A. V. Rockwell | |
---|---|
Born | Queens, New York City, U.S. |
Education | New York University |
Occupation | Filmmaker |
Years active | 2016–present |
Notable work | A Thousand and One |
Awards | Sundance Grand Jury Prize - Dramatic (2023); Guggenheim Fellowship (2017) |
A. V. Rockwell (born Alina Victoria Rockwell [1] ) is an American film director. In 2023, she made her directorial feature film debut with the film A Thousand and One , which gave her a Gotham Award, a Black Reel Award, an Independent Spirit Award, a Director's Guild nomination, and nominations at the NAACP Image Awards. [2]
Rockwell was born and raised in Queens, New York, to parents from Jamaica. [2] She attended high school at Brooklyn Technical High School [3] and attended film school at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. [4] One of her early inspirations to pursue film came from studying European cinema while studying in Paris. [5]
One of Rockwell's early works was the series Open City Mixtape, which followed young people's stories in New York City, and was shot in black-and-white. Subsequently, Rockwell worked with Alicia Keys on the music-focused music short film The Gospel for Keys' sixth studio album, Here. [6] [7] The work gave her a silver Clio Awards. [8]
In 2018, Rockwell released her short film Feathers, [9] which debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival. [10] For Feathers, Rockwell was named the grand-prize winner of the Tribeca Film Institute and CHANEL’s Through Her Lens grant; the film was selected as part of the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and was then acquired by Fox Searchlight Pictures for their Searchlight Shorts collection. [11] [12]
In 2023, Rockwell made her feature debut with A Thousand and One , starring Teyana Taylor and set in Harlem, New York, between 1994 and 2005. [14] The film debuted at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, [15] where it won the Grand Jury Prize. [16] She has cited Martin Scorsese and Spike Lee as influences, as well as the films Goodfellas , Crooklyn , Do the Right Thing , Who Framed Roger Rabbit , Z , The Battle of Algiers , and Seven Beauties . [17]
Over her career, Rockwell has been named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film, was a 2018 Young Guns award winner, [11] and has received fellowships from the Sundance Institute, Tribeca Film Institute and the John S. Guggenheim Foundation. [18] She won the Breakthrough Director Award at the 2023 Gotham Awards for her work in her feature film directorial debut A Thousand and One . [19]
Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2016 | The Gospel | Yes | Yes | No | Short film |
2018 | Feathers | Yes | Yes | Yes | Short film |
2023 | A Thousand and One | Yes | Yes | Executive | Feature directorial debut |
Association | Year | Work | Category | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
African-American Film Critics Association | 2024 | A Thousand and One | Best Independent Feature | Won | [20] |
Astra Film Awards | 2024 | A Thousand and One | Best First Feature | Nominated | [21] |
Austin Film Critics Association | 2023 | A Thousand and One | Best First Film | Nominated | [22] |
Black Film Critics Circle | 2023 | Herself | Rising Star Award | Won | [23] |
Black Reel Awards | 2024 | A Thousand and One | Outstanding Independent Film | Won | [24] |
Outstanding Director | Nominated | ||||
Outstanding Emerging Director | Nominated | ||||
Outstanding Screenplay | Nominated | ||||
Outstanding First Screenplay | Nominated | ||||
Chicago Film Critics Association | 2023 | A Thousand and One | Breakthrough Filmmaker | Nominated | [25] |
Clio Awards | 2017 | Alicia Keys: The Gospel | Music - Film Long Form: Music Marketing | silver | [8] |
Directors Guild of America Awards | 2024 | A Thousand and One | Outstanding Directing – First-Time Feature Film | Nominated | [26] |
Florida Film Critics Circle | 2023 | A Thousand and One | Best First Film | Runner-up | [27] |
Gotham Independent Film Awards | 2023 | A Thousand and One | Best Feature | Nominated | [28] |
Breakthrough Director | Won | ||||
Hamptons International Film Festival | 2018 | Feathers | Best Narrative Short | Nominated | [29] |
Independent Spirit Awards | 2024 | A Thousand and One | Best First Feature | Won | [30] |
NAACP Image Awards | 2024 | A Thousand and One | Outstanding Breakthrough Creative (Motion Picture) | Nominated | [31] |
Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture | Nominated | ||||
Online Film Critics Society | 2024 | A Thousand and One | Best Debut Feature | Nominated | [32] |
San Diego Film Critics Society Awards | 2023 | A Thousand and One | Best First Feature (Director) | Nominated | [33] |
Sundance Film Festival | 2019 | Feathers | Short Film Grand Jury Prize | Nominated | |
2023 | A Thousand and One | Grand Jury Prize — U.S. Dramatic | Won | [34] | |
Toronto International Film Festival | 2019 | Feathers | Short Cuts Award | Nominated | [35] |
Tribeca Festival | 2016 | Alicia Keys: The Gospel | Best Narrative Short | Nominated | [36] |
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