Victoria Mahoney is an American actress and filmmaker. Her debut feature was 2011’s ''
Yelling to the Sky''.
Career
Directing career
Victoria Mahoney made her feature directing debut in 2011 with the semi-autobiographical film ''
Yelling to the Sky''. The film follows a young girl’s struggle in high school and her difficult home life. The film, starred
Zoe Kravitz as a troubled teen and
Jason Clarke
Jason Clarke (born 17 July 1969) is an Australian actor. He has appeared in many TV series, and is known for playing Tommy Caffee on the television series '' Brotherhood''. He has also appeared in many films, often as an antagonist. His film r ...
as her father, debuted in competition at the
61st Berlin International Film Festival
The 61st annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 10 to 20 February 2011, with actress Isabella Rossellini as the President of the Jury. The Coen Brothers film ''True Grit'' opened the festival. 300,000 tickets were sold in total ...
.
She developed the script through the help of the Directors and Screenwriters Sundance Institute Labs and was awarded the title of Auerbach Screenwriting Fellow, Annerberg Film Fellow, Cinereach Fellow, Maryland Fellow, IFP Narrative Lab fellow and a Tribeca Film Fellow. The film was written and directed by Victoria Mahoney. The film received credit from the 61st Berlin International Film Festival and the Golden Bear. Victoria was the first woman director/writer, American invited in over sixty years to the Golden Bear competition. Variety praised the film saying it had a strong directional voice and stated that Mahoney had a clear driven and genuine creative gift. Victoria entered the film into multiple film festivals across the world before releasing theatrically in late 2012.
In an interview with the Tribeca Film Institute, Mahoney reveals what she wants people to take away from her films saying, “The level of ‘take away’ exists on such a case by case basis. It all depends on what an audience member is experiencing and investigating in their own life. My overriding intentions as a filmmaker, is to tap into individual inquiries and reflect-whatever is hidden. Inspiring an audience’s need for further inquiry into whatever stories, wishes, wants, hungers, desires, questions or aches-presently propel them. From my filmmaking, I’d love audiences to receive some measure of inspiration; to investigate the human condition.”
In 2013, she was nominated for the inaugural Tribeca Film Institute's Heineken Affinity Award's $20,000 prize, but lost to her friend and colleague
Ava DuVernay
Ava Marie DuVernay (; born August 24, 1972) is an American filmmaker, television producer and former film publicist. She is a recipient of a Primetime Emmy Award, a NAACP Image Award, a BAFTA Film Award and a BAFTA TV Award, as well as a nominee ...
. In the same year, she directed a short film starring
Selena Gomez
Selena Marie Gomez ( ; born July 22, 1992) is an American singer, actress and producer. Gomez began her acting career on the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' (2002–2004). As a teenager, she rose to prominence for starring a ...
and
Shiloh Fernandez for ''
Flaunt
''Flaunt'' is an American fashion and culture magazine based in Hollywood, Los Angeles, with an office in New York.
History
The magazine was founded in 1998 by the current C.E.O. Luis Barajas, and Creative Director Jim Turner, who had previousl ...
''.
Mahoney was selected to direct second unit on ''
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker'', marking her as the first woman to direct on a STAR WARS film in the franchise's forty year history.
In 2020,
Amazon Studios
Amazon Studios is an American television and film producer and distributor that is a subsidiary of Amazon. It specializes in developing television series and distributing and producing films. It was started in late 2010. Content is distributed th ...
announced that Mahoney would be team up with
Ava DuVernay
Ava Marie DuVernay (; born August 24, 1972) is an American filmmaker, television producer and former film publicist. She is a recipient of a Primetime Emmy Award, a NAACP Image Award, a BAFTA Film Award and a BAFTA TV Award, as well as a nominee ...
to adapt
Octavia E. Butler’s sci-fi novel ''
Dawn.''
In 2021,
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...
announced that Mahoney would take over directing duties from
Gina Prince-Bythewood
Gina Maria Prince-Bythewood (born June 10, 1969) is an American film director and screenwriter. She is known for directing the films '' Love & Basketball'' (2000), ''Disappearing Acts'' (2000), '' The Secret Life of Bees'' (2008), '' Beyond the L ...
as director for ''
The Old Guard 2''.
Acting career
Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s Mahoney worked as an actress appearing in ''
Seinfeld'' as the character Gladys Mayo, and in the movie ''
Legally Blonde
''Legally Blonde'' is a 2001 American comedy film directed by Robert Luketic in his feature-length directorial debut, and scripted by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith from Amanda Brown's 2001 novel of the same name. It stars Reese Wit ...
''.
In 1992 she starred as "Antinea" in the French film ''
L'Atlantide'', based on the French novel "
Atlantida" by
Pierre Benoit.
Her most recent appearance in front of the camera was a brief cameo in
Ava DuVernay
Ava Marie DuVernay (; born August 24, 1972) is an American filmmaker, television producer and former film publicist. She is a recipient of a Primetime Emmy Award, a NAACP Image Award, a BAFTA Film Award and a BAFTA TV Award, as well as a nominee ...
's short film ''Say Yes'' in 2013.
Filmography
Film
Short films
Television
References
http://www.ioncinema.com/news/festival-predictions/2016-sundance-victoria-mahoney-chalk-rx
http://www.sundance.org/festivals/sundance-film-festival
https://tribecafilminstitute.org/blog/detail/heineken_affinity_award_profile_victoria_mahoney
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahoney, Victoria
Living people
African-American film directors
African-American screenwriters
American women screenwriters
American film directors
American women film directors
American women television directors
American television directors
Year of birth missing (living people)
21st-century African-American people
21st-century African-American women