Biography
Amanda Madden is a filmmaker, educator, and facilitator whose work explores evolutions of intimacy, identity, and connection. They utilize performance, embodiment, experimentation, and collaboration to explore these concepts and their fluidity. Their work is about what they discover as they travel through and document inner and outer landscapes. Everything they create seeks to queer both the process and the content and to initiate spells, space, and connection for community. They have worked as an editor and director of documentary, narrative, and commercial projects for 15 years. Their work has been exhibited internationally and won multiple awards and nominations including screenings at SXSW, DOCNYC, and NewFilmmakers Los Angeles. Projects include directing the short documentaries, A Spell For Queer Home and Dear Elsa: 10 Letters + 10 Experiments, the TV pilot, Mercy Mistress, the short narrative films, Separation Celebration and Names of Women, being a primary editor on the feature hybrid documentary, Roleplay, and editing for clients including MTV, BET, Pride Media, Refinery 29, Condé Nast, and NBC Universal. As an educator, they have taught filmmaking at Reel Works, Hunter College, and Spy Hop Productions and created Reflection Collective, an independent educational project that focuses on creative practice as an opportunity for exploration, introspection, and connection. Offerings include a monthly support group for artists, one-on-one creative coaching, and virtual and in-person workshops. They hold a BA in Film from Montana State University and an MFA in Documentary Filmmaking from Hunter College. They manage the filmmaker support program, Artist Foundry, at the Utah Film Center.
