Shatara Michelle Ford is an American director, writer, and producer. Their feature film directorial debut ''

Test Pattern A test card, also known as a test pattern or start-up/closedown test, is a television test signal, typically broadcast at times when the transmitter is active but no program is being broadcast (often at sign-on and sign-off). Used since the ear ...

'' (2019) received critical acclaim.

Career

Ford gained prominence in 2019 for ''

'', their feature film directorial debut. The story follows Renesha and Evan, a young interracial couple seeking medical care after Renesha is sexually assaulted by a stranger. Ford also wrote and produced the film. ''Test Pattern'' debuted in August 2019 at the

BlackStar Film Festival The BlackStar Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by BlackStar Projects. The festival focuses on films about and by Black, brown and indigenous people from around the world. It takes place each August in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I ...

, where it received the Lionsgate/STARZ Producer Award. Additional accolades were awarded at the

New Orleans Film Festival The New Orleans Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the nonprofit organization New Orleans Film Society, a film society founded in 1989. The festival has been held since the society's inception. The festival takes place in mid-O ...

and the

deadCENTER Film Festival The deadCENTER Film Festival was founded in 2001 in Oklahoma City. The festival was named "deadCENTER" because it is located in the exact center of the United States. Although presenting over a hundred films, and an international assemblage of f ...

. Their forthcoming coming-of-age film, ''Queen Elizabeth'', was named to the 2017

Black List Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list; if people are on a blacklist, then they are considere ...

. It is in development as of 2021. In 2024, Ford directed, wrote, and produced '' Dreams in Nightmares'' following three friends roadtripping across the Midwestern United States in search of their friend who has disappeared off the grid. They cited

German Expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radi ...

and

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...

as key influences.

Personal life

Ford was raised in

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

, Missouri. Ford uses they/them pronouns. Ford has an MFA in screenwriting from

Royal Holloway, University of London Royal Holloway, University of London (RH), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public university, public research university and a constituent college, member institution of the federal University of London. It ...

and a BA in political studies and sociology from

Pitzer College Pitzer College is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was founded in 1963 as a women's college in the Claremont Colleges consortium and became coeducational in 1970. Pitzer enrolls approximately 1000 students. Pitzer off ...

Awards and nominations

References

External links

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Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American directors African-American film producers African-American screenwriters Alumni of Royal Holloway, University of London Writers from St. Louis {{US-film-director-stub