Makepeace Productions



Anne Makepeace has been a writer, producer, and director of award-winning independent films for more three decades. Her newest film, Tribal Justice, premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in and screened at many festivals across the country, winning Best Documentary prizes at the American Indian Film Festival and the Charlotte Film Festival, the Rigoberta-Menchú Grand Prix at the Montréal First People’s Film Festival, the Directing Award at Cinetopia. Tribal Justice received support from the MacArthur Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, Vision Maker Media, CPB, California Humanities, and private foundations. The film was broadcast on the acclaimed PBS documentary series, POV and is distributed to the educational market by Bullfrog Films. Her documentary We Still Live Here: Âs Nutayuneân, about the return of the Wampanoag language, had its broadcast premiere on the PBS series Independent Lens in November 2011. The film has won many awards, including the Full Frame Inspiration Award and the Moving Mountains Award at Telluride MountainFilm for the film most likely to effect important social change. The $3000 MountainFilm prize went directly to the Wampanoag Language Reclamation Project, enabling them to launch their first-ever language immersion camp for children. We Still Live Here was funded by ITVS, the Sundance Documentary Fund, the LEF Foundation, and the National Science Foundation, among others. Makepeace was able to complete the film with fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Other recent films by Anne Makepeace include: I. M. PEI: Building China Modern (PBS broadcast on American Masters) and her Emmy nominated feature documentary Rain in a Dry Land (lead show on PBS P.O.V.), which chronicles the journey and resettlement of two Somali Bantu refugee families from Africa through their first two years in America. Makepeace won a National Prime Time Emmy for her American Masters/PBS documentary Robert Capa in Love and War, which premiered at Sundance in 2003. Coming to Light, her documentary about Edward S. Curtis, also premiered at Sundance, was short-listed for an Academy Award in 2000, broadcast on American Masters in 2001, and won many prizes, including the O’Connor Award for Best Film from the American Historical Association, an Award of Excellence from the American Anthropological Association, a Gold Hugo from Chicago, Best Documentary at Telluride, and many others. Her first documentary, Baby It’s You, premiered at Sundance, was broadcast as the lead show on P.O.V. in 1998, and screened at the Whitney Biennial 2000. For additional information, please explore: www.MakepeaceProductions.com

Writer/Director/
Producer
2017

TRIBAL JUSTICE, aired on the acclaimed POV series in August 2017 and Received funding from the MacArthur Foundation, the NEH, CPB, Vision Maker Media, California Humanities, and private foundations. Awarded Best Documentary Feature at the American Indian Film Festival and the Charlotte Film Festival, Grand Prix at the Montreal First People’s Festival, and the Directing Award at Cinetopia Film Festival.

Writer/Director/
Producer
2011

WE STILL LIVE HERE - Âs Nutayuneân
released January 2011. Funded by Sundance Documentary Fund, CPB/ITVS, NSF, LEF, MFH et al. PBS/Independent Lens broadcast November 2011.

Writer/Director
2010

I. M. PEI, Building China Modern, feature documentary about the
premier architect of the 20th Century, completed 2010, broadcast on
PBS/American Masters on March 31, 2010.

Writer/Director Producer 2006

RAIN IN A DRY LAND, feature documentary about Somali Bantu
refugees, scheduled for national PBS broadcast on the POV
series in 2007. Full Frame Working Films Award.

Writer/Director
2005

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT, CLOSE TO HOME, for the National
Park Service at Hyde Park.

Writer/Director Producer 2003

ROBERT Capa IN LOVE AND WAR, American Masters Feature
documentary about the legendary war photographer. Sundance
premiere January 2003, Lincoln Center March 2003. PBS May 2003.
Voice for Humanity Award, Telluride MountainFilm, 2003.
National Prime Time Emmy Award, September 2003.

Writer/Director Producer
2000

COMING TO LIGHT, Edward S. Curtis and The North America Indians, Sundance 2000 premiere. Theatrical release through 7th Art Releasing. Academy Award finalist for best feature documentary 2001. Awards include Best Film, the American Historical Association; Award of Excellence, American Anthropological Association, and Best Documentary, Telluride Mountainfilm 2000.Funded by the NEH, the NEA, WNET/ American Masters, and CPB. PBS broadcast April 2001.

Writer/Director Producer 1998

BABY, IT'S YOU, personal documentary about the filmmaker’s quest for a child. Funded by ITVS. Screened at the 2000 Whitney Biennial. National PBS broadcast 1998 - lead show on POV. Sundance Documentary Competition premiere; broadcast on Channel 4, U.K.

Screenwriter
1995

ISHI THE LAST YAHI, a PBS American Experience feature documentary arrated by Linda Hunt. Best American Independent Film, Munich Film Festival; Best of Festival, National Educational Film Festival; Best Documentary, Native American Film Festival. Emmy nomination, 1995 National broadcast on PBS 1995-1996.

Writer/Director Producer 1993

NIGHT DRIVING, 35mm film for Showtime Networks, Inc., starring William Sadler. Dramatic film about an Amerasian girl and a visionary drifter lost in America. Gold Award, Houston International Film Festival. CINE Golden Eagle. Showtime broadcast 1993.

Screenwriter 1991

THOUSAND PIECES OF GOLD, American Playhouse Theatrical Feature, released in theaters 1991, PBS broadcast 1992-97, highest American Playhouse's ratings. Many awards and festivals.

Writer/Director 1987

WHISTLE IN THE WIND aired USA Network, Thames Television et al. Australian Indigenous TV 2013. CINE Golden Eagle Award.

Writer/Director Producer 1984

MOONCHILD, docudrama about the Moonies. Aired on HBO, Bravo, PBS, Channel 4 London, ZDF Germany, ABC Australia, Danish and Swedish TV. Many awards and festival screenings.

EDUCATION

Stanford University: BA with Honors in English, MA Education, MA Film Production
AFI Directing Workshop for Women

FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS

John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship 2008-9 (We Still Live Here)
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study Fellowship, 2008-9 (We Still Live Here)
Full Frame Inspiration Award 2011 (We Still Live Here)
Telluride MountainFilm Moving Mountains Award (We Still Live Here)
Jury Award, Wild and Scenic Film Festival (We Still Live Here)
National Prime Time Emmy Award (Robert Capa in Love and War)
Finalist, 2001 Academy Awards (Coming to Light) (one of 12 on short list)
Full Frame Film Festival’s Working Films Award (Rain in a Dry Land)
American Historical Association O’Connor Film Prize (Coming to Light)
2000 Whitney Biennial (Baby It’s You)
Sundance Feature Documentary Competition (Baby It’s You, Coming to Light, Capa)
7 CINE Golden Eagles (Coming to Light, Baby It’s You, Ishi, Night Driving, Moonchild, Capa, Pei)
Two Gold Awards, Houston Film Festival (Coming to Light, Night Driving)
Two Gold Hugos, Chicago International Film Festival (Moonchild, Ishi)
Gold Hugo, Chicago International Television Festival (Coming to Light)
Gold Plaque, Chicago International Television Festival (Baby It’s You)
Three Gold Awards, Cindy Competition (Coming to Light, Baby It’s You, Moonchild)
Two Wrangler Awards, National Cowboy Hall of Fame (Thousand Pieces of Gold, Ishi)
Winner, SXSW Documentary Competition, 1998 (Baby It’s You)
Best Documentary, Telluride MountainFilm Festival (Coming to Light)
Best American Independent Film, Munich Film Festival (Ishi)
Paramount Award for Best Feature, National Educational Film Festival (Moonchild)
Best Documentary, American Indian Film Festival (Ishi)

Anne Makepeace’s films have been screened at festivals from Sundance to Munich, and have been broadcast on PBS, Showtime, Bravo, HBO, USA Network, Channel 4 (UK), ABC Australia, ZDF Germany, and Thames Television (UK) and screened at the Whitney Biennial, the Smithsonian, the Musée de l’Homme, the Museum of the American Indian, as well as many other museums, schools, colleges, and movie theaters around the country. Her work has been funded by the Pulitzer Foundation, the Sundance Documentary Fund, the CPB , ITVS, the NEA, the NEH, American Masters, Showtime, HBO, PBS, A&E, and the AFI. She has twice been a writer/director fellow at the Sundance Institute, and has premiered three films at the Sundance Film Festival, and served on the Sundance 2001 documentary jury. She has also been a resident of the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio center, the MacDowell Colony, and Blue Mountain Center, and has been honored with fellowships from the Radcliffe Institute and the Guggenheim Foundation.

OTHER PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Producer, OurMotherTongues.org, an interactive website about language endangerment and revitalization funded by ITVS and the NEA, launched in conjunction with the national PBS broadcast of We Still Live Here on Independent Lens in November 2011.

Author, Edward Curtis, Coming to Light, published by National Geographic 2001.
Writer/Director, Chanticleer Films' Discovery Program (Night Driving) 1992-1993

Memberships: DGA, WGA, IDA, IFP, FAF, AFI