Judy Irving is an American filmmaker. She directed the documentary ''

The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill ''The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill'' is a 2003 documentary film directed, produced, and edited by Judy Irving. It chronicles the relationship between Mark Bittner, an unemployed musician who lives rent-free in a cabin in the Telegraph Hill-neig ...

'', about writer Mark Bittner's relationship with a flock of wild

parrots Parrots, also known as psittacines (), are birds of the roughly 398 species in 92 genera comprising the order Psittaciformes (), found mostly in tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three superfamilies: the Psittacoide ...

. The film won the

Genesis Award The Genesis Awards are awarded annually by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) to individuals in the major news and entertainment media for producing outstanding works which raise public awareness of animal issues. Presented by the HSUS ...

for "Outstanding Documentary Film" in 2005, and is one of the 25 top-grossing theatrical documentaries of all time with over $3 million in box-office receipts. On May 29, 2007, ''Parrots'' was featured on the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

series ''

Independent Lens ''Independent Lens'' is a weekly television series airing on PBS featuring documentary films made by independent filmmakers. Past seasons of ''Independent Lens'' were hosted by Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle, Susan Sarandon, Edie Falco, Terrence H ...

''. A previous feature-length film, ''

Dark Circle The Dark Circle is a criminal organization that appears in comic books from DC Comics, primarily part of the Legion of Super-Heroes comic books. They first appeared in 1968, created by Jim Shooter as a criminal organization founded by five memb ...

'', won the Grand Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 1983 as well as a National Emmy Award for "Outstanding Individual Achievement in News and Documentary" in 1990. Dark Circle was re-mastered and released in 2020. Journalist Yonca Talu interviewed Judy Irving in 2020. The interview appears on th
Metrograph
website.
Pelican Dreams
a feature-length film about California brown pelicans and the people who know them best, was released theatrically in 2014. Judy Irving’s most recent film
Cold Refuge
(2023), is her fourth feature-length documentary. The film is about the physical, psychological, and spiritual aspects of full immersion in the natural world: how, though it may seem counter-intuitive, swimming in cold water helps mitigate some of life's most serious challenges. Cold Refuge premiered at the International Ocean Film Festival in San Francisco in April 2023. Irving earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from

Connecticut College Connecticut College (Conn College or Conn) is a private liberal arts college in New London, Connecticut. It is a residential, four-year undergraduate institution with nearly all of its approximately 1,815 students living on campus. The college w ...

in 1968Connecticut College
Film by Judy Irving ´68 takes flight
March 7, 2005. Accessed January 7, 2012. and a master's degree in from Stanford University in 1973Stanford University
SPOTLIGHT: Judy Irving, MA '73 Filming Her Convictions
2008. Accessed January 7, 2012. She received a Guggenheim Fellowship in Film in 1983. In 2006, she married Mark Bittner after the two fell in love during the filming of ''Parrots''. In 201
Judy Irving
was elected to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Documentary Branch. She is the executive director o
Pelican Media
a San Francisco non-profit which produces environmentally themed films.

References

External links

*

in the ''Washington Post'' (March 11, 2005)
Interview with Judy Irving
in the ''Austin Chronicle'' about ''The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill'' (September 9, 2005)

with PBS's ''Independent Lens''

on PBS's ''Independent Lens'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Irving, Judy Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Connecticut College alumni Stanford University alumni American film directors News & Documentary Emmy Award winners