Juanita Wilson
Website: www.octagonfilms.com
Email: info@octagonfilms.com
Phone number: +353 (0) 1 276 9686
Bio
Irish director Juanita Wilson’s first film The Door was nominated for an Oscar 2010 and went on to win numerous awards and festivals throughout the world. She followed this with an equally hard hitting true story of the Bosnian War, As If I Am Not There, based on Croatian journalist Slavenka Drakulic’s book of the same name. The film went on to win many awards including the prestigious Jury Prize Silver Pyramid at the Cairo International Film Festival in December 2010 and the The Human Rights Film Award of The Council of Europe at the Istanbul Film Festival 2011, and Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Film at the 2011 Irish Film and Television Academy Awards in February 2011.
Juanita was named among Variety’s top ten directors to watch for in 2011, the only woman to feature on the list.
She is currently in preproduction with a Daniel Woodrell book she adapted called Tomato Red which will shoot in the U.S. this summer and has adapted another script Right Of the Boom based on the contemporary memoir Unremarried Widow by Artis Henderson. Several other adaptations are in development including James Kennedy’s memoir Fat God, Thin God; The Crocodile by the Door by Selina Guinness and Mother Daughter Me by Katie Hafner.
Before directing, Juanita jointly produced the hardhitting hunger strike film H3 and the highly acclaimed Inside I’m Dancing.
Filmography
As If I Am Not There
2011, Writer/Director
The Door
2010, Writer/Director
Inside I'm Dancing
2004, Producer
H3
2001, Producer
Awards
As If I Am Not There
Silver Pyramid, Cairo International Film Festival, 2010
Best Film, Irish Film and Television Academy Awards, 2011
Best Director, Irish Film and Television Academy Awards, 2011
Best Script, Irish Film and Television Academy Awards, 2011
Variety Director to Watch Award, 2011
World Cinema Best Picture, Phoenix International Film Festival, 2011
Film Council of Europe Award, Istanbul International Film Festival, 2011 Writer/Director
Best Feature Film Script, Irish Playwrights and Screenwriters Guild, 2012
Selected as Ireland’s Entry for 2012 Academy Awards in the ‘’Best Foreign Language Film’’ category
Selected for BAFTA 2012 long-list in the ‘’Best Film Not In The English Language ‘’ Category
The Door
Golden Mikeldi - Bilbao International Festival of Short Films, Spain, 2008
Best First Short by an Irish Director - Cork International Film Festival, Ireland, 2008
Festival Prize Best Short Film - Foyle Film Festival, Ireland, 2008
Best Short Film - Irish Film and Television Academy Awards, 2009
Katrin Cartlidge Award - Sarajevo Film Festival, Bosnia, 2009
Best Director - World OFF Film Awards, Warsaw, Poland, 2009
Best Live Action Short Film Nomination - 82nd Academy Awards®, US, 2010
Best Short Film - Bird’s Eye Festival, London, UK, 2010
Best Short Film – Roma Irish Festa, Italy, 2010
H3
Golden Rosa Camuna - Bergamo Film Meeting, 2002
Inside I’m Dancing
Audience Award - Edinburgh Film Festival, 2004
Media Access Award – 2005
Best Irish Film - Irish Film and Television Academy Awards, 2006