Mudbound writer & director Dee Rees | Screenwriters' Lecture ...
New York, NY, USA
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Dee Rees BiographyDee Rees is an alumna of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts graduate film program and a 2008 Sundance Screenwriting & Directing Lab Fellow. She known for her feature film directorial debut Pariah and the Oscar nominated feature film Mudbound.
She has written and directed several short films, including Orange Bow (centering on a teenage boy). The Nashville native’s last short film, Colonial Gods, aired on the BBC in the fall of 2009. The short chronicles a complicated friendship between a Somali man and a Nigerian man, set against the backdrop of gentrification in the small immigrant community in Cardiff, Wales known as Tiger Bay.
Pariah, completed in 2007, screened at over 40 festivals worldwide (including Sundance) and garnered 25 Best Short awards. Additionally, Pariah was a finalist for the 2009 Sundance/NHK International Award. Rees was also selected as a 2008 Tribeca Institute/Renew Media Arts Fellow for her work; was chosen as one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film” for 2008; and was nominated for a USA Fellowship in 2009.
Pariah has since been expanded into the feature length film Pariah, which had its world premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. It was honored with the Festival’s [U.S. Dramatic Competition] Excellence in Cinematography Award (Bradford Young).
Prior to making Pariah, Rees directed a documentary feature, Eventual Salvation. The film, which she also edited, received a 2007 Sundance Documentary Fund Grant and premiered on the Sundance Channel in October 2009. It follows her grandmother’s return to Liberia to help rebuild a community following the country’s civil war.
She previously worked as a script supervision intern on Spike Lee’s epic documentary When the Levees Broke and feature Inside Man. At Tisch, Spike Lee was Rees professor and mentor. She earned a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Florida A&M University.
In 2015, Rees' film Bessie premiered on HBO, starring Queen Latifah as the iconic singer Bessie Smith. The film was well received by critics. It won four Primetime Emmy Awards, including the award for Outstanding Television Movie. Rees was nominated for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special and Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special. She was the recipient of the 2016 Director's Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television and Miniseries as well as the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Directing in a Television Movie.
In 2018, Dee became the the first black woman to be nominated for any Academy Award in a writing category and the first Black woman nominated for an Oscar in the Best Adapted Screenplay category for her highly-acclaimed film Mudbound. The film, which stars Jason Mitchell, Carey Mulligan and Mary J. Blige, tells the story of two men returning home from World War II, struggling to deal with racism and post-war life. After being shown at Sundance in 2017, Mudbound became the highest purchase of the festival, being bought for $12.5 million by Netflix.
Mudbound contains many personal connections for Rees, such as her grandfathers' experiences in the army and her grandmother who aspired to be a stenographer, an ambition shared with one of the characters in the film. Rees used her grandmother's journal to help guide her directing process. It contained family photographs of their slave ancestors, with the names of who fought in wars.
Rees will next direct The Last Thing He Wanted, a political thriller film, based upon the novel of the same name by Joan Didion, which will star Anne Hathaway, Ben Affleck and Willem Dafoe, and will be distributed by Netflix.
Contact a speaker booking agent to check availability on Dee Rees and other top speakers and celebrities.
-Go behind the scenes of Variety‘s “Mudbound” cover shoot with Dee Rees as she discusses her non-traditional rehearsal process (called “relationship workshops”), why Garrett Hedlund should be the next James Bond, and how being fired from Procter & Gamble led her to discover a passion for directing.
Last week, producer Jason Blum garnered justifiable criticism for his interview with Polygon, in which he said, "There are not a lot of female directors period and even less who are inclined to do horror.” His remarks were quickly denounced as tone-deaf and ignorant by many, as the amount of women directors who want to do horror are abundant.
On an Oscar nominations morning that saw a strong showing for women, Mudbound’s Dee Rees has made some history of her own as the first African America woman ever to be nominated for Writing (Adapted Screenplay).
The two filmmakers will participate in a public conversation with artist Theaster Gates, who has curated a marathon of films to accompany his new show, “The ...
'Mudbound' filmmaker Dee Rees will direct 'The Last Thing He Wanted,' an adaptation of a Joan Didion book starring Anne Hathaway, for Netflix.
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Dee Rees is an alumna of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts graduate film program and a 2008 Sundance Screenwriting & Directing Lab Fellow. She known for her feature film directorial debut Pariah and the Oscar nominated feature film Mudbound.
She has written and directed several short films, including Orange Bow (centering on a teenage boy). The Nashville native’s last short film, Colonial Gods, aired on the BBC in the fall of 2009. The short chronicles a complicated friendship between a Somali man and a Nigerian man, set against the backdrop of gentrification in the small immigrant community in Cardiff, Wales known as Tiger Bay.
Pariah, completed in 2007, screened at over 40 festivals worldwide (including Sundance) and garnered 25 Best Short awards. Additionally, Pariah was a finalist for the 2009 Sundance/NHK International Award. Rees was also selected as a 2008 Tribeca Institute/Renew Media Arts Fellow for her work; was chosen as one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film” for 2008; and was nominated for a USA Fellowship in 2009.
Pariah has since been expanded into the feature length film Pariah, which had its world premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. It was honored with the Festival’s [U.S. Dramatic Competition] Excellence in Cinematography Award (Bradford Young).
Prior to making Pariah, Rees directed a documentary feature, Eventual Salvation. The film, which she also edited, received a 2007 Sundance Documentary Fund Grant and premiered on the Sundance Channel in October 2009. It follows her grandmother’s return to Liberia to help rebuild a community following the country’s civil war.
She previously worked as a script supervision intern on Spike Lee’s epic documentary When the Levees Broke and feature Inside Man. At Tisch, Spike Lee was Rees professor and mentor. She earned a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Florida A&M University.
In 2015, Rees' film Bessie premiered on HBO, starring Queen Latifah as the iconic singer Bessie Smith. The film was well received by critics. It won four Primetime Emmy Awards, including the award for Outstanding Television Movie. Rees was nominated for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special and Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special. She was the recipient of the 2016 Director's Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television and Miniseries as well as the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Directing in a Television Movie.
In 2018, Dee became the the first black woman to be nominated for any Academy Award in a writing category and the first Black woman nominated for an Oscar in the Best Adapted Screenplay category for her highly-acclaimed film Mudbound. The film, which stars Jason Mitchell, Carey Mulligan and Mary J. Blige, tells the story of two men returning home from World War II, struggling to deal with racism and post-war life. After being shown at Sundance in 2017, Mudbound became the highest purchase of the festival, being bought for $12.5 million by Netflix.
Mudbound contains many personal connections for Rees, such as her grandfathers' experiences in the army and her grandmother who aspired to be a stenographer, an ambition shared with one of the characters in the film. Rees used her grandmother's journal to help guide her directing process. It contained family photographs of their slave ancestors, with the names of who fought in wars.
Rees will next direct The Last Thing He Wanted, a political thriller film, based upon the novel of the same name by Joan Didion, which will star Anne Hathaway, Ben Affleck and Willem Dafoe, and will be distributed by Netflix.
Contact a speaker booking agent to check availability on Dee Rees and other top speakers and celebrities.
Dee Rees is a keynote speaker and industry expert who speaks on a wide range of topics . The estimated speaking fee range to book Dee Rees for your event is $30,000 - $50,000. Dee Rees generally travels from New York, NY, USA and can be booked for (private) corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. Similar motivational celebrity speakers are Ava DuVernay, Ryan Coogler, Spike Lee, Gina Prince-Bythewood and Julie Dash. Contact All American Speakers for ratings, reviews, videos and information on scheduling Dee Rees for an upcoming event.
Go behind the scenes of Variety‘s “Mudbound” cover shoot with Dee Rees as she discusses her non-traditional rehearsal process (called “relationship workshops”), why Garrett Hedlund should be the next James Bond, and how being fired from Procter & Gamble led her to discover a passion for directing.
Last week, producer Jason Blum garnered justifiable criticism for his interview with Polygon, in which he said, "There are not a lot of female directors period and even less who are inclined to do horror.” His remarks were quickly denounced as tone-deaf and ignorant by many, as the amount of women directors who want to do horror are abundant.
On an Oscar nominations morning that saw a strong showing for women, Mudbound’s Dee Rees has made some history of her own as the first African America woman ever to be nominated for Writing (Adapted Screenplay).
The two filmmakers will participate in a public conversation with artist Theaster Gates, who has curated a marathon of films to accompany his new show, “The ...
'Mudbound' filmmaker Dee Rees will direct 'The Last Thing He Wanted,' an adaptation of a Joan Didion book starring Anne Hathaway, for Netflix.
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This website is a resource for event professionals and strives to provide the most comprehensive catalog of thought leaders and industry experts to consider for speaking engagements. A listing or profile on this website does not imply an agency affiliation or endorsement by the talent.
All American Entertainment (AAE) exclusively represents the interests of talent buyers, and does not claim to be the agency or management for any speaker or artist on this site. AAE is a talent booking agency for paid events only. We do not handle requests for donation of time or media requests for interviews, and cannot provide celebrity contact information.
If you are the talent, and wish to request removal from this catalog or report an issue with your profile, please click here.
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