Patricia Rozema facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Patricia Rozema
Rozema in 2015
Born	(1958-08-20) 20 August 1958 (age 66) Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Occupation	Film director, writer, producer, editor
Years active	1985–present
Children	2

Patricia Rozema (born August 20, 1958) is a Canadian film director, writer, and producer. She was part of a group of filmmakers who became well-known in the 1980s from Toronto. This group was sometimes called the Toronto New Wave.

Early Life and Education

Rozema was born in Kingston, Ontario, and grew up in Sarnia, Ontario. Her parents were Dutch and followed a strict religious upbringing. Because of this, she had very limited access to television. She did not even go to a movie theater until she was 16 years old. Later, Rozema studied philosophy and English literature at Calvin College in Michigan.

Patricia Rozema's Film Career

After working briefly as a journalist for print and television, Patricia Rozema directed her first major film.

Directing First Films

Her first feature film was I've Heard the Mermaids Singing (1987). This movie is a serious comedy about a lonely art gallery secretary and photographer named Polly, played by Sheila McCarthy. At the 1987 Cannes Film Festival, I've Heard the Mermaids Singing won the Prix de la Jeunesse, which is an award for youth. In 1993, the Toronto International Film Festival listed it as one of the top Canadian films of all time. This made Rozema the first female director to have a film on that list.

In 1990, Rozema directed White Room. This film was a mystery-thriller starring Sheila McCarthy, Kate Nelligan, Margot Kidder, and Maurice Godin. A film critic described it as a "suburban gothic fairy tale."

Television and International Projects

Rozema also directed "Six Gestures," which was part of the Yo-Yo Ma Inspired by Bach television series. This segment combined images of cellist Yo-Yo Ma performing with ice skating by Jane Torvill and Christopher Dean. It also included a story told from the perspective of J.S. Bach. "Six Gestures" was nominated for a Grammy Award and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Classical Music-Dance Program. It also won a Rose d'Or, a top television award in Europe.

In 1995, she directed the romance film When Night Is Falling. This movie starred Pascale Bussières and Rachael Crawford.

Her next two feature films were made outside of Canada. Mansfield Park (1999) was a new version of Jane Austen's famous novel. Happy Days (2000), an Irish film, was based on Samuel Beckett's play.

Later Works and Awards

Patricia Rozema later directed and helped write Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (2008). This movie was based on the popular American Girl book series. For this film, Rozema was nominated for a Directors Guild of Canada Award for Best Director.

She has also directed episodes for several TV series. These include the pilot and two episodes of the HBO series Tell Me You Love Me (2008). She also directed an episode of the HBO series In Treatment (2010). Other TV credits include episodes of the Canadian sitcom Michael, Tuesdays and Thursdays (2011) and the Amazon series Mozart in the Jungle.

Rozema and co-writer Michael Sucsy were nominated for an Emmy Award for their writing on the HBO movie Grey Gardens (2009).

Her film Into the Forest, starring Elliot Page and Evan Rachel Wood, was shown for the first time at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2015.

Her most recent feature film, Mouthpiece (2018), also premiered at TIFF. This movie is based on a play performed by two women, Norah Sadava and Amy Nostbakken, who also star in the film. They play two versions of the same main character, who is trying to find her voice while writing a speech for her mother's funeral. A newspaper called it "her most directly political film" and "her most heartfelt and emotionally mature."

In 2017, Rozema started her own production company called Crucial Things. This company helped produce Mouthpiece.

Filmography

Short Films

Feature Films

Television Work

Awards and Recognition

• Her short film Passion: A Letter in 16 mm won second prize at the Chicago International Film Festival.
• I've Heard the Mermaids Singing won the Prix de la Jeunesse at the Director's Fortnight in Cannes. It was also nominated for Best Picture at the 9th Genie Awards in 1988, where Rozema was nominated for Best Director and Best Screenplay. The film received 17 other awards and is considered one of the Best Canadian Films of All Time by film critics.
• White Room won 4 awards and received 3 Genie nominations.
• When Night Is Falling was shown in competition at the 45th Berlin International Film Festival. It went on to win over 30 awards from different countries and at various film festivals.
• Rozema's episode "Six Gestures" from Yo-Yo Ma, Inspired by Bach won a Prime Time Emmy Award and was nominated for a Grammy.

See also

In Spanish: Patricia Rozema para niños

• List of female film and television directors