Virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

National Shakespeare Conservatory The National Shakespeare Conservatory was an acting school in New York City, offering a two-year certificate program and an eight-week summer training program. The Conservatory was founded in 1974 by Philip Meister, Albert Schoemann and Mario Sil ...

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private university, 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-United States Secretary of the Treasu ...

Stella Adler Stella Adler (February 10, 1901 – December 21, 1992) was an American actress and acting teacher.
''

Michael Howard Studios The Michael Howard Studios is an acting studio for the performing arts located in at 152 West 25th Street in Chelsea, Manhattan, New York City; the studio was founded in 1953 by actor/director Michael Howard. History A protégé of both Sanford ...

,

Playwrights Horizons Playwrights Horizons is a not-for-profit Off-Broadway theater located in New York City dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to the production of their new work. Under the ...

and The National Shakespeare Conservatory. She currently teaches a Master Acting Class in New York City.

Films

Kampmeier made her first feature film

Virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

starring

Elisabeth Moss Elisabeth Singleton Moss (born July 24, 1982) is an American actor. She is known for her work in several television dramas, earning such accolades as two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards, which led ''Vulture'' to name her the ...

and

Robin Wright Penn Robin Gayle Wright (born April 8, 1966) is an American actress. She has won a Golden Globe Award and a Satellite Award, and has received eleven Emmy Award nominations for her work in television. Wright first gained attention for her role in t ...

for $65,000 in 2003. The film picked up awards at the Hamptons Film Festival,

Sedona Film Festival The Sedona International Film Festival (SIFF) is an annual, eight-day film festival in Sedona, Arizona. The festival was founded in 1994. The Sedona Film Festival screens feature films, documentary films, short films, animated films, and studen ...

,

Santa Fe Film Festival The Santa Fe Film Festival is a non-profit organization which presents important world cinema that represents aesthetic, critical, and entertainment standards highlighting New Mexican film. The organization partners with educational groups, schools, ...

,

Female Eye Film Festival The Female Eye Film Festival (FeFF) is a competitive international film festival established in 2001. It is Toronto’s only international film festival geared specifically for women directors. History In 2001, Female Eye Film Festival was est ...

in Toronto. The film was nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards, the John Cassevetes Award and a best actress award for Moss. Kampmeier's film Hounddog debuted 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 ...

in January 2007 in the dramatic category, where it was nominated for the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize. It also met with a significant amount of controversy over its content. The film features a 12-year-old girl named Lewellen played by

Dakota Fanning Hannah Dakota Fanning (born February 23, 1994) is an American actress. She rose to prominence at the age of seven for her performance as Lucy Dawson in the drama film ''I Am Sam'' (2001), for which she received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomina ...

, who lives with her "abusive father and alcoholic grandmother". The inclusion of a non-graphic rape scene caused Christian film critics and activists to negatively comment on the film, with it being called "child abuse" and

Bill Donohue William Anthony Donohue (born July 18, 1947) is an American Roman Catholic who has been president of the Catholic League (U.S.), Catholic League in the United States since 1993. Life and career Donohue was born in the borough of Manhattan in ...

calling for a federal investigation against Kampmeier. Donohue stated that the film was breaking anti-pornography laws and that Dakota Fanning was being exploited. The Sundance Film Festival organizer,

Geoffrey Gilmore Geoffrey Gilmore is the Director of the Tribeca Film Festival and a member of the UCLA Producers Program faculty. Career Creative Director of Tribeca Enterprises, a New York company that includes the Tribeca Film Festival, the Tribeca Cinemas an ...

, praised Kampmeier for trying to cover "challenging material". Kampmeier responded to the criticism by explaining that Fanning and the two other child actors in the film, Cody Hanford and

Isabelle Fuhrman Isabelle Fuhrman (born February 25, 1997) is an American actress. She is known for her role as Esther in the horror film ''Orphan'' (2009) and its prequel '' Orphan: First Kill'' (2022). She also portrayed Clove in the dystopian adventure film ' ...

, were only acting and decried the attacks against "my mother, my agent ... my teacher, who were all on the set that day" by critics. Fanning also stated herself, "I'm not going through anything like that, it's just my character. It's just another scene and wasn't any different from anything else I've done" and said that the controversy was "blown out of proportion". In 2016, Kampmeier released her third feature-length film, "Split." It premiered in the

Sarasota Film Festival The Sarasota Film Festival is a film festival located in Sarasota, Florida and is held in April. Its mission is "to celebrate the art of filmmaking and the contribution of filmmakers by hosting an international film festival and developing year-lo ...

on April 7, 2016. The film centers on a young actress, named Inanna, who is split from her full self when she falls in love with a mask-maker and the relationship takes on dark subtleties. The film draws from the ancient myth of the same name and stars

Amy Ferguson Amy Ferguson is an American actress and model. Ferguson is also a singer-songwriter who goes by the stage name of "Grandma Dirt." Life and career Ferguson was born in Cincinnati and raised in southern Ohio. She attended Dr. John Hole Elementar ...

,

Morgan Spector Morgan Michael Spector (born October 4, 1980) is an American actor. Spector has appeared in the TV series ''Allegiance'' (2015), '' The Mist'' (2017), ''Homeland'' (2018), and ''Pearson'' (2019), as well as the films '' The Drop'' (2014), ''Chris ...

, and Raina Von Waldenburg. The director's daughter, Sophia Oppenheim, also appears in the film in her acting debut. Indie Outlook described the film as "an arrestingly raw howl of fury at the global stigmatization of female sexuality.

Themes

Kampmeier is passionate about creating films that tell women's stories. She thinks that films showing women's stories are not better or worse than men's stories, but different. In an interview with

Jan Lisa Huttner Jan Lisa Huttner (born December 10, 1951) is an American film critic, journalist, activist, and independent scholar. Huttner has authored columns for prominent publications, including Women's eNews, the Huffington Post, and The Forward, and is the ...

on March 11th, 2015, Kampmeier spoke about her film

Virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

. The film is about a woman, Jessie, and her experience with date rape. In the interview, Kampmeier said that "one of the criticisms hehear a lot is that there are no sympathetic male characters in ''Virgin''". She also mentioned she had difficulty distributing the movie because when she explained that her target audience was women, she was told that "women aren't a ‘demographic,' at least not a demographic you can market to. Boyfriends and husbands make the decisions". She concludes that all of the roadblocks she faced in finding a distributor for ''Virgin'' cemented her desire to put the experience of being a woman on screen.

Television

In 2019, Kampmeier was selected by director

Ava DuVernay Ava Marie DuVernay (; born August 24, 1972) is an American filmmaker, television producer and former film publicist. She is a recipient of a Primetime Emmy Award, a NAACP Image Award, a BAFTA Film Award and a BAFTA TV Award, as well as a nominee ...

to direct an episode of the television series,

Queen Sugar Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mothe ...

. This marked Kampmeier's television directorial debut.

Filmography

Director

Film * ''Tape'' (2020) * ''Without Grace'' (Short) (2016) * ''Split'' (2016) * ''Peel'' (Short) (2016) * '' Hounddog'' (2007) * ''

Virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

'' (2003) Television * ''

Queen Sugar Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mothe ...

'' (2019) * ''

Cherish the Day "Cherish the Day" is a song by English band Sade from their fourth studio album, '' Love Deluxe'' (1992). It was released as the album's fourth and final single in the United Kingdom on 19 July 1993. Critical reception Justin Chadwick from A ...

'' (2020) * ''

Clarice Clarice is a female given name, an anglicization of the French Clarisse, derived from the Latin and Italian name Clarissa, originally used in reference to the nuns of the Roman Catholic Order of St. Clare, whose own name ultimately derives fro ...

'' (2021) * '' FBI: International'' (2021) * ''

Tales of the Walking Dead ''Tales of the Walking Dead'' is an American post-apocalyptic horror drama anthology television series created by Scott M. Gimple and Channing Powell. The fourth television series within ''The Walking Dead'' franchise, it is a spin-off to '' ...

'' (2022) * '' Star Trek: Picard'' (2023)

Writer

* ''Split'' (2016) * ''Peel'' (Short) (2016) * '' Hounddog'' (2007) * ''

Virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

'' (2003)

Producer

* ''Ramona'' (Short) (2016) * ''Split ''(2016) * ''Peel'' (Short) (2016) * '' Hounddog'' (2007) * ''

Virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

'' (2003)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kampmeier, Deborah Living people American women film producers Film producers from Tennessee American women film directors People from Chattanooga, Tennessee 1964 births Film directors from Tennessee Screenwriters from Tennessee 21st-century American women