Katherine Brooks facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Katherine Brooks
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| Born |
Sara Katherine Hill
March 15, 1976 Covington, Louisiana, U.S.
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| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Writer, film director |
Katherine Brooks (born March 15, 1976) is an American film writer and director. She is a member of the Directors Guild of America, a Jury Member for Samsung Fresh-Films 2007 (the largest teen filmmaking program in the USA) and the recipient of the LACE Award for Arts and Entertainment. In 2011, she was named one of the "Amazing Gay Women in Showbiz" by POWER UP.
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Career
Brooks has directed 21 television shows, as well as written and directed 10 films. Her film and television credits include three seasons of the Emmy Award-winning show The Osbournes, Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica, and MTV's groundbreaking The Real World. While associated with MTV, she helmed several of the network's reality series, including There and Back, Meet the Barkers, and The Simple Life.
Brooks moved into directing feature films after making her short films Finding Kate and Dear Emily.
Brooks' first feature film, Loving Annabelle, starred Erin Kelly, Diane Gaidry and Kevin McCarthy. It debuted at the prestigious Cinequest Film Festival in 2006. The film won the Audience Award and Best Actress Award at Outfest. In addition, Loving Annabelle won Best Feature Film at Melbourne Film Festival (2006), Barcelona Film Festival (2006), Atlanta Film Festival (2006), and the Jury Award at Paris Cinema Festival (2006).
Brooks wrote her second feature, the indie thriller Waking Madison, in New Orleans, a film which starred Sarah Roemer (Disturbia), Elisabeth Shue, Will Patton, Frances Conroy, and Taryn Manning. Her documentary Face 2 Face appeared on Netflix in 2013. She served as a Field Producer on National Geographic Presents: Impact with Gal Gadot, produced by Gal Gadot.
Her most recent work is Lost in Time (2018), starring Jill Hennessy.
Personal life
Brooks is a spokesperson for PETA and a practicing Buddhist. Brooks lives in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Films
Finding Kate
In 2004, Erin Kelly and Brooks made an experimental short film called Finding Kate. The short film was part of a series called Virgin Memoirs, a compilation which narrated the "first time" experiences of women.
A young Kelly plays 17-year-old Kate at a wedding reception. When she sees Victoria (Jessica Lancaster), she quickly drops her boyfriend's hand to go and talk to her cousin. The two flirt and end up in the pool together, their eyes dancing until they begin to kiss.
Dear Emily
Sara is going to visit her high school friend Emily. On her journey there, she recalls her last experience with her teenage crush, remembering a letter she wrote to Emily—a letter confessing her love for her. Following a painful flashback to Emily's mocking of Sara after she reads the note, she decides to keep on driving to her destination. Dear Emily was funded by EVEO.com after Brooks won a pitch contest for her feature film, Loving Annabelle. Despite being given only 6 weeks from conception to completion, and just $1,000 to make it, the film, to date, has made back over 500% of its profit.
Waking Madison
Waking Madison is the provocative story of a young woman's battle with mental illness.
Madison Walker (Sarah Roemer) is suffering from dissociative identity disorder or multiple personality disorder. Living in New Orleans, Madison is doing everything she can to lead a normal life.
When a series of events leaves Madison desperate, she locks herself away in her apartment for 30 days.
With the help of Doctor Elizabeth Barnes (Elisabeth Shue), Madison begins to slowly piece her life together. Determined to find a cure for herself, Madison hostages herself in her apartment for 30 days and embarks on a journey to discover: what is real? The climactic twist at the end leaves audiences with the very same question. Brooks stated:
I'm intrigued by the challenge of telling a story from the perspective of a character suffering from multiple personality disorder. Visually, Madison will take on an innovative style of mixing narrative with documentary- realism.
As part of research for the topic, Brooks locked herself up for 30 days and underwent the same process as the character Madison. This helped Brooks to visually re-create her experiences from the trial, bringing the character and the story more to life. Waking Madison was shot on location in New Orleans in Winter 2007.
Face 2 Face
Brooks completed a documentary with the director doing a three-month summer trip around the country, meeting 50 of her Facebook friends who said yes when she posed the question as her status, "Who would like to spend a day with me and I'll come visit you". The idea was born after the director had a surgery, and despite having 4700 friends on Facebook, stated that she felt alone.
Filmography
Features
- Lost In Time (2017)
- The Boys Club (pre-production)
- Face 2 Face (2012)
- Waking Madison (2009)
- Surrender (2003)
Short films
- Finding Kate (2004)
- Dear Emily (2001)
- Luna Butterflys (2000)
- Outtakes (1998)
Television
- There & Back: Ashley Parker Angel (TV series) (2006)
- My Own (TV series) (2006)
- Meet the Barkers (TV series) (2005)
- Love is in the Heir (TV series) (2004)
- He's a Lady (TV series) (2004)
- Wanna Come In? (TV series) (2004)
- The Simple Life 2: Road Trip (TV series) (2004)
- Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica (TV series) (2003)
- The Real World: San Diego (TV series) (2003)
- The Osbournes (TV series) (2002)
- The Complex (TV series) (2002)
- Sexcetera (TV series) (1998)
See also
- List of female film and television directors
- List of lesbian filmmakers
- List of LGBT-related films directed by women
