Emilie Blythe McDonald
Emilie is a film director and screenwriter who basically grew up in the back of a VW bus, traveling through the U.S. and Mexico. Her films have won multiple awards and screened at festivals internationally including BAMcinemaFest, Nantucket, Palm Springs, IndieMemphis, Sidewalk, Cucalorus, and Berkshire Film Festival. With her latest project, FLOR AND AMAN AGAINST THE MOTHERFUCKING WORLD, she participated in Gotham Project Market's 2024 U.S. Features in Development, was a 2024 Academy Nicholls quarterfinalist, won the High Scribe Screenwriting Award at the 2024 Sun Valley Film Festival, was a 2024 Nashville Film Festival Screenwriting Competition finalist, a 2024 ScreenCraft screenwriting fellowship quarterfinalist, and a 2023 Stowe New Voices • New Mexico fellow. She’s also participated in IFP’s No Borders, Cine Qua Non Storylines Lab, Creative Capital’s Artists Summer Institute and the Indie Film Clinic. Selected past projects include the narrative hybrid feature QUEEN ANNE'S LACE (producer Caitlin Mae Burke; exec producer Gill Holland), MUCK (best narrative short, IndieMemphis), CHURROS (Hammer to Nail short film award), CROSSING THE RIVER (best ensemble cast, NYC Downtown Short Film Festival; best short, NUHO Online Film Festival), and OTHER PEOPLE'S HOUSES. She has a BA in Film from Vassar and an MFA in Film from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She’s a member of Film Fatales and New Mexico Women in Film and is a founding member of an NYC-based writing group comprised of female directors. Emilie has served on festival juries and spoken on panels about crowdfunding, social issue films and more. Emilie worked in development at Milk & Honey Films and was Creative Director at Filmmakers Alliance. (Photo by Danielle Lurie)