Martin Bell (director) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Martin Bell
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Bell with wife Mary Ellen Mark at the 2011 Look 3 photography conference
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| Born | January 16, 1943 |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Film director |
| Years active | 1971-present |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Ellen Mark |
Martin Bell, born on January 16, 1943, is an American film director. He is well-known for movies like Streetwise and American Heart. Streetwise was even nominated for an Oscar!
Contents
Martin Bell's Film Career
Making Documentaries
In 1983, Martin Bell's wife, a photographer named Mary Ellen Mark, was working for Life magazine. She was taking pictures for a story about young people without homes in Seattle, Washington. The story was called "Streets of the Lost."
After meeting many of these young people, Mary Ellen Mark asked her husband, Martin Bell, to come to Seattle. He used his film camera to record their lives. This project became the documentary film Streetwise. It was nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary in 1985.
Bell and Mark kept following the life of one young person from Streetwise, Erin "Tiny" Blackwell. They showed her story on the TV show Nightline. Later, they made another full-length documentary called Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell. This film came out in theaters in 2016.
Directing Feature Films
After Streetwise was a success, Martin Bell directed his first feature film, American Heart. It starred Jeff Bridges and Edward Furlong. The movie was inspired by the relationship between a father and son from the Streetwise documentary.
American Heart was nominated for five Independent Spirit Awards. Martin Bell was nominated for Best First Feature. Jeff Bridges won an award for Best Male Lead in the film.
Later, Bell directed two more movies. These were Hidden in America in 1996 and Brotherhood of Murder in 1998.
Martin Bell's Filmography
- Streetwise (1984)
- American Heart (1992)
- Tiny at 20 (1993) - a short film
- Hidden in America (1996)
- Brotherhood of Murder (1998)
- Twins (2004) - a short film
- Erin (2005) - a short film
- Prom (2010) - a short film
- Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell (2016)
- Streetwise Revisited: Rat (2021) - a short film
