Martha Stephens (born March 12, 1984) is an American film writer and director. Stephens was born in

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

and raised in eastern

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

. She graduated from the

University of North Carolina School of the Arts The University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) is a public art school in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It grants a high school diploma, in addition to both undergraduate and graduate degrees. Founded in 1963 as the North Carolina Sc ...

, School of Filmmaking, where she concentrated in directing. Stephens' first two feature films, ''Passenger Pigeons'' (2010) and '' Pilgrim Song'' (2012), premiered at the

South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

festival and received several awards. Her third film, ''

Land Ho! ''Land Ho!'' is a 2014 adventure comedy film, co-written and co-directed by Martha Stephens and Aaron Katz. The film made its world premiere at 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2014. It also screened at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival, ...

'' (2014), which she co-directed with Aaron Katz, premiered at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

and was purchased for worldwide distribution by

Sony Pictures Classics Sony Pictures Classics Inc. is an American arthouse film production and distribution company that is a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment. It was founded in 1992 by former Orion Classics heads Michael Barker, Tom Bernard and Marcie Bloo ...

. At the 30th Independent Spirit Awards, ''

'' was given the

John Cassavetes Award The Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award is presented to the creative team of a film budgeted at less than $1,000,000 by the Film Independent, a non-profit organization dedicated to independent film and independent filmmakers. It is named aft ...

for best feature film with a budget under $500,000. Her fourth feature film '' To the Stars'', with

Kara Hayward Kara Hayward (born November 17, 1998) is an American actress. She is known for her lead role as Suzy Bishop in the 2012 feature film ''Moonrise Kingdom'', which earned her a nomination for the Young Artist Award for Best Leading Young Actress in ...

Liana Liberato Liana Daine Liberato (born August 20, 1995) is an American actress. She played the younger version of the female lead in the 2014 film ''The Best of Me (2014 film), The Best of Me'' and starred in the drama films ''The Last Sin Eater (film), The ...

Malin Åkerman Malin Maria Åkerman (born 12 May 1978), often anglicised to Malin Akerman, is a Swedish actress. She first appeared in smaller parts in both Canadian and American productions, including '' The Utopian Society'' (2003) and '' Harold & Kumar Go ...

, and

Tony Hale Anthony Russell Hale (born September 30, 1970) is an American actor and comedian. He is most known for his comedic leading roles in the Fox series '' Arrested Development'' as Buster Bluth, and as Gary Walsh on the HBO series '' Veep''. For the ...

starring, premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival in the U.S. Dramatic Competition. It was released on April 24, 2020, by

Samuel Goldwyn Films Samuel Goldwyn Films, LLC is an American film company that licenses, releases and distributes art-house, independent and foreign films. It was founded by Samuel Goldwyn Jr., the son of the Hollywood business magnate/mogul, Samuel Goldwyn. Th ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stephens, Martha 1984 births American women film directors American women screenwriters People from Greenup County, Kentucky People from Boyd County, Kentucky Living people Writers from Huntington, West Virginia Film directors from Kentucky Film directors from West Virginia Screenwriters from Kentucky