Kimberly Reed is an American

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

and producer who is best known for her

documentaries A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". The American author and media analyst Bill ...

Prodigal Sons ''Prodigal Sons'' is a studio album by the Irish folk group The Dubliners. Produced by Bill Whelan, who later became famous for ''Riverdance'', this album featured cellist Nigel Warren-Green as guest musician. Although Luke Kelly recorded ...

'' and ''

Dark Money In politics, particularly the politics of the United States, dark money refers to spending to influence elections, public policy, and political discourse, where the source of the money is not disclosed to the public. In the United States, ...

'' which premiered at the 2018

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 ...

. In 2007, ''

Filmmaker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

'' magazine named her one of the "25 New Faces of Independent Film."

Early life and education

Kimberly Reed was born in

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

to Lorne and Carol McKerrow. Her father was an ophthalmologist. She had an older brother Marc, who was adopted, and a younger brother, Todd. She played

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

on the

Helena High School Helena High School is a public high school for grades 9 through 12 located in Helena, Montana, United States. It is part of the Helena Public School District. Founded in September 1876, it is the second oldest high school in Montana. The Firs ...

football team. Reed, who was born and raised male, recalls feeling "just this friction" about her assigned gender and having an epiphany when, at the age of six or seven, she saw Renee Richards on television, and thought "whoa, that’s it". Reed earned a Bachelor of Arts from

University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

where she graduated

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

. Reed earned a Master of Arts in

film production Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

from

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is ...

. While in her twenties, she transitioned.

Career

Film

''Dark Money''

'' premiered at the

in 2018.

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

describes the film as a "potent investigative piece." In early 2018 the film traveled to several festivals and the rights to the film were purchased by

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

as part of the POV series of documentaries.

''Prodigal Sons''

'' is an autobiographical account of Reed's return home to Montana for her 20th high school reunion as a trans woman. The project initially focused on her brother Marc's story and evolved into an exploration of family, sibling rivalry, coming out, and reconciling with the past. It debuted at the

Telluride Film Festival The Telluride Film Festival (TFF) is a film festival held annually in Telluride, Colorado, during Labor Day, Labor Day weekend (the first Monday in September). The 51st Telluride Film Festival, 51st edition took place on August 30–September ...

in 2008. The

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

called it a "succinct, eloquent personal journal". After the release Reed was invited to return to Helena to deliver the 2015 commencement address.

''Seat 31: Zooey Zephyr''

''Seat 31: Zooey Zephyr'' documents Zooey Zephyr’s work in the Montana legislature and includes her proposal to her wife Erin Reed. ''Seat 31: Zooey Zephyr'' was shortlisted for a 2025 Academy Award nomination in the ‘Documentary Short’ category. * Big Sky Documentary Film Festival 2024 - Winner of Mini Doc Competition * Palm Springs International ShortFest 2024 - Best Documentary Short * Frameline 2024 - Jury Award, Outstanding Documentary Short * CinemaQ 2024 - Audience Award and Best Short Film

Opera

Together with Mark Campbell, Reed wrote the libretto for As One, a

chamber opera Chamber opera is a designation for operas written to be performed with a Chamber music, chamber ensemble rather than a full orchestra. Early 20th-century operas of this type include Paul Hindemith's ''Cardillac'' (1926). Earlier small-scale operas ...

song cycle A song cycle () is a group, or cycle (music), cycle, of individually complete Art song, songs designed to be performed in sequence, as a unit.Susan Youens, ''Grove online'' The songs are either for solo voice or an ensemble, or rarely a combinat ...

composed by

Laura Kaminsky Laura Kaminsky (born September 28, 1956) is an American composer, producer of musical and multi-disciplinary cultural events, and educator. She was born in New York City, graduated from the High School of Music and Art, and studied with Joseph ...

. As One is a

coming-of-age story In genre studies, a coming-of-age story is a genre of literature, theatre, film, and video game that focuses on the growth of a protagonist from childhood to adulthood, or "coming of age". Coming-of-age stories tend to emphasize dialogue or interna ...

about a

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

woman. As One premiered in September 2014 in partnership with

American Opera Projects The American Opera Project (AOP) is a professional opera company based in Brooklyn, New York City, and is a member of Opera America, the Fort Greene Association, the Downtown Brooklyn Arts Alliance, and the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York (A ...

at the

Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a multi-arts center in Brooklyn, New York City. It hosts progressive and avant-garde performances, with theater, dance, music, opera, film programming across multiple nearby venues. BAM was chartered in 18 ...

Filmography

Film

Television

Recognition

Filmmaker magazine ''Filmmaker'' is a quarterly publication magazine covering issues relating to independent film. The magazine was founded in 1992 by Karol Martesko-Fenster, Scott Macaulay and Holly Willis. The magazine is now published by the IFP (Independent Fil ...

: filmmakers to watch *

Cinema Eye Honors The Cinema Eye Honors are awards recognizing excellence in nonfiction or documentary filmmaking and include awards for the disciplines of directing, producing, cinematography and editing. The awards are presented each January in New York and have b ...

Towleroad Andy Towle born in Illinois in 1967 is an American artist, poet and journalist based in Provincetown, Massachusetts. He has received several fellowships for his poetry and fiction, and his poetry has been published in journals including the P ...

: best film character of the year 2009 * Fellowships from

Yaddo Yaddo is an artists' community located on a estate in Saratoga Springs, New York. Its mission is "to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment.". On March ...

and NYFA *

Filmmaker Magazine ''Filmmaker'' is a quarterly publication magazine covering issues relating to independent film. The magazine was founded in 1992 by Karol Martesko-Fenster, Scott Macaulay and Holly Willis. The magazine is now published by the IFP (Independent Fil ...

's list of "25 New Faces of Independent Film," * IndieWire's top 10 films of 2008. *

Magnet Magazine A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nickel, c ...

's best of 2009 list.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Reed, Kimberly American documentary film directors American film producers American transgender women Living people University of California, Berkeley alumni San Francisco State University alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Film directors from Montana American LGBTQ film directors LGBTQ film producers Helena High School alumni

Early life and education

Career

Film

''Dark Money''

''Prodigal Sons''

''Seat 31: Zooey Zephyr''

Opera

Filmography

Film

Television

Recognition

See also

References

Further reading

External links