Ashley McKenzie (born 1984) is a Canadian director, screenwriter, and editor. She is known for her

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many film makers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...

Werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely or ...

'' (2016), which won numerous accolades, including the $100,000

Toronto Film Critics Association The Toronto Film Critics Association (TFCA) is an organization of film critics from Toronto-based publications. As of 1999, the TFCA is a member of the FIPRESCI. History The Toronto Film Critics Association is the official organization of Toront ...

prize for best Canadian film of the year.

Early life

McKenzie was born on

Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (french: link=no, île du Cap-Breton, formerly '; gd, Ceap Breatainn or '; mic, Unamaꞌki) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18. ...

and raised in

New Waterford, Nova Scotia New Waterford (Irish language: ''Port Lairge Ùr'') is an urban community in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality of Nova Scotia, Canada. Geography Formerly known as Barrachois (from barachois, meaning small port, lagoon or pond), its present nam ...

Career

McKenzie began her career making

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

s in 2010. Her first short film, ''Rhonda's Party'' (2010), won the CBC's ''Short Film Face-Off'' in 2011 and was named to the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

's annual year-end

Canada's Top Ten Canada's Top Ten is an annual honour, compiled by the Toronto International Film Festival and announced in December each year to identify and promote the year's best Canadian films."Canada's Top Ten awards will honour excellence in Canadian cinema" ...

list. Her second short film, ''When You Sleep'' (2012), won the award for Best Atlantic Emerging Director at the 2012 Atlantic Film Festival, and screened at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

Telefilm Canada Telefilm Canada is a Crown corporation reporting to Canada's federal government through the Minister of Canadian Heritage. Headquartered in Montreal, Telefilm provides services to the Canadian audiovisual industry with four regional offices in V ...

's short film showcase. Her third short film, ''Stray'', was released in 2013 and her fourth film, ''4 Quarters'' (2015), won Best Atlantic Short at the 2015 Atlantic Film Festival. For her short film work, McKenzie has won the

National Screen Institute The National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI; originally Canadian Screen Institute, CSI) is a non-profit organization headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The organization describes itself as "Serving content creators across Canada to te ...

Shaw Media Shaw Media was the television broadcasting division of Shaw Communications. Shaw Media owned the Global Television Network, which broadcasts nationally via 13 television stations, as well as 19 specialty channels including Slice (TV channel), Sli ...

Fearless Female Director Award three times, in 2013, 2014, and 2015. McKenzie made her

with ''

'' (2016), a film about two drug addicts in Cape Breton. ''Werewolf'' premiered at the

and has since won several awards; at the 2016 Atlantic Film Festival, ''Werewolf'' won the awards for Best Director (McKenzie), Best Actress (MacNeil), and Best Actor (Gillis). At the

5th Canadian Screen Awards The 5th annual Canadian Screen Awards were held on March 12, 2017, to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2016. Nominations were announced on January 17, 2017. Awards in many of the technical categor ...

, McKenzie was nominated for the Canadian Screen Award for Best Achievement in Editing. Gillis was nominated for Best Actor and MacNeil was nominated for

Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress awar ...

. In 2016, for her work on the film, McKenzie won the

Stella Artois Jay Scott Prize The Jay Scott Prize is an annual film award presented by the Toronto Film Critics Association, in conjunction with commercial sponsor Stella Artois, to an emerging talent in the Canadian film industry. First presented in 2009, the award was named ...

. The following year, after its

theatrical release An art release is the premiere of an artistic production and its presentation and marketing to the public. Film A film release is the authorization by the owner of a completed film to a public exhibition of the film. The exhibition may be in theat ...

, ''Werewolf'' won the $100,000

prize for best Canadian film of the year. Her second feature film, ''

Queens of the Qing Dynasty ''Queens of the Qing Dynasty'' is a Canadian experimental drama film written, directed, and co-produced by Ashley McKenzie. It premiered on February 15, 2022, as a part of the Encounters program at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival, and ...

'', premiered at the 2022 Berlin Film Festival.

Artistry

Joe Leydon Joseph Patrick Michael Leydon (born August 22, 1952) is an American film critic and historian. A critic and correspondent for ''Variety'' since 1990, he is the author of ''Joe Leydon's Guide to Essential Movies You Must See'' (Michael Wiese Prod ...

of ''

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), ...

'' described McKenzie's directing style as having "borderline Bressonian austerity." In an article called "A Generational Shift in Filmmaking", in discussing ''Werewolf'',

Richard Brody Richard Brody (born 1958) is an American film critic who has written for ''The New Yorker'' since 1999. Education Brody grew up in Roslyn, New York, and attended Princeton University, receiving a B.A. in comparative literature in 1980. He first ...

of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' wrote that "McKenzie fuses a documentary-like observational precision with a creative imagination that endows her characters' struggles with a quietly monumental grandeur."

Accolades

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McKenzie, Ashley Canadian women film directors Canadian film editors Living people People from New Waterford, Nova Scotia 1984 births Film directors from Nova Scotia Canadian women film editors