Screening

About Megan Griffiths

Year Released:
2017
Genres:
This Jorgensen Guest Filmmaker program will be in the form of an extended, on-stage interview moderated by Barbara Ann O'Leary.

 

Megan Griffiths is a writer/director working in film and television. She recently directed two episodes of the Duplass Brothers’ HBO anthology seriesRoom 104. Prior to this, Griffiths completed the thriller The Night Stalker, which she wrote and directed, starring Lou Diamond Phillips as serial killer Richard Ramirez. Her film Lucky Them, starring Toni Collette, Thomas Haden Church, and Johnny Depp, premiered at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival and was picked up for distribution by IFC Films. Griffiths’ film Eden was a breakout at SXSW 2012, winning the Emergent Narrative Director Award, and the Audience Award for Narrative Feature, as well as a Special Jury Prize for lead actress Jamie Chung. Griffiths’ debut feature The Off Hours premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.

Additionally, Griffiths has produced several other projects, including Lynn Shelton’s Your Sister’s Sister and the Sundance absurdist buddy comedy The Catechism Cataclysm. She and Shelton also co-wrote a feature for “This American Life,” and together, with producer Gregg Fienberg, sold an original pitch to HBO. In her adopted hometown of Seattle, Griffiths was honored with the 2012 Stranger Genius Award for Film, named the 2013 City Arts Film Artist of the Year, and received the 2015 Seattle Mayor’s Award for Film. She serves on the board of the Northwest Film Forum and is an advocate for sustainable film production. Griffiths is currently completing her sixth feature film, Sadie, due for release in 2018.

Barbara Ann O'LearyBarbara Ann O'Leary’s love of film—particularly the work of women filmmakers—inspired her to launch the #DirectedbyWomen initiative, which began when she extended an invitation to film lovers to engage in a Worldwide Film Viewing Party, celebrating women directors and their work in September 2015. The invitation sparked the imagination of filmmakers, film lovers, cinema programmers, and other cinephiles. Do-It-Yourself events—large and small—surfaced in various countries around the globe. The Worldwide Film Viewing Party has become an annual tradition, and September has become identified as Woman Director Awareness Month. In support of film lovers discovering the work of women directors Barbara has built a #DirectedbyWomen database of women directors. The global list currently has over 10,000 directors and is continually being expanded.

 

Barbara holds a bachelor’s degree in theatre and drama from Indiana University Bloomington. As an undergraduate, she stage managed and designed lighting and sound in the University Theatre (now the IU Cinema) during its incarnation as a live performance space. She has been an active supporter of IU Cinema since before its first public screening, ultimately joining the staff in 2013. Barbara served as IU Cinema’s founding social media and web specialist, and she was the founding editor of A Place for Film, IU Cinema’s blog. She currently is a member of Ann Arbor Film Festival’s screening committee and has previously screened films and served on the World Cinema Jury for Indy Film Fest.

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