---
name: "Djola Bernard Branner"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/djola-bernard-branner"
fi1m_id: "djola-bernard-branner"
tmdb_id: 3237498
roles: []
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-26T02:10:54.031473+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Djola Bernard Branner

## Identity

Djola Bernard Branner

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/djola-bernard-branner
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** djola-bernard-branner
- **TMDB ID:** 3237498
- **Same entity:** https://www.themoviedb.org/person/3237498

Actor. Born in South Central Los Angeles, California.

## Details

- **Elsewhere:** https://www.themoviedb.org/person/3237498

## Biography

Djola Bernard Branner, also known professionally as Bernard Branner or Djola Branner, is an American actor, dancer, choreographer, writer and educator. He appeared as himself in Marlon Riggs’s documentary *Tongues Untied* (1989) and in Riggs’s subsequent films *Anthem* (1991) and *Black Is… Black Ain’t* (1994).

Branner co-founded the performance group Pomo Afro Homos in 1990 with Brian Freeman and Eric Gupton. The company toured nationally and internationally with shows including *Fierce Love: Stories from Black Gay Life* and *Dark Fruit*. He has created and performed original stage works such as *Mighty Real: A Tribute to Sylvester* and *sash & trim*, and his plays have been published and anthologised.

Branner trained at the University of California, Santa Cruz (BA Psychobiology, 1980), San Francisco State University (MA Creative Arts, 1989/1990) and the New School for Drama (MFA Playwriting, 2006). He has taught theatre, dance and writing at institutions including Hampshire College and George Mason University.

*Sources: archives.nypl.org, imdb.com, content.sitemasonry.gmu.edu, sites.hampshire.edu.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Tongues Untied* (1990), Fi1m 82, as Self — [page](https://film.one/film/tongues-untied.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/djola-bernard-branner