Immy Humes is an American documentary filmmaker and television producer. Her first independent documentary was nominated for an Academy Award in 1991, and she continues to make films about contemporary American life. Humes has also taught filmmaking at the

New York Film Academy New York Film Academy – School of Film and Acting (NYFA) is a private for-profit film school and acting school based in New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami. The New York Film Academy was founded in 1992 by Jerry Sherlock, a former film, t ...

, NYU/Brooklyn Polytechnic and

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

Career

Early in her career, Humes had determined to make a film biography of her father,

Harold L. Humes Harold Louis Humes, Jr. (May 11, 1926 – September 10, 1992) was known as HL Humes in his books, and usually as "Doc" Humes in life. He was the originator of ''The Paris Review'' literary magazine, author of two novels in the late 1950s, and a ...

. Beginning in 1992, Humes began to shoot and collect footage of her sisters,

Norman Mailer Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, playwright, activist, filmmaker and actor. In a career spanning over six decades, Mailer ...

, Timothy Leary, George Plimpton and others who had known her father well. In 2008, Humes released
Doc
', which chronicled the life and impact of the influential activist, novelist, and editor. A one-hour version of the 90-minute film ran as an episode of Independent Lens on PBS. She is currently making a film portrait of the American radical filmmaker Shirley Clarke, in association with Milestone Films and with a grant from the NEA.https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/Spring_2017_State_List_FINAL.pdf After working in television for several years, Humes directed '' A Little Vicious'', a short documentary film about Bandit, a dog who had been sentenced to death for biting. Narrated by actor Kevin Bacon, and featuring dog trainer/philosopher

Vicki Hearne Vicky, Vicko, Vick, Vickie or Vicki is a feminine given name, often a hypocorism of Victoria. The feminine name Vicky in Greece comes from the name Vasiliki. Women * Family nickname of Victoria, Princess Royal (1840–1901), wife of German ...

, this "offbeat documentary" was lauded by the New York Times reviewer as paying "rewarding attention to the little peculiarities of all involved." The film was nominated for the 1991

Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject) This is a list of films by year that have received an Academy Award together with the other nominations for best documentary short film. Following the Academy's practice, the year listed for each film is the year of release: the awards are annou ...

. Humes returned to television as a segment producer for Michael Moore's short-lived '' TV Nation'' series. In 1995 Humes released '' Lizzie Borden Hash & Rehash'', a documentary short exploring the strange fascination held by some people for Lizzie Borden, the Massachusetts woman accused but not convicted of killing her parents in 1892. After working as an associate producer for '' A Life Apart: Hasidism in America'', a film by Menachem Daum and Oren Rudavsky, in 2001 Humes made a documentary on Canadian

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...

and ethnobotanist Wade Davis for the

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television television network, network and flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel owned by the National Geograp ...

. She made a six-part series on chronic unemployment that ran on

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (P ...

in 2012.

Early life

Immy Humes was born and brought up in New York City, one of four daughters of Anna Lou Elianoff and writer

, co-founder of The Paris Review. Immy graduated with honors from Harvard University in the field of Social Studies, and commenced a media career in filmmaking, interning at Boston's WGBH-TV public television station.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Humes, Immy American documentary filmmakers American mass media scholars American film directors Living people Harvard University alumni Year of birth missing (living people)