Kat Lehmer (also known as Kathi Lehmer) is an American film director, writer, and actor.

Life and career

While attending the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1805, it is the longest continuously operating art museum and art school in the United States. The academy's museum ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

where she studied painting, drawing, and sculpture, Lehmer was inspired by the works of an earlier alumnus,

David Lynch David Keith Lynch (January 20, 1946 – January 16, 2025) was an American filmmaker, visual artist, musician, and actor. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Lynch was often called a "visionary" and received acclaim f ...

, to pursue her interest in film making. A subsequent move to New York's

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...

exposed her to the

underground film An underground film is a film that is out of the mainstream either in its style, genre or financing. Notable examples include John Waters' ''Pink Flamingos'', David Lynch's ''Eraserhead'', Andy Warhol's ''Blue Movie'', Rosa von Praunheim's ''Tal ...

movement prevalent in the city during the 1980s where she lived across the street from

ABC No Rio ABC No Rio is a collectively-run nonprofit arts organization on New York City's Lower East Side. Founded in 1980 in a squat at 156 Rivington Street, following the eviction of the 1979–80 Real Estate Show, the center featured an art gallery s ...

,Pierce, D (2007) An Interview with Kathi Lehmer of Trinka Five Films ''Pulpmovies''
a art and punk enclave where underground films were shown. Lehmer started her film production company, Trinka Five Films in 2004. She wrote her first feature-length script for ''Mama and Damian'' in 2004, then produced, directed, and starred in the

low-budget film A low-budget film or low-budget movie is a film, motion picture shot with little to no funding from a major film studios, major film studio or private investor. Many independent films are made on low budgets, but films made on the mainstream ci ...

production in 2007. Mama and Damian is a tale about a half-bear, half-human boy who begins to push the boundaries of his insular world. Lehmer plays the hybrid bear-boy's

dominatrix A dominatrix ( ; or dominatrices ), or domme, is a woman who takes the dominant role in BDSM activities. The BDSM practice is called female dominance, or femdom. A dominatrix can be of any sexual orientation, but this does not necessarily l ...

mother. According to

IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

, Lehmer redesigned her own apartment to work as the main set for ''Mama and Damian''. In an interview she said, "we couldn't move anything in my apartment for a year." Lehmer studied editing at Immagine Studios in

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

.. In 2009, Lehmer was reportedly in production in Philadelphia on her film ''Mortal'', an existential vampire saga.Haberfelner, M (2009) An Interview with Kathi Lehmer, Director of Mortal ''(re)search my trash'' Austria
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Filmography

Director

* ''Sunshine Arts'' (2011) * ''Mortal'' (2010) * ''Mama and Damian'' (2007)

Producer

* ''Internet Fear'' (2005)

References

External links

*
official web site Sunshine Arts
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lehmer, Kat Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Film directors from Pennsylvania American women film directors 21st-century American women