Kelly Daniela Norris

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Kelly Daniela Norris is a Mexican-American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Her feature directorial debut Sombras de Azul [1] [2] was shot on-location in Cuba and premiered at the Austin Film Festival in 2013, winning the Texas Independents Audience Award. [3] Her second feature, Nakom , co-directed alongside her collaborator T.W. Pittman, and was shot in the Upper East Region of Ghana. [4] Nakom had its world premiere at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival in the Panorama section 2016, was selected for the prestigious New Directors/New Films, [5] [6] was nominated for an Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award for Best Picture made for under $500,000, [7] and had a limited theatrical release in NYC in March 2017. [8] [9] In 2016, Kelly Daniela Norris and T.W. Pittman were selected for Filmmaker Magazine's “25 New Faces of Filmmaking." [10]

Contents

Early life and education

Kelly Daniela Norris's mother, Catalina Blackaller, was born in Chihuahua, Mexico and her father, Dr. Ronald Norris, a chiropractor, was born in Tennessee, and they met in Los Angeles. Norris cited her late brother and father as inspirations for her love of cinema, which was cultivated at a very young age. [2] In 1990, her father acquired a local video shop's library from a friend in Vista, CA when the shop needed to switch its inventory over from Betamax to VHS. He afterward converted a section of the garage into a makeshift video library, bought a Betamax player, and taught his 5-year-old daughter how to use it. [11] [12] [13]

In 2006, Norris graduated magna cum laude from Columbia University with a double major in Film Studies and Psychology, and departmental honors in film. [14] Her honors thesis was entitled, "In Search of the Tea Philosopher within the Cinematic Essayist: Chris Marker's Sans Soleil " advised under Richard Peña [15] which "deconstructed the essay-film genre using Phillip Lopate’s criteria alongside the writings of Kazou Okakura". [15] [16] In 2014, she entered a PhD program in the Film and Media Department at University of California Berkeley [17] and taught courses on avant-garde cinema, film history, and digital film production [18] before receiving an award for Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor in 2017-2018. [19]

In 2019, Norris gave a talk at the Austin Film Society Cinema on her archival research on stuntwomen from the 1910s, focusing on Helen Holmes of The Hazards of Helen , discussing how the use of fantastical, death-defying female bodies in these early silent serials served to promote and reinforce a new vision of a woman, falling in line with the momentum of First Wave Feminism and the Suffragette Movement of the era. [20]

Filmography

YearFilmRoleAwards
2016 Nakom (feature)Co-Director, Producer
  • Best First Feature Award (nominated) - Berlin International Film Festival
  • John Cassavetes Award (nominated) - Independent Spirit Awards
  • Audience Award - Durban International Film Festival
  • Golden Firebird Award (nominated) - Hong Kong International Film Festival
  • SIGNIS Award (nominated) - Hong Kong International Film Festival
  • FIPRESCI Prize (nominated) - Hong Kong International Film Festival
  • New Directors Competition (nominated) - Seattle International Film Festival
  • Best Feature - Indy Film Festival
  • New Directors/New Films
  • Opening Film - Black Star International Film Festival
  • 47th International Film Festival of India in Goa
  • Mumbai Film Festival
  • Pan African Film Festival
  • Tacoma Film Festival
  • San Diego Latino Film Festival
  • Citizen Jane Film Festival
2013Sombras de Azul (feature)Director, Writer, Co-Producer
  • Texas Independents Audience Award - Austin Film Festival
  • Spirit of Independents Award - Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival
  • Judge's Choice Award Best Drama - Route 66 Film Festival
  • Best Feature Writing Award - Indy Film Festival
  • Nueva Vision Award (nominated) - Santa Barbara International Film Festival
  • Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Feature (nominated) - Arpa International Film Festival
  • San Diego Latino Film Festival
  • Citizen Jane Film Festival
2009Sinnerman (short)Co-Director, Producer
  • Black Expressions Award - Indianapolis International Film Festival
  • Audience Award - Route 66 Film Festival
  • LA Shorts Fest
  • San Antonio Film Festival

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References

  1. ↑ "SOMBRAS DE AZUL". Austin Film Society. Retrieved 2021-02-11.
  2. 1 2 "2014 SBIFF - Sombras de Azul Red Carpet Interview - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2021-02-11.
  3. ↑ Riese, Monica (November 4, 2013). "Austin Film Festival Announces Audience Awards". www.austinchronicle.com. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
  4. ↑ Kenigsberg, Ben (2017-03-02). "Review: A Father Dies, and Duty Weighs on a Son in 'Nakom' (Published 2017)". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2021-02-09.
  5. ↑ Dargis, Manohla; Scott, A. O. (2016-03-15). "At New Directors/New Films, a Glimpse of the Otherworldly (Published 2016)". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2021-02-09.
  6. ↑ "'Nakom': Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. 2016-05-04. Retrieved 2021-02-11.
  7. ↑ "2017 Film Independent Spirit Awards Nominations Announced!". Film Independent. 2016-11-22. Retrieved 2021-02-11.
  8. ↑ "Ghanaian Drama 'Nakom' Finds a Med Student Torn Between His Village and the City". The Village Voice. 2017-03-01. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
  9. ↑ Nakom , retrieved 2021-02-09
  10. ↑ Rizov, Vadim (25 July 2016). "T.W. Pittman and Kelly Daniela Norris". Filmmaker Magazine. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
  11. ↑ 'Nakom' Q&A | Kelly Daniela Norris, T.W. Pittman & Robert Geile | New Directors/New Films 2016 , retrieved 2021-02-09
  12. ↑ Cape, Jessica (October 25, 2013). ""It's a confused state of mind; to feel oppressed but to be spirited, to feel melancholic but to celebrate."". www.austinchronicle.com. Retrieved 2021-02-10.
  13. ↑ "10 Questions With SOMBRAS DE AZUL Writer/Director Kelly Daniella Norris". Austin Film Festival. 2014-01-15. Retrieved 2021-02-10.
  14. ↑ "Sombras De Azul (Shades of Blue) | Tacoma Film Festival". www.tacomafilmfestival.com. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
  15. 1 2 "ramblings". KELLY DANIELA NORRIS. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
  16. ↑ "Books on Film". www.austinchronicle.com. June 17, 2016. Retrieved 2021-02-10.
  17. ↑ "Nakom" . Retrieved 2021-02-09.
  18. ↑ "Filmmaker Advisory Committee". Austin Film Society. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
  19. ↑ "OGSI Recipients 2017-2018". gsi.berkeley.edu. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
  20. ↑ "Kelly Daniela Norris presents: Action Heroines of the Silent Serials". Austin Film Society. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
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