Irene Taylor Brodsky
Irene Taylor Brodsky (born June 15, 1970) is an American filmmaker best known for her documentaries that delve deep into the human experience.
Irene Taylor Brodsky | |
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Taylor Brodsky at the 68th Annual Peabody Awards | |
Born | St. Louis, Missouri | June 15, 1970
Education | New York University, Columbia University Graduate School Of Journalism |
Alma mater | NYU (BA) Columbia University (MA) |
Occupation | Film director Film producer Writer Cinematographer editor |
Years active | 2004 – present |
For her debut feature film, Hear and Now, Irene won a Peabody Award and the 2007 Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her next film, The Final Inch, which also garnered multiple Emmy nominations and the International Documentary Association's Pare Lorentz Award. Her short film, One Last Hug, about a grief camp for children, won the 2014 Prime Time Emmy for Best Children's Programming.
Irene's other award winning films include Moonlight Sonata: Deafness in Three Movements (2019), Homeless the Soundtrack (2018), Beware the Slenderman (2017), Open Your Eyes (2015), Saving Pelican 895 (2012)
Irene founded Vermilion Films in 2006, and The Treehouse Project, a non-profit expanding accessibility to independent filmmaking.
Early life
Brodsky is a CODA (Child of Deaf Adults). Brodsky graduated from New York University and Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.
Career
Irene's early work was influenced by growing up in a deaf family. She began her career as a still photographer with the publication of her first book, Buddhas in Disguise: Deaf People of Nepal, documenting the lives of disabled people in the Himalayas. For ten years, she worked between Kathmandu and New York City, became a Himalayan mountain guide and made her first film in 1995, on Nepalese deaf children, called “Ishara.”
Irene returned to the United States, soon working with Witness, a human rights video advocacy organization founded by Peter Gabriel. She began directing television documentaries, ranging from polygamist Alex Joseph and his 9 wives to the problematic rise of managed health care. From 1999 to 2002, she worked as a Producer for CBS News Sunday Morning covering music, health care and breaking news.
In 2002, Irene moved to Portland, Oregon and founded a documentary production company, Vermilion Films. Her first feature documentary, Hear and Now, won the Audience Award at Sundance Film Festival in 2007 and a Peabody Award. Since then, she has won two Emmys and been nominated for an Oscar and multiple Emmy awards.
In 2019, Irene founded The Treehouse Project, a nonprofit forging broader accessibility to documentary film.
Brodsky's documentaries have appeared on HBO, CBS, A&E, Fox, and the History Channel.
Filmography
- 2007: Hear and Now
- 2009: The Final Inch
- 2011: Saving Pelican 895
- 2014: One Last Hug: Three Days at Grief Camp
- 2015: Open Your Eyes
- 2016: Beware the Slenderman
- 2017: The Life Story
- 2018: The Listening Project
- 2018: Homeless: The Soundtrack
- 2018: Between Sound and Silence
- 2019: Moonlight Sonata
Awards and Nominations
- 2004: Emmy Award for an "Outstanding Feature in a Regularly Scheduled Broadcast",[1] Heart of the Country.
- 2007: Sundance Film Festival Audience Award,[2] Hear and Now.
- 2008: Peabody Award,[3] Hear and Now.
- 2009: Nominee for Academy Award, The Final Inch.[4]
- 2016: Beware the Slenderman.
- 2020: Nominee for Emmy in Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking, Moonlight Sonata: Deafness in Three Movements [5]
Select works
- 1997 – Buddhas in Disguise: Deaf People of Nepal?. San Diego, California: DawnSignPress. ISBN 978-0-915-03559-5; OCLC 36364073; the book's stories and photographs shed light on the Deaf culture and community in Nepal.
- 1999 – I Witness: Polygamy. Amazon Prime Video. Main videographer and a producer of a 5 part x 24 minutes series on Alex Joseph's polygamist family just before Alex died of liver cancer.
See also
- International Documentary Association
- Mohammad Gulzar Saifi
Notes
- Vermilion> Work> Filmography
- "Rochester Native Brings Her Famous Film Home to Benefit Deaf Students," NTID News (National Technical Institute for the Deaf), March 15, 2008.
- "Hear and Now Released on DVD." NTID News. October 21, 2009.
- White, Thomas. "Meet the Academy Award Nominees: Irene Taylor Brodsky – The Final Inch," International Documentary Association, February 2009.
- Moonlight Sonata: Deafness in Three Movements, retrieved January 20, 2020
References
- "Academy Award Recognition for India's Fight to Eradicate Polio," UNICEF. February 18, 2009.
- Deburge, Peter. "Sundance 2007: Hear and Now (Documentary)," Variety. January 20, 2007.
- "Hear and Now Released on DVD." NTID News (National Technical Institute for the Deaf). October 21, 2009.
- "Not just Slumdog..., The Final Inch too in Oscar race," CNN-IBN (Cable News Network-Indian Broadcasting Network) February 3, 2009.
- Pandey, Geeta. "Final Inch towards the Oscars," BBC News. February 19, 2009.
- "Rochester Native Brings Her Famous Film Home to Benefit Deaf Students," NTID News. March 15, 2008.