fiction.wikisort.org - Director

Nia DaCosta (born November 8, 1989) is an American film director and screenwriter. She wrote and directed the crime thriller film Little Woods (2018), winning the Nora Ephron Prize at the Tribeca Film Festival.[1] She also directed the horror film Candyman (2021).[1] In August 2020, DaCosta was hired to direct The Marvels, becoming the youngest filmmaker to direct a Marvel film, beating the record set by Ryan Coogler.[2]

This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. (September 2022)

Nia DaCosta
Born	(1989-11-08) November 8, 1989 (age 33) Brooklyn, New York City, New York, U.S.
Education	New York University Tisch School of the Arts Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
Occupation	Film director Screenwriter
Years active	2009–present

Early life and education

DaCosta was born in 1989, in Brooklyn, New York City and raised in Harlem. She is of Jamaican descent.[1] Her original obsession and professional aspirations started with her desire to be a writer, a poet to be exact. It was not until an AP class where she was exposed to the work of Joseph Conrad, and after reading his book Heart of Darkness, she and her class then watched the film adaptation, Coppola's Apocalypse Now.[1] This was a turning point in DaCosta's life; from there on, she was obsessed with film, which led DaCosta to research 1970s cinema, finding inspiration in directors such as Martin Scorsese, Sidney Lumet, Steven Spielberg, and Francis Ford Coppola.[1] Citing Scorsese as a top inspiration, DaCosta as well as having her masters in writing from the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama enrolled at his alma mater,[3] New York University Tisch School of the Arts. There, she met Scorsese while working as a TV production assistant.[1]

Style and themes

The overarching theme of DaCosta's films and work is to spark a conversation on a bad situation, more importantly spark a different conversation that is different from the mainstream one. In her schooling she was told as a writer to "write what you know".[1] DaCosta recalled in an interview thinking that she grew up experiencing a rather privileged lifestyle living in New York City because there were so many resources so much knowledge to be soaked up living in the city.[1] She instead turned to the emotions from certain experiences and how her emotions experienced was something that she knew about and could write about, and people could connect with.[1] Instead of writing about her experiences she would write about someone in the opposite shoes as her, which is where the story for LittleWoods came around. DaCosta's work speaks for the people who do not get their story and their issues shown on screen in an effort to spark a conversation about what people are doing and if others can do better.[1]

Career

After finishing school and working as a TV production assistant where DaCosta would work with filmmakers like Martin Scorsese, Steve McQueen, and Steven Soderbergh.[1] DaCosta wrote the script for Little Woods, which was one of the 12 projects chosen for the 2015 Sundance Screenwriters and Directors Labs,[4] where she would meet Tessa Thompson who would later play the role of Ollie in Little Woods.[5] She funded a short film version of what would eventually become her first feature film through Kickstarter with the help of 72 backers who eventually raised $5,100.[6] After finishing Little Woods, she worked on the show Top Boy in London when she learned that she was on the list to direct Jordan Peele's revival of the classic horror film Candyman. DaCosta's film Candyman would bring her the title of the first female African-American to have a film debut at the top of the box office.[7] Following this success DaCosta is now set to direct the new Marvel project The Marvels, featuring the first female Pakistani lead hero.[3]

Little Woods

Little Woods is a realistic genre bending take on a modern western that tells the story of Ollie (Tessa Thompson), a reformed drug runner in rural North Dakota, and her estranged sister Deb (Lily James). When their mother dies, Deb shows up on Ollie's doorstep with her young son, and reveals she is pregnant. This pushes Ollie to seek out a way to quickly raise money to pay back the bank and keep their mother's home, and pushes Deb to decide whether or not she wants to go through with getting an abortion. This film is a commentary about the issues with poverty and how it affects women in rural areas, places where women do not have as much opportunity for work, and more importantly are far from major hospitals as well as not having the legal or financial ability to get the procedures done where they see fit.

The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2018, and was awarded the Nora Ephron award for "excellence in storytelling by a female writer or director".[8] It was then bought by Neon and distributed through North America in April 2019.[9] DaCosta cites Debrah Granik's Winter's Bone and Courtney Hunt's Frozen River as being her main sources of inspiration for the script, as she feels that their films relay amazing performances and tense drama, yet tackle real issues in America.[10] In a 2018 interview with FF2 Media, DaCosta stated the importance to her of telling the stories of "women...who are active" rather than passive figures in movies led by men.[11]

Candyman

DaCosta was chosen to helm what was described as a spiritual sequel to the original Candyman (1992) in 2018. The film returned to the Chicago neighborhood where the legend began, now gentrified.[12] The film was produced by Jordan Peele through Monkeypaw Productions, with Peele citing the original as "a landmark film for Black representation in the horror genre".[12] Yahya Abdul-Mateen II starred in the film,[13] with Tony Todd returning, in an appearance as the film's titular villain,[14] and Teyonah Parris[15] and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett[16] co-starring. Production began in the spring of 2019, and wrapped the following September.[12][17] Universal Pictures released the film theatrically on August 27, 2021 and received positive reviews.[18][19]

The Film was nominated for awards, the Hollywood Critics Association Award for "Most Anticipated Film for the Rest of 2021"[20] and won the award for "Directors to Watch" at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.[21] The film also won the Sunset Film Circle Awards for "Best Horror Film".[22] The film was received at the top of the box office opening weekend and beat its projected earnings by almost 50% at $22,370,000.[23]

The Marvels

In August 2020, DaCosta was hired to direct the upcoming Marvel Studios film The Marvels, the sequel to Captain Marvel (2019),[24][2] after having initially approached them with a Fantastic Four / X-Men crossover movie.[25] It is currently scheduled to be released on July 28, 2023.[26] This is set to be the first Marvel film directed by an African American woman.

Awards and nominations

Nia has gathered a lot of fame in a relatively short period of time. She is the first African American woman to have a #1 film. Her first film, Little Woods, received the Nora Ephron award for "excellence in storytelling by a female writer or director."[1] She also received nominations for her film Candyman for "Most Anticipated Film for the Rest of 2021" at the 2021 Hollywood Critics Association,[20] and won the awards for "Directors to Watch", and "Best Horror Film" respectively.[21][22] With her directorial work in Candyman, DaCosta received her first nomination at the 53rd NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture,[27] and at the Black Reel and Awards for Outstanding Director and Outstanding Screenplay, Adapted or Original.[28]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Ref.
2019	Little Woods	Yes	Yes
2021	Candyman	Yes	Yes
2023	The Marvels	Yes	No	[29]
TBA	The Water Dancer	Yes	No	[30]

Short films

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Notes	Ref.
2009	The Black Girl Dies Last	Yes	Yes	No	Also actor	[31][32]
2013	Night and Day	Yes	No	Yes	Also editor
2014	Celeste	No	Yes	No
	Livelihood	No	Yes	No

Television

Year	Title	Notes
2019	Top Boy	Episodes "Bonfire Night" and "Smoke Gets in Your Hands"
2022	Ms. Marvel	Episode: "No Normal"; mid-credits scene[33]

References

External links

• Official website
• Nia DaCosta at IMDb

На других языках

---

[de] Nia DaCosta

Nia DaCosta (* 8. November 1989 in New York City) ist eine US-amerikanische Filmregisseurin und Drehbuchautorin.

---

- [en] Nia DaCosta

---

---