Alison Swan

Last updated

Alison Swan, [1] is a Black female filmmaker, writer, actor, campaign manager and real estate developer. [2] Swan is a native of Bermuda, and is known for her films Mixing Nia (1998) [3] and Nothing like the Holidays (2008). [4] She co-wrote Nothing like the Holiday with her husband and American film producer Robert Teitel. [5] [6] She is a mother of two boys and was pregnant with her second son while writing the screen play for Nothing like the Holidays, which she eventually sold to Overture Films. [7] Her work gives insight into the lives of African and Latin American families and the social and ideological differences that distinguish them from traditional American norms. [6]

Contents

Early life and education

Similarly to many other children born in Bermuda who came from money, Swan attend an off-island boarding school on the east coast in her teens. [7] She graduated from Bates College in 1988 with a BA in European Art and Politics, in 1994 she attended the New York University where she received an MFA in Filmmaking, and then in 2015 she received a masters in real estate development from the University of Southern California. [2]

While attending NYU Swan was awarded the Spike Lee fellowship for her work in four narrative shorts. Following her graduation she attempted to obtain funding for what would have been her first feature-length film, but after the financing fell through she began working for producer Robert Stigwood. Following her failed attempt to receive funding for her first feature-length film she returned to Bermuda to make a documentary short. [7] Being the daughter of John Swan the former Premier of Bermuda, She had a background in politics and while living in Bermuda she assisted in managing media for several political campaigns. [7]

Career

Alison Swan's film career began with a short film entitled Compeñera (1993) [8] which she directed. She then wrote and directed her first feature-length film Mixing Nia (1998). [3] She then made her first and last acting debut in the television series Always And Everyone (1999) [9] following this she was featured in a documentary titled Sisters In Cinema (2003), [10] and lastly she wrote the screenplay for her holiday film Nothing like the Holidays (2008). [4] She no longer works in the film industry but is focused on her career as a real estate developer for a family run real estate company Challenger Bank Ltd. [2]

Filmography

Release YearFilm TitleContributed Role(s)
1993CompeñeraDirector
1998Mixing NiaWriter/Director
1999Always and EveryoneActress
2003Sisters In CinemaActress
2008 Nothing like the Holidays Writer

Awards

NYU Spike Lee Fellowship [7]

Related Research Articles

Spike Lee American film director, film producer, writer, and actor

Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and professor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut with She's Gotta Have It (1986). He has since written and directed such films as Do the Right Thing (1989), Mo' Better Blues (1990), Jungle Fever (1991), Malcolm X (1992), Crooklyn (1994), Clockers (1995), 25th Hour (2002), Inside Man (2006), Chi-Raq (2015), BlacKkKlansman (2018) and Da 5 Bloods (2020). Lee also acted in ten of his films.

Nia Vardalos Canadian-born American actress, screenwriter, director, and producer of Greek descent

Antonia Eugenia "Nia" Vardalos is a Canadian actress, screenwriter, director, and producer. She had her first major success with her 2002 film which she wrote and starred in My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

John Swan (Bermudian politician)

Sir John William David Swan is a former Bermudian political figure. A real estate developer, a political luminary and a philanthropist, Swan served as Premier of Bermuda from 1982 to 1995.

Nia Long American actress

Nia Talita Long is an American actress. She is known for her roles in the television series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Third Watch and Empire, and the films Big Momma's House, Are We There Yet?, Love Jones, The Best Man, Soul Food, Friday, Boyz n the Hood and In Too Deep.

<i>Shes Gotta Have It</i> 1986 film by Spike Lee

She's Gotta Have It is a 1986 American black-and-white comedy-drama film written, produced, edited and directed by Spike Lee. Filmed on a small budget and Lee's first feature-length film, it earned positive reviews and launched Lee's career.

Nothing Fails 2003 single by Madonna

"Nothing Fails" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna from her ninth studio album, American Life (2003). Written by Madonna, Guy Sigsworth and Jem Griffiths, and produced by the singer along with Mirwais Ahmadzaï and Mark "Spike" Stent, it was released as the third single from the album on October 26, 2003. Originally demoed as "Silly Thing", "Nothing Fails" is a love song which has acoustic guitar chords and a gospel choir appearance. Lyrically, the song discusses a lover who is the one, and how their meeting was not just chance. A number of remixes of the song were done, with one of them being included on Madonna's remix album Remixed & Revisited (2003).

House of Assembly of Bermuda

The House of Assembly is the lower house of the Parliament of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. The house has 36 Members of Parliament (MPs), elected for a term of five years in single seat constituencies using first-past-the-post voting. Bermuda now has universal voting with a voting age of 18 years. Voting is non-compulsory. The presiding officer of the House is called the Speaker.

Alison Fraser American actress and singer

Alison Fraser is an American actress, voice actress and singer who has appeared on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and in television and film. In concert, she has performed at such venues as Carnegie Hall, The White House, Town Hall, The Brooklyn Botanic Garden, The Tisch Center for the Arts, The Folger Shakespeare Library, The Wilma, The Emelin, Joe's Pub, 54 Below, and Symphony Space.

A popular American TV show from the late 1990s through early 2000s, Buffy the Vampire Slayer has had a tremendous influence on popular culture that has attracted serious scholarly attention. Even the language used on the show has affected modern colloquial expressions.

Alison Skipworth

Alison Skipworth was an English stage and screen actress.

Nina Garbiras is an American actress. She is best known for her TV role as Andrea Little on the first season of NBC's award winning series Boomtown.

<i>Nothing but the Truth</i> (2008 American film)

Nothing but the Truth is a 2008 American political drama film written and directed by Rod Lurie. According to comments made by Lurie in The Truth Hurts, a bonus feature on the DVD release, his inspiration for the screenplay was the case of journalist Judith Miller, who in July 2005 was jailed for contempt of court for refusing to testify before a federal give grand jury investigating a leak naming Valerie Plame as a covert CIA operative, but this was merely a starting point for what is primarily a fictional story. In an April 2009 interview, Lurie stressed: "I should say that the film is about neither of these women although certainly their stories as reported in the press went into the creation of their characters and the situation they find themselves in."

Alison Brie American actress, writer, and producer

Alison Brie Schermerhorn is an American actress, writer, and producer. She received recognition for her recurring role as Trudy Campbell in the drama series Mad Men (2007–2015), and her starring roles as Annie Edison in the comedy series Community (2009–2015), Diane Nguyen in the animated comedy series BoJack Horseman (2014–2020), and Ruth Wilder in the comedy-drama series GLOW (2017–2019), the latter of which earned her nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Award and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy.

<i>Mixing Nia</i>

Mixing Nia is 1998 dramedy film by director Alison Swan. The film stars actress Karyn Parsons, as Nia, a biracial woman on a journey to find her true identity.

Genesis Be

Genesis Israeli Rose Schmitz Briggs Be also known as G.Be, is an American recording artist, painter and activist. She is best known for her work to remove the Confederate Emblem from the MS State Flag. She is a scholar of NYU Catherine B. Reynolds Program for Social Entrepreneurship. Genesis is a graduate of NYU's political science department at CAS as well as the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at the Tisch School of the Arts. In 2010 Be accepted a fellowship from The Hip-Hop Education Center at NYU, which was founded by her longtime mentor Martha Diaz.

<i>The Best Man Holiday</i>

The Best Man Holiday is a 2013 American comedy-drama film written, co-produced and directed by Malcolm D. Lee. A sequel to Lee's The Best Man (1999), it stars Morris Chestnut, Taye Diggs, Regina Hall, Terrence Howard, Sanaa Lathan, Nia Long, Harold Perrineau, Monica Calhoun, and Melissa De Sousa, all reprising their roles from the previous film. Along with Lee, the film was produced by Sean Daniel.

Kerry Tribe

Kerry Tribe is an American visual artist who works primarily in film, video, and installation.

Rosie Haber is a gender non-conforming writer and director of commercial, music, and documentary films based in Los Angeles, California. She attended NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. In 2013, she was selected for the Outfest 2013 Screenwriters Lab for her feature screenplay Soledad. In 2014 her short Jellyfish won Outfest's Grand Jury Prize. Their works have gained popularity and recognition for their work exploring LGBTQ life in a number of different styles and formats. These works include films like Relapse (2015), We've Been Around (2016), Ink (2016), as well as documentary works like New Deep South (2017).

Nikyatu Jusu is a Sierra Leonean-American independent filmmaker and Assistant Professor in Film & Video at George Mason University. Jusu focuses her films on the complexities of Black female characters. Her work deals with displaced, immigrant women in the United States. She is best known for her short film Suicide By Sunlight, which premiered at 2019 Sundance Film Festival.

Nia DaCosta is an American director and screenwriter. She wrote and directed the crime thriller film Little Woods (2019), winning the Nora Ephron Prize at the Tribeca Film Festival. She also directed the upcoming horror film Candyman (2021). In August 2020, it was announced that DaCosta would direct the upcoming sequel to Captain Marvel, becoming the first black woman and the youngest filmmaker to direct a Marvel film.

References

  1. ↑ "Alison Swan". IMDb. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
  2. 1 2 3 "Saltus Grammar School". www.saltus.bm. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
  3. 1 2 Swan, Alison (1998-04-26), Mixing Nia , retrieved 2016-10-17
  4. 1 2 Villa, Alfredo Rodriguez de (2008-12-12), Nothing Like the Holidays , retrieved 2016-10-17
  5. ↑ "Robert Teitel". IMDb. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
  6. 1 2 "Alison Swan's movie at the Liberty tonight - Bermuda Sun". www.bermudasun.bm. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 "FILMMAKER MAGAZINE | Fall 1997: PRODUCTION UPDATE". www.filmmakermagazine.com. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
  8. ↑ Swan, Alison (2000-01-01), Compañera , retrieved 2016-10-17
  9. ↑ Always and Everyone, 1999-06-07, retrieved 2016-10-17
  10. ↑ Welbon, Yvonne (2003-02-15), Sisters in Cinema , retrieved 2016-10-17
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.