Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo (born 1975) is an American

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

and

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

Biography

She studied film at

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the a ...

where she graduated summa cum laude in 2003. Her debut short film ''

Pâté ''Pâté'' ( , , ) is a paste, pie or loaf filled with a forcemeat. Common forcemeats include ground meat from pork, poultry, fish or beef; fat, vegetables, herbs, spices and either wine or brandy (often cognac or armagnac). It is often ser ...

'' premiered at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

and went on to win several prestigious awards including

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

Wasserman Award The Wasserman Award is NYU Film School’s top honor in recognition for outstanding achievement in film. The award honors the late Lew Wasserman and his wife Edie, major benefactors of the Tisch School of the Arts. Past winners include Spike Lee, A ...

, the ''Fielle d'Or'' at the

Beverly Hills Film Festival The Beverly Hills Film Festival (BHFF) is a film festival in the United States founded in 2001 by independent filmmaker Nino Simone. The festival is an international competition dedicated to showcasing the art and talent of emerging filmmakers a ...

, the Grand Jury Prize at the WorldFest Houston International Film Festival,

New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'', ...

's Award of Excellence and the Special Jury Prize at the

Atlanta Film Festival The Atlanta Film Festival (ATLFF) is a long-running, international film festival held in Atlanta, Georgia operated by the Atlanta Film Society, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Started in 1976 and occurring every spring, the festival shows a ...

. ''

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 Film ...

'' named Wojtowicz-Vosloo as one of the ''25 New Faces of Independent Film''. In 2004 she collaborated with

Laurie Anderson Laurel Philips Anderson (born June 5, 1947), known as Laurie Anderson, is an American avant-garde artist, composer, musician, and film director whose work spans performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. Initially trained in violin and ...

on the acclaimed ''O Zlozony/O Composite'', a multi-media project for the

Paris Opera Ballet The Paris Opera Ballet () is a French ballet company that is an integral part of the Paris Opera. It is the oldest national ballet company, and many European and international ballet companies can trace their origins to it. It is still regarded ...

with choreography by

Trisha Brown Trisha Brown (November 25, 1936 – March 18, 2017) was an American choreographer and dancer, and one of the founders of the Judson Dance Theater and the postmodern dance movement. Brown’s dance/movement method, with which she and her dancer ...

, based on Czeslaw Milosz's poem "O Zlozony". The piece premiered at the

Opera Garnier The Palais Garnier (, Garnier Palace), also known as Opéra Garnier (, Garnier Opera), is a 1,979-seatBeauvert 1996, p. 102. opera house at the Place de l'Opéra in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was built for the Paris Opera from ...

in Paris in December 2004. Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo's first feature film '' After.Life'', a psychological horror thriller starring

Liam Neeson William John Neeson (born 7 June 1952) is an actor from Northern Ireland. He has received several accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and two Tony Awards. In 2020, he was placed 7th on ''The I ...

, Christina Ricci and

Justin Long Justin Jacob Long (born June 2, 1978) is an American actor, comedian, director and screenwriter. Long is known for his film roles, notably appearing in '' Jeepers Creepers'' (2001), ''Dodgeball'' (2004), ''Accepted'' (2006), ''Idiocracy'' (20 ...

, premiered at the

AFI AFI may refer to: * ''Address-family identifier'', a 16 bit field of the Routing Information Protocol * Ashton Fletcher Irwin, an Australian drummer * AFI (band), an American rock band ** ''AFI'' (2004 album), a retrospective album by AFI rele ...

Film Festival in Los Angeles on 7 November 2009.

Anchor Bay Entertainment Anchor Bay Entertainment (formerly Video Treasures and Starmaker Entertainment) was an American home entertainment and production company. It was a subsidiary of Starz Inc. Anchor Bay Entertainment marketed and sold feature films, television ser ...

, a division of

Overture Films Overture Films was an American film production and distribution company and a subsidiary of Starz (then subsidiary of Liberty Media). It was founded in November 2006 by Chris McGurk and Danny Rosett. Through its affiliated companies Anchor Bay E ...

, acquired theatrical rights for the U.S. and the U.K., and released the film in theaters on 9 April 2010. The DVD and Blu-ray were released in the US on 3 August 2010. Wojtowicz-Vosloo garnered extensive media attention after the release of '' After.Life''. Ronnie Scheib from ''

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), ...

'' called the film "an elegant exercise in horror", while the

National Board of Review The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered an early harbinger of the film awards season that culminat ...

commented "Wojtowitcz-Vosloo masterfully manipulates the conventions of horror and thriller genres with an exceptionally assured sense of style and storytelling". Noted film reviewer

James Berardinelli James Berardinelli (born September 25, 1967) is an American film critic and former engineer. His reviews are mainly published on his blog ''ReelViews.'' Approved as a critic by the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, he has published two collections of r ...

added "I admire filmmakers who take chances and defy expectations. The echoes of 'After.Life' linger in the memory long after the impressions of countless safe cookie cutter productions have faded". Manohla Dargis' review in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' however was mixed, "Ms. Wojtowicz-Vosloo seems to have spent too much time trying to make an art-house chiller instead of an effective film." Review aggregate

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reports that 29% of 49 critics have given the film a positive review, holding an average score of 4.6/10. According to the website, the film's critical consensus is, "It has an interesting premise and admirable ambitions, but After.Life fails to deliver enough twists or thrills to sustain its creepy atmosphere." Review aggregate

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

has given the film a weighted score of 36/100, based on 21 reviews, indicating "Generally unfavorable reviews". In a ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' profile "Death Becomes Her" by Matthew Kaminski,

said Wojtowicz-Vosloo "reminds me a little of

Kathryn Bigelow Kathryn Ann Bigelow (; born November 27, 1951) is an American filmmaker. Covering a wide range of genres, her films include '' Near Dark'' (1987), '' Point Break'' (1991), '' Strange Days'' (1995), '' K-19: The Widowmaker'' (2002), ''The Hurt Loc ...

," the Oscar-winning director of ''

The Hurt Locker ''The Hurt Locker'' is a 2008 American war thriller film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Mark Boal. It stars Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Christian Camargo, Ralph Fiennes, David Morse, and Guy Pearce. The film follo ...

''. In July 2010 the filmmaker was featured in ''

Elle ''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the w ...

'' magazine and on the cover of ''

Gazeta Wyborcza ''Gazeta Wyborcza'' (; ''The Electoral Gazette'' in English) is a Polish daily newspaper based in Warsaw, Poland. It is the first Polish daily newspaper after the era of "real socialism" and one of Poland's newspapers of record, covering the g ...

'', Polish newspaper.

References

External links

*
Pâté Trailer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wojtowicz-Vosloo, Agnieszka Polish emigrants to the United States Tisch School of the Arts alumni American film directors American screenwriters Polish film directors Polish women film directors Polish screenwriters American women film directors English-language film directors 1975 births Living people Polish women screenwriters