Martha Stephens (born March 12, 1984) is an American film writer and director. Stephens was born in

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...

and raised in eastern

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

. She graduated from the

University of North Carolina School of the Arts The University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) is an arts school in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It grants high school, undergraduate, and graduate degrees. Founded in 1963 as the North Carolina School of the Arts by then-Governo ...

, School of Filmmaking, where she concentrated in directing. Stephens' first two feature films, ''Passenger Pigeons'' (2010) and '' Pilgrim Song'' (2012), premiered at the South by Southwest festival and received several awards. Her third film, ''

Land Ho! ''Land Ho!'' is a 2014 adventure comedy film, co-written and co-directed by Martha Stephens and Aaron Katz. The film made its world premiere at 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2014. It also screened at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival, ...

'' (2014), which she co-directed with Aaron Katz, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was purchased for worldwide distribution by

Sony Pictures Classics Sony Pictures Classics Inc. is an American film production and distribution company that is a division of Sony Pictures. It was founded in 1992 by former Orion Classics heads Michael Barker, Tom Bernard and Marcie Bloom. It distributes, produce ...

. At the

30th Independent Spirit Awards The 30th Film Independent Spirit Awards, honoring the best independent films of 2014, were presented by Film Independent on February 21, 2015. The nominations were announced on November 25, 2014. The ceremony was hosted by Fred Armisen and Kristen ...

, ''

'' was given the

John Cassavetes Award The Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award is presented to the creative team of a film budgeted at less than $500,000 by the Film Independent, a non-profit organization dedicated to independent film and independent filmmakers. It is named after ac ...

for best feature film with a budget under $500,000. Her fourth feature film '' To the Stars'', with

Kara Hayward Kara Hayward (born November 17, 1998) is an American actress. She is known for her lead role as Suzy Bishop in the 2012 feature film ''Moonrise Kingdom'', which earned her a nomination for the Young Artist Award for Best Leading Young Actress in ...

Liana Liberato Liana Daine Liberato (born August 20, 1995) is an American actress. She played the younger version of the female lead in the 2014 film '' The Best of Me'' and starred in the drama films '' The Last Sin Eater'' (2007) and '' Trust'' (2010), the th ...

Malin Åkerman Malin Maria Åkerman (born 12 May 1978) is a Swedish actress. In the early 2000s, she had several small television and film parts in both Canadian and American productions, including '' The Utopian Society'' (2003) and ''Harold & Kumar Go to Wh ...

, and

Tony Hale Anthony Russell Hale (born September 30, 1970) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his role in the Fox comedy series '' Arrested Development'' as Buster Bluth. Hale played Gary Walsh on the HBO comedy ''Veep'' from 2012 until ...

starring, premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival in the U.S. Dramatic Competition. It was released on April 24, 2020, by

Samuel Goldwyn Films Samuel Goldwyn Films is an American film company that licenses, releases and distributes art-house, independent and foreign films. It was founded by Samuel Goldwyn Jr., the son of the Hollywood business magnate/mogul, Samuel Goldwyn. The curr ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stephens, Martha 1984 births American women film directors American women screenwriters People from Greenup County, Kentucky People from Boyd County, Kentucky Living people Writers from Huntington, West Virginia Film directors from Kentucky Film directors from West Virginia Screenwriters from Kentucky