Project Highlights

The Seattle Film Festival

Grand Jury Prize for Best short film

American dream

Indie Filmmaker Awards

Best Female director of a short film

Best short film

IFMA Special Award - Best ensemble of a Short film

american dream

Prescott Film Festival

Jury Prize

Audience Award

American Dream

Female Eye Film Festival

Toronto, Best Debut Feature

Nothing Special

The INDIE FEST

AWARD OF EXCELLENCE (DIRECTOR)

Nothing Special

Iowa Independent Film Festival

The HENRY JAGLOM AWARD for CREATIVE EXCELLENCE IN DIRECTION

Nothing Special

33rd Philadelphia International Film Festival

Best Feature

Nothing Special

The Los Angeles Reel Film Festival

WINNER

Nothing Special

Arts and Letters Journal of Contemporary Culture for Literary short fiction

Creature in a Box

Chesterfield Writer's Film Project finalist

Quiet Storm

New Century Writer Awards

What She Saw

H.E. Francis Literary Competition finalist

The Pretty Little Girl

The ACCOLADE Competition

AWARD OF EXCELLENCE

Nothing Special

Dear President Carter, Published in the Huffington Post

A few years ago, a dear friend left us too soon after succumbing to cancer. I resisted articulating my love and admiration to her as I witnessed an unseemly parade of tearful remembrances at her bedside. I know now that it was a mistake not to have found a way to convey to her how her art and being had influenced and inspired me. Recent news of your diagnosis, Mr. President, has reminded me of those regrets, so now I want to send my good wishes for your health, and tell you how much you have inspired and guided me. I cannot possibly convey the entire story in a thousand words, but here is one tiny thread.

Why "Selma" Got It Right, Published in the Huffington Post

There is much hoopla over Ava DuVernay's buzzed-about film Selma regarding historical "inaccuracies" in the portrayal of President Johnson. In a TIME magazine article, David Kaiser takes us through a narrative presupposing the president's intentions, while admitting, "LBJ never let anyone know what he planned to do until it was absolutely necessary." This seems an admission that the dramatized conversations in Selma that have become the subject of this debate are not out of place and are therefore free territory for the imaginations of a gifted filmmaker like DuVernay.

"Karen Black: Perfectly Misunderstood," Published in the Huffington Post

Karen Black died last week and she was my unlikely friend.

I say so because all the conventional markers could not have predicted it. I am an atheist, a feminist and a film director and Karen was none of those things. I plan fastidiously with storyboards and shotlists in pursuit of the dramatic truth. Karen sought the same truth, but through jarringly different means.