Celia Rowlson-Hall

Rowlson-Hall interviewed for "New York Filmmakers" series in 2012

Celia Rowlson-Hall is an American dancer, choreographer, and film director. She has choreographed numerous music videos and commercials, and has directed several short films. Her debut feature film, MA, was released in 2015.

Early life

Rowlson-Hall grew up in Urbanna, Virginia, ^[1] and graduated from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in 2006 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance. ^[2]

Career

Rowlson-Hall moved to New York after finishing college and initially worked in theater dance and choreography. She was mentored by New York choreographer Faye Driscoll, and won a Bessie Award for performance in Driscoll's 837 Venice Blvd in 2009. ^[1] She first became involved in filmmaking in 2008, when director Ray Tintori hired her to choreograph the music video for MGMT's song "Electric Feel". ^[2] In 2010, she directed her first short film, Prom Night, in which she also cast herself; ^[2] it was nominated for a Grand Jury Award at South by Southwest. ^[3] She went on to direct two further short films, The Audition (2012) and Si Nos Dejan (2013). ^{[2] [4]}

In 2013, Rowlson-Hall began working as a choreographer on the HBO series Girls ; she also choreographed Girls creator Lena Dunham in a video for Vogue magazine. She has choreographed commercials for clients including Lee Jeans and Kate Spade New York, and music videos for artists including Alicia Keys and Sleigh Bells. ^{[1] [5]} She was named one of Filmmaker magazine's "25 New Faces of Independent Film" in 2015. ^[2]

Rowlson-Hall's first feature film, MA (2015), is a modern retelling of the story of the Virgin Mary in which Rowlson-Hall plays the lead role. ^[2] The film, which Rowlson-Hall funded via Kickstarter, ^[1] was screened at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival and AFI Fest. ^{[6] [7]} In 2017, she created the short film (The [End) of History Illusion] for Miu Miu as the 14th installment in their Women's Tales series. ^[5]

Rowlson-Hall portrays adult Sophie in the 2022 film Aftersun . ^[8]

Personal life

In September 2018, Rowlson-Hall married Mia Lidofsky, a filmmaker whom she had met in 2013 when they worked together on Girls. ^[9]

Filmography

Film; as actress

Year	Title	Role	Note
2010	Prom Night		Short film
2015	Ma	Ma	Short film [2]
	The Nutcracked	Clara	Short film
2022	Aftersun	Adult Sophie	[8]

Film

Year	Title	Work					Note
		Director	Writer	Producer	Editor	Choreographer
2010	Prom Night	Co-director	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
2013	The Audition	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Short film
2014	Cover Girl	No	No	No	No	Yes	Short film
2015	Molly Takes a Trip	No	No	No	No	Yes
	All These Voices	No	No	No	No	Yes	Short film
	Ma	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Short film
	The Nutcracked	Co-director	No	Yes	No	Yes	Short film
2017	The Incredible Jessica James	No	No	No	No	Yes
2018	Tommy Battles the Silver Sea Dragon	No	No	No	No	Yes
2020	Taxi!	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	Short film
	Omniboat: A Fast Boat Fantasia	Yes	No	No	No	No
2021	After Yang	No	No	No	No	Yes
	Birds of Paradise	No	No	No	No	Yes
2024	Smile 2	No	No	No	No	Yes
2025	The Plague	No	No	No	No	Yes
	The Testament of Ann Lee	No	No	No	No	Yes
TBD	The Drama	No	No	No	No	Yes	Post-production
	Merv	No	No	No	No	Yes	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Work			Note
		Director	Producer	Choreographer
2014	Manhattan Love Story	No	No	Yes	2 episodes
2014-2017	Girls	No	No	Yes	4 episodes
2017-2018	Strangers	Yes	Executive	Yes	3 episodes
2018	Orange Is the New Black	No	No	Yes	Episode; "Who Knows Better Than I"
2019	The Other Two	No	No	Yes	Episode; "Pilot"
	Tales of the City	No	No	Yes	3 episodes
	John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch	No	No	Yes	Television movie
2021-2022	Ziwe	No	No	Yes	10 episodes
2022	The Staircase	No	No	Yes	3 episodes
TBD	Constance	No	No	Yes	Television film; Completed

Music Videos

Year	Title	Work		Artist(s)	Album
		Director	Choreographer
2008	Electric Feel	No	Yes	MGMT	Oracular Spectacular
2011	Love In Motion	No	Yes	SebastiAn, Mayer Hawthorne	Total
2016	In Common	No	Yes	Alicia Keys	Here
2019	Cry Cry Cry	No	Yes	Coldplay	Everyday Life
2020	Win it	Yes	No	Lola Kirke

References

1. Burke, Siobhan (August 1, 2014). "The Queen of Quirk". Dance Magazine . Retrieved September 29, 2019.
2. "Celia Rowlson-Hall". Filmmaker . 2015. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
3. "Celia Rowlson-Hall at IFFR". International Film Festival Rotterdam . Retrieved September 29, 2019.
4. Hanley, Steven T. (March 1, 2016). "The best dance scenes in alternative cinema". Huck . Retrieved September 29, 2019.
5. "(The [End) of History Illusion]". Miu Miu. 2017. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
6. Debruge, Peter (September 2, 2015). "Venice Film Review: 'Ma'". Variety . Retrieved September 29, 2019.
7. "The AFI FEST Interview: MA Director Celia Rowlson-Hall". American Film Institute. November 6, 2015. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
8. "Oscars 2023: how Aftersun uses music to perfectly express grief". theconversation.com. March 10, 2023.
9. Macon, Alexanda (January 17, 2019). "A Beach Wedding in the Rain: Celia Rowlson-Hall and Mia Lidofsky's Magical North Fork Ceremony". Vogue . Retrieved September 29, 2019.

External links

• Celia Rowlson-Hall at IMDb