Janicza Bravo facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Janicza Bravo
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Bravo in 2017
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| Born |
Janicza Bravo
New York City, U.S.
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| Alma mater | New York University |
| Occupation |
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| Years active | 2010–present |
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Notable work
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Gregory Go Boom (2013) Lemon (2017) Zola (2021) |
| Spouse(s) |
Brett Gelman
(m. 2015; div. 2018) |
Janicza Bravo is an American film director, producer, and writer. She is known for her unique and creative movies. Some of her famous films include Gregory Go Boom, which won an award at the Sundance Film Festival. She also directed Lemon and Zola.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Janicza Bravo was born in New York City. Her parents, Ana María Ford and Rafael Ángel Landers, were tailors from Colón, Panama. When Janicza was a baby, her mother joined the U.S. military.
From the age of three months until she was a teenager, Janicza lived between Colón and an Army base in Panama City, Panama. She often traveled back and forth between the United States and Panama. When she was 12, her family moved to Crown Heights, Brooklyn.
Studying Film and Theater
Bravo went to the New York University Tisch School of the Arts. She studied directing and design for theater. This included learning about costume and set design.
After college, she moved to Los Angeles. She worked as a stylist and helped produce small theater shows. Later, a cinematographer offered to help her with filmmaking. This was her start in the movie world.
Janicza Bravo's Film Career
After college, Janicza Bravo first worked as a stylist. She also designed costumes for movies and shows.
She began her career by writing and directing short films. Her first film was called Eat. It starred Katherine Waterston and Brett Gelman. The film was shown at the 2011 SXSW Film Festival. It was about a woman who gets locked out of her apartment and meets a strange neighbor.
Award-Winning Short Films
Her second film was a dark comedy from 2013 called Gregory Go Boom. This film won a special award at the Sundance Film Festival. It featured actor Michael Cera as a character living near the Salton Sea. The movie was filmed in Bombay Beach and Slab City, California. The film's title was inspired by an older French movie called Small Change.
In 2014, she released her third short film, Pauline Alone. It starred Gaby Hoffmann as a woman who loves looking at Craigslist. That same year, Filmmaker magazine named her one of the "25 New Faces of Independent Film." This meant she was a rising star in independent movies.
Directing for TV and Movies
In 2015, Bravo directed a short film about Victoria Beckham. It was for Glamour magazine's 25th Anniversary Women of the Year Awards.
In 2016, Bravo made a short film called Hard World for Small Things. This was a virtual reality film. It showed a "day in the life" in South Central. The film was inspired by a sad event involving a family member. It was shown at several film festivals, including Sundance.
Also in 2016, Bravo took her short film Woman in Deep to the SXSW Film Festival. This film starred Alison Pill.
In 2016, Janicza Bravo directed her first full-length movie, an independent film called Lemon. She wrote it with her then-husband, Brett Gelman. The movie starred Gelman, Michael Cera, and Judy Greer. It also featured many other actors like Nia Long and Jeff Garlin. Lemon premiered at Sundance in 2017.
Bravo has also directed episodes for popular TV shows. She directed "Juneteenth," an episode of the FX show Atlanta. She also directed "Bertie's Birthday" for the Netflix show Love.
Her recent film, Zola, was directed and co-written by Bravo. It premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.
In 2022, Bravo was asked to design rooms for an art exhibition. This was at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The exhibition was called In America: An Anthology of Fashion.
Personal Life
Janicza Bravo speaks Spanish very well. She is Latina and also Jewish.
In December 2015, Janicza Bravo married actor Brett Gelman. They had met in New York City while working on a commercial. They lived in Los Angeles. They later divorced in 2018.
Awards and Recognition
- 2014: Sundance Film Festival, Short Film Grand Jury Prize (nominated) – Gregory Go Boom
- 2014: Sundance Film Festival, Short Film Jury Award: US Fiction – Gregory Go Boom
Filmography
- 2011: Eat (Short) – writer, director, editor
- 2013: Gregory Go Boom (Short) – producer, writer, director, editor
- 2014: Pauline Alone (Short) – producer, writer, director, editor
- 2015: Woman of the Year (Short) – director
- 2015: Hot Package (TV series) – writer, 5 episodes
- 2016: Hard World for Small Things (Short) – producer, writer, director
- 2016: Woman in Deep (Short) – producer, writer, director
- 2016: Man Rots From the Head (Short) – producer, writer, director
- 2016: The New Yorker presents: Couple's First Dinner Party, Serves Six (Short) – director, writer
- 2016: Atlanta (TV series) – director, 1 episode: "Juneteenth"
- 2017: Lemon – producer, writer, director
- 2017: Hell In The Afternoon (Short) – producer, writer, director
- 2018: Forever (TV series) – director
- 2018: Camping (TV series) — actor
- 2020: Zola – writer, director
- 2020: Mrs. America (TV series) - Director
- 2021: In Treatment (TV series) - Director
- 2021: Them (TV series) - Director
- 2022: Kindred (TV series) - Director
- 2022: Sharp Stick — actor
- 2022: Miu Miu Women's Tales: House Comes With a Bird (Short) – director, writer
- 2024: The Listeners (TV Series) - Director
