ crushes.
Recently, Rockymore finished her first short film “Fresh Cut.” The piece meant to reflect the experience and mental health crisis of young African American people was produced at Urban Touch Barbershop in South Minneapolis.
“I wanted to create something that addresses all of those things our young people are dealing with and are facing,” she said. “That’s why I wrote ‘Fresh Cut’ and that’s why we produced that and filmed that in South Minneapolis.”
Film, media and storytelling is missing the vulnerability of Black people, Rockymore said.
“All of those other negative stereotypes are often thrust upon us and you never get to see … and feel our humanity, our vulnerabilities,” she said. “That’s what I try to show in my work.”
She writes so Black people can see their stories and humanity, she said, not always through positive stories but rich ones.
A quote from Nina Simone guides Rockymore as an artist, writer and filmmaker: “An artist’s duty, as far as I’m concerned, is to reflect the times.”
“I’ve always loved that quote of hers and I’ve always believed in it,” Rockymore said.
One of the most beautiful things in making her film was seeing the beauty and artistry on set. The actors, production crew, and everyone involved being committed to bringing what Rockymore wrote to life in their own ways was beautiful, she said.
“It made me feel that I had birthed something, which was a script that no longer belonged to me, and rightfully belonged to other people.”
Follow Maxie Rockymore on Instagram at maxie.rockymore.
Watch the Maxie Roxymore on the radar Podcast
South Minneapolis Filmmaker Maxie Rockymore Centers Black Humanity in Storytelling
Maxie Rockymore joins MSR On the Radar to talk about her award-winning short film Fresh Cut, her South Minneapolis roots and writing Black stories in their full humanity.
I love this. I am a graduate of Columbia College Chicgao just moved to Minneapolis in December 2025. It’s good to see that there are places that share my passion.