A. V. Rockwell (born Alina Victoria Rockwell) is an American film director. In 2023, she made her directorial feature film debut with the film ''

A Thousand and One ''A Thousand and One'' is a 2023 American Drama (film and television), drama film written and directed by A. V. Rockwell in her feature directorial debut. The film stars Teyana Taylor, Will Catlett, Josiah Cross, Aven Courtney, and Aaron Kingsl ...

'', which gave her a

Gotham Award The Gotham Awards () are American film awards, presented annually to the makers of independent films at a ceremony in New York City, the city first nicknamed "Gotham" by native son Washington Irving, in an issue of ''Salmagundi'', published on ...

, a

Black Reel Award The Black Reel Awards, or BRAs, is an annual American awards ceremony hosted by the Foundation for the Augmentation of African Americans in film (FAAAF) to recognize excellence of African Americans, as well as the cinematic achievements of the Afr ...

, an

Independent Spirit Award The Independent Spirit Awards, originally known as the FINDIE or Friends of Independents Awards, and later as the Film Independent Spirit Awards, are awards presented annually in Santa Monica, California, to independent filmmakers. Founded in ...

, a Director's Guild nomination, and nominations at the

NAACP Image Awards The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. The over 40 ...

Early life and education

Rockwell was born and raised in

Queens, New York Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

, to parents from Jamaica. She attended high school at

Brooklyn Technical High School Brooklyn Technical High School, commonly called Brooklyn Tech and administratively designated High School 430, is a public specialized high school in New York City that specializes in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. It is on ...

and attended film school at the

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic, and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, as the School of the Arts at New York University, Tisch ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

. One of her early inspirations to pursue film came from studying European cinema while studying in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Career

One of Rockwell's early works was the series ''Open City Mixtape'', which followed young people's stories in New York City, and was shot in black-and-white. Subsequently, Rockwell worked with

Alicia Keys Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer and songwriter. A classically trained pianist, Keys began composing songs at the age of 12 and was signed by Columbia Records at 15. After d ...

on the music-focused music short film ''The Gospel'' for Keys' sixth studio album, ''Here''. The work gave her a silver

Clio Awards The Clio Awards, also simply known as The Clios, is an annual award program that recognizes innovation and creative excellence in advertising, design, and communication, as judged by an international panel of advertising professionals. The award ...

. In 2018, Rockwell released her short film ''Feathers,'' which debuted at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

. For ''Feathers'', Rockwell was named the grand-prize winner of the

Tribeca Film Institute The Tribeca Film Institute (TFI) is a non-profit arts organization based in New York City, founded in 2001 by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff following the September 11 attacks as a means to revitalize the arts community in lowe ...

and CHANEL’s Through Her Lens grant; the film was selected as part of the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and was then acquired by

Fox Searchlight Pictures Searchlight Pictures, Inc., formerly known as Fox Searchlight Pictures, is an American arthouse film production and distribution company, which since 2019 is owned by Walt Disney Studios, a division of the Disney Entertainment segment of the ...

for their Searchlight Shorts collection. In 2023, Rockwell made her feature debut with ''

'', starring

Teyana Taylor Teyana Me Shay Jacqueli Taylor (born December 10, 1990) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, model, dancer, choreographer, and music video director. After choreographing the video for Beyoncé's 2006 single " Ring the Alarm," she signed ...

and set in

Harlem, New York Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan ...

, between 1994 and 2005. The film debuted at the 2023

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 ...

, where it won the Grand Jury Prize. She has cited

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November17, 1942) is an American filmmaker. One of the major figures of the New Hollywood era, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Martin Scorsese, many accolades, including an Academ ...

and

Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and author. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary ...

as influences, as well as the films '' Goodfellas'', ''

Crooklyn ''Crooklyn'' is a 1994 American semi-autobiographical film produced and directed by Spike Lee, who wrote it with his siblings Joie and Cinqué. Taking place in the Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, during the summer of ...

'', ''

Do the Right Thing ''Do the Right Thing'' is a 1989 American comedy-drama film produced, written and directed by Spike Lee. It stars Lee, Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Nunn, John Turturro and Samuel L. Jackson an ...

'', ''

Who Framed Roger Rabbit ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' is a 1988 American fantasy comedy film directed by Robert Zemeckis from a screenplay written by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman. It is loosely based on the 1981 novel ''Who Censored Roger Rabbit?'' by Gary K. Wol ...

'', '' Z'', ''

The Battle of Algiers ''The Battle of Algiers'' (; ) is a 1966 Italian-Algerian war film co-written and directed by Gillo Pontecorvo. It is based on action undertaken by rebels during the Algerian War (1954–1962) against the French government in North Africa, the ...

'', and ''

Seven Beauties ''Seven Beauties'' (, "Pasqualino Sevenbeauties") is a 1975 historical black comedy drama Italian film written and directed by Lina Wertmüller and starring Giancarlo Giannini, Fernando Rey, and Shirley Stoler. Written by Wertmüller, the film ...

''. Over her career, Rockwell has been named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film, was a 2018 Young Guns award winner, and has received fellowships from the

Sundance Institute Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization founded by actor Robert Redford committed to the growth of independent artists. The institute is driven by its programs that discover and support independent filmmakers, theatre artists and compo ...

and the John S. Guggenheim Foundation. She won the Breakthrough Director Award at the 2023 Gotham Awards for her work in her feature film directorial debut ''

''.

Filmography

Accolades

References

External links

A.V. Rockwell website
*
Video: The Gospel

Video: The Director Imagining Freedom for Black Boys
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rockwell, A. V. Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Brooklyn Technical High School alumni New York University alumni Tisch School of the Arts alumni Sundance Film Festival award winners Mass media people from Queens, New York Film directors from New York City African-American film directors African-American directors American women film directors American people of Jamaican descent