Martha Stephens | |
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Born | |
Occupation(s) | Writer, director, filmmaker |
Years active | 2009–present |
Martha Stephens (born March 12, 1984) is an American film writer and director. [1] [2]
Stephens was born in West Virginia and raised in eastern Kentucky. [3] She graduated from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, School of Filmmaking, where she concentrated in directing. [4] [5] [6]
Stephens' first two feature films, Passenger Pigeons (2010) and Pilgrim Song (2012), premiered at the South by Southwest festival and received several awards. [7] [8] Her third film, Land Ho! (2014), which she co-directed with Aaron Katz, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival [9] and was purchased for worldwide distribution by Sony Pictures Classics. [10] [11] At the 30th Independent Spirit Awards, Land Ho! was given the John Cassavetes Award for best feature film with a budget under $500,000. [12] Her fourth feature film To the Stars , with Kara Hayward, Liana Liberato, Malin Åkerman, and Tony Hale starring, premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival in the U.S. Dramatic Competition. [13] It was released on April 24, 2020, by Samuel Goldwyn Films.
This Is That Productions was one of the leading independent feature film production companies. Established in 2002, and based in New York City, the company was founded and fully owned by Ted Hope, Anne Carey, Anthony Bregman, and Diana Victor. The four partners previously worked together at the groundbreaking Good Machine, which Ted Hope co-founded in 1991.
Chad Hartigan is a Cyprus-born, Irish-American filmmaker and actor.
Aaron Katz is an American independent filmmaker from Portland, Oregon.
Malin Maria Åkerman is a Swedish and American actress. In the early 2000s, she had several small television and film parts in both Canadian and American productions, including The Utopian Society (2003) and Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004). Following a supporting role on the HBO mockumentary sitcom The Comeback (2005), she gained her first co-starring roles in the romantic comedy films The Heartbreak Kid (2007) and 27 Dresses (2008). She had an uncredited role in the science fiction film, The Invasion (2007). She played the female lead in Watchmen (2009) as Silk Spectre II, a role for which she was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Keegan DeWitt is an American film composer, singer-songwriter, and actor. He was raised in Oregon and now resides in Los Angeles. He is the lead singer of the indie rock band Wild Cub, as well as a composer for film scores.
Zoe Rowlands Cassavetes is an American film director, screenwriter, and actress. She is the daughter of filmmaker John Cassavetes and actress Gena Rowlands. She is best known for her 2007 film Broken English.
The Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award is presented to the creative team of a film budgeted at less than $1,000,000 by the Film Independent, a non-profit organization dedicated to independent film and independent filmmakers. It is named after actor/screenwriter/director John Cassavetes, a pioneer of American independent film. The award is given to the directors, writers and producers of a film.
Chris Ohlson is an American video artist and director based in Brooklyn, New York.
Aurora Guerrero is a writer-director from California.
Mynette Louie is an American film producer of Chinese descent. She was nominated for a Primetime Emmy and Critics Choice Award in 2018 for HBO's The Tale, won the 2015 Independent Spirit Awards John Cassavetes Award for Land Ho!, and won the 2013 Independent Spirit Awards Piaget Producers Award. She was also nominated twice for "Best First Feature" at the Independent Spirit Awards for I Carry You With Me and The Tale. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
This Is Martin Bonner is a 2013 American drama film written and directed by Chad Hartigan. The film stars Paul Eenhoorn as Martin Bonner, a man in his late 50s forced to relocate to Reno, Nevada, for a new job and his attempts to acclimate and make new friends. Through his work at a non-profit organization, he meets Travis Holloway, and the two men form an unlikely friendship. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2013, where it won the Audience Award for Best of NEXT.
Amy Virginia Talkington is an American filmmaker, screenwriter, and author.
Candescent Films is an American film production company that produces and finances documentary and narrative films that explore social issues.
Land Ho! is a 2014 adventure comedy film, co-written and co-directed by Martha Stephens and Aaron Katz. The film made its world premiere at 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2014. It also screened at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival, Los Angeles Film Festival, Nantucket Film Festival, Locarno International Film Festival, and BFI London Film Festival.
David Bruckner is an American film director. With Jacob Gentry and Dan Bush, he co-wrote and co-directed the 2007 horror film The Signal. Bruckner also co-wrote and directed the "Amateur Night" segment of the 2012 horror anthology film V/H/S, as well as directed the 2017 film The Ritual and the 2020 film The Night House.
Dan Bush is an American film director and screenwriter best known for The Signal (2007), which he co-directed and co-wrote with Jacob Gentry and David Bruckner.
Sterlin Harjo is an American filmmaker. He has directed three feature films, a feature documentary, and the FX comedy series Reservation Dogs, all of them set in his home state of Oklahoma and concerned primarily with Native American people and content.
Eliza Hittman is an American screenwriter, film director, and producer from New York City. She has won multiple awards for her film Never Rarely Sometimes Always, which include the New York Film Critics Circle Award and the National Society of Film Critics Award—both for best screenplay.
Diane Bell is a Scottish filmmaker who works and resides in Los Angeles.
To the Stars is a 2019 American drama film directed by Martha Stephens from a screenplay by Shannon Bradley-Colleary. It stars Kara Hayward, Liana Liberato, Shea Whigham, Jordana Spiro, Lucas Jade Zumann, Adelaide Clemens, Malin Åkerman and Tony Hale.