Juanita Wilson

Juanita Wilson is an Irish director and writer from Dublin. Her short film The Door received an Irish Film and Television Award (IFTA) in 2009 and an Academy Award nomination in 2010. Her debut feature film As If I Am Not There received the 2011 Irish Film and Television Award for best film, best script, and best director.

For the singer or plane crash survivor, see Juanita Williams.

Early life

Wilson attended the National College of Art and Design where she studied fine art as well as Dublin Institute of Technology where she studied design and journalism. She began directing after this.[1] She produced Inside I'm Dancing and H3.[2]

Career

The Door

The Door was Wilson's first short film.[2] It is based on the " Monologue About a Whole Life Written Down on Doors, the testimony of Nikolai Fomich Kalugin" by Svetlana Alexievich (from her book Voices from Chernobyl). The Irish Film Board provided money for the making of the film.[1] She went to the Ukrainian cities Kiev and Prypiat, described as "the most radioactive place on earth" due to its close proximity to Chernobyl, to film it.[1] She was inspired to go there after seeing an abandoned playground with a Ferris wheel on the Internet.[1] The setting of The Door is in Ukraine.[2] It utilises the Russian language complemented by English language subtitles.[2] The Door won in the Short Film category at the 6th Irish Film and Television Awards in 2009.[3] The Door was nominated in the category of Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film at the 82nd Academy Awards.[1][4][5][6] The Door also won awards at film festivals held in Bilbao, Cork and Foyle.[2] It also won "best director" at the Polish Grand OFF 2009 as well as winning the Sarajevo Film Festival's Katrin Cartlidge Bursary 2009.[7]

As If I'm Not There

Wilson completed her first feature film.[1] It is titled As If I'm Not There, based upon the Slavenka Drakulić book and is a joint Irish production alongside Macedonia and Sweden.[2] It is being filmed in Macedonia.[7] The film was screened at the 35th Toronto International Film Festival.[8] The film was selected as the Irish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 84th Academy Awards,[9] but it did not make the final shortlist.[10]

References
  1. "Film-maker went to radioactive city". Sunday Independent. 7 February 2010. Retrieved 12 February 2010.
  2. "Juanita Wilson's Debut Secures Eurimages Support". Irish Film and Television Network. 10 June 2009. Retrieved 12 February 2010.
  3. "Irish Talent Lauded with Five Oscar Nominations". Irish Film and Television Network. 2 February 2010. Retrieved 12 February 2010.
  4. "Irish films nominated for Oscars". RTÉ. 2 February 2010. Retrieved 12 February 2010.
  5. "Animators hoping for Oscar success". The Belfast Telegraph. 2 February 2010. Archived from the original on 19 July 2012. Retrieved 12 February 2010.
  6. "Belfast man Peter Devlin in Oscar contention". BBC. 2 February 2010. Retrieved 12 February 2010.
  7. Kernan Andrews (11 February 2010). "Oscar nominated film shot by Galway cinematographer". Galway Advertiser. Retrieved 12 February 2010.
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 16 September 2010. Retrieved 21 September 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. Kemp, Stuart (21 September 2011). "Irish Film & TV Academy Picks Juanita Wilson's 'As If I Am Not There' For Oscar Race". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
  10. "9 Foreign Language Films Vie for Oscar". Archived from the original on 21 May 2012. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
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