Mynette Louie is an American film producer of Chinese descent. She was nominated for a Primetime Emmy and Critics Choice Award in 2018 for HBO's ''

The Tale ''The Tale'' is a 2018 American drama film written and directed by Jennifer Fox and starring Laura Dern, Ellen Burstyn, Jason Ritter, Elizabeth Debicki, Isabelle Nélisse, Common, Frances Conroy, and John Heard. It tells the story about Fox's ...

'', won the 2015 Independent Spirit Awards John Cassavetes Award for ''

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, ...

'', and won the 2013 Independent Spirit Awards Piaget Producers Award. She was also nominated twice for "Best First Feature" at the Independent Spirit Awards for '' I Carry You With Me'' and ''

.'' She is a member of the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motio ...

Background

Louie was born in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, New York to working-class immigrant parents from Hong Kong and China. She was raised in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

and

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

, and graduated from Hunter College High School and

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

Career

After working in marketing and business development at ''

Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Ma ...

'', Jupiter Communications, and

SportsIllustrated.com ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

, Louie learned producing by producing NYU Tisch graduate thesis films, though she did not attend the school. Louie has premiered eight feature films at the Sundance Film Festival: Heidi Ewing's '' I Carry You With Me'', Jennifer Fox's ''

'' starring Laura Dern, Isabelle Nélisse, Ellen Burstyn, Jason Ritter, Elizabeth Debicki, and Common; Christina Choe's ''Nancy'' starring Andrea Riseborough, J Smith Cameron, Steve Buscemi, Ann Dowd, and John Leguizamo, Hannah Fidell's "The Long Dumb Road" starring Tony Revolori and Jason Mantzoukas; So Yong Kim's ''Lovesong'' starring Riley Keough and Jenna Malone; Martha Stephens & Aaron Katz's ''

'' starring Paul Eenhoorn ( Sundance 2014,

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 ...

, Spirit Award nominee); Marshall Lewy's ''

California Solo ''California Solo'' is an American independent feature film written and directed by Marshall Lewy and starring Robert Carlyle. It made its world premiere at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, and its international premiere at the 2012 Edinburgh Fil ...

'' starring

Robert Carlyle Robert Carlyle (born 14 April 1961) is a Scottish actor. His film work includes '' Trainspotting'' (1996), ''The Full Monty'' (1997), ''The World Is Not Enough'' (1999), ''Angela's Ashes'' (1999), '' The Beach'' (2000), ''28 Weeks Later'' (20 ...

( Sundance 2012,

Strand Releasing Strand Releasing is an American film production company founded in 1989 and is based in Culver City, California. The company has distributed over 300 auteur-driven titles from acclaimed international and American directors such as Apichatpong Wee ...

); and Tze Chun's ''

Children of Invention ''Children of Invention'' is an American independent feature film written and directed by Tze Chun. It premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, screened at more than 50 film festivals, and won 17 festival awards including 8 Grand Jury or Best ...

'' starring Cindy Cheung ( Sundance 2009). Her films have also premiered or screened at the New York Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Venice Critics Week, SXSW,

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. Tribeca was f ...

Los Angeles Film Festival The LA Film Festival was an annual film festival that was held in Los Angeles, California, and usually took place in June. It showcased independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, episod ...

, Locarno Film Festival,

London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival founded in 1957 and held in the United Kingdom, running for two weeks in October with co-operation from the British Film Institute. It screens more than 300 films, documentaries and sho ...

, and Berlin Film Festival. Her first feature was

Andrew Bujalski Andrew Bujalski (born April 29, 1977) is an American film director, screenwriter and actor, who has been called the "godfather of mumblecore." Life and career Bujalski, born in Boston in 1977, is the son of artist-turned-businesswoman Sheil ...

's critically acclaimed ''

Mutual Appreciation ''Mutual Appreciation'' is a 2005 independent film by Andrew Bujalski who previously directed ''Funny Ha Ha'' (2002). The script is primarily dialogue between a group of young people as they try to determine where they fit in the world. It is consi ...

'' ( SXSW 2005), which she co-produced. Louie also produced or executive produced Aaron Katz's ''Gemini'' starring Lola Kirke, Zoë Kravitz and John Cho (SXSW 2017, NEON), Sarah Adina Smith's '' Buster's Mal Heart'' starring Rami Malek (Toronto 2016), Natalia Garagiola's ''Temporada de Caza (Hunting Season)'' (Venice Critics Week 2017, Grand Prize),

Lauren Wolkstein Lauren Wolkstein is an American film director, writer, producer and editor. She is known for directing, writing, and editing the 2017 film ''The Strange Ones'' with Christopher Radcliff and serving on the directorial team for the third season of ...

& Christopher Radcliff's ''The Strange Ones'' (SXSW 2017), Karyn Kusama's ''The Invitation'' (SXSW 2015), Jamie Babbit's ''Addicted to Fresno'' (SXSW 2015), Patricia Benoit's '' Stones in the Sun'' starring

Edwidge Danticat Edwidge Danticat (; born January 19, 1969) is a Haitian-American novelist and short story writer. Her first novel, ''Breath, Eyes, Memory'', was published in 1994 and went on to become an Oprah's Book Club selection. Danticat has since written or ...

(

Tribeca Tribeca (), originally written as TriBeCa, is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. Its name is a syllabic abbreviation of "Triangle Below Canal Street". The "triangle" (more accurately a quadrilateral) is bounded by Canal Stree ...

2012, Special Jury Prize, Best Narrative Director), Doug Karr's '' Art Machine'' (

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aq ...

2012),

Ishai Setton Ishai Setton is an American film director, editor and producer. After graduating from the Tisch School of the Arts in New York City in 2002, he has worked both in cinema and television. Career Setton made his feature-length directorial debut in ...

's ''The Kitchen'' (

Gen Art Gen Art is an arts and entertainment organization that showcases emerging fashion designers, filmmakers, musicians and visual artists. It has produced over 100 events annually, which included fashion shows, film premieres and screenings, live musi ...

2012, Closing Night), Olivia Silver's ''Arcadia'' starring John Hawkes (

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

2012, Crystal Bear Winner), and Tze Chun's ''

Cold Comes the Night ''Cold Comes the Night'' is a 2013 American crime thriller film directed by Tze Chun, who co-wrote the script with Oz Perkins and Nick Simon. It was released on September 20, 2013, in the UK and on January 10, 2014 in the United States. The film s ...

'' starring

Alice Eve Alice Sophia Eve (born ) is a British actress. Her movie career includes roles in ''She's Out of My League'', ''Men in Black 3'', ''Star Trek Into Darkness'', and '' Before We Go''. She has had recurring roles on the TV series ''Entourage'' and ...

, Logan Marshall-Green, and

Bryan Cranston Bryan Lee Cranston (born March 7, 1956) is an American actor and director who is best known for portraying Walter White in the AMC crime drama series ''Breaking Bad'' (2008–2013) and Hal in the Fox sitcom ''Malcolm in the Middle'' (2000–20 ...

(

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...

/ Goldwyn 2014). Louie previously served as the president of

Gamechanger Films Gamechanger Films is an American company that finances independent films directed by women. History Gamechanger Films was founded in 2013 by Julie Parker Benello, Dan Cogan, Geralyn Dreyfous, Wendy Ettinger. Mynette Louie was the President, De ...

, a financing company that invested in women-directed narrative features. Louie also worked in economic development at the Hawaii Film Office, where she authored the state's refundable production tax credit and oversaw the renovation of the state-owned film studio. She was named one of

Business Insider ''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German pub ...

's "12 Movie Producers to Watch in 2020 and Beyond," listed as one of

Ted Hope Ted Hope (born 1962) is an American independent film producer based in New York City. He is best known for co-founding the production/sales company Good Machine, where he produced the first films of such notable filmmakers as Ang Lee, Nicole H ...

's "21 Brave Thinkers of Truly Free Film" for the distribution strategy of ''

'', profiled in

Indiewire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Holl ...

's "Futures" column and in

Crain's New York Business Crain Communications Inc is an American multi-industry publishing conglomerate based in Detroit, Michigan, United States, with 13 non-US subsidiaries. History Gustavus Dedman (G.D.) Crain, Jr. ( Gustavus Demetrious Crain, Jr.; 1885–1973), pre ...

, and named one of

's "100 Filmmakers to Follow on Twitter." She serves on the Board of Directors of Film Independent, and as an advisor to the

Sundance Institute Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization founded by Robert Redford committed to the growth of independent artists. The institute is driven by its programs that discover and support independent filmmakers, theatre artists and composers fr ...

, SXSW, IFP, and A3 Asian American Artists Foundation. Her production company The Population signed a deal with Topic Studios more recently. Louie was invited to become a member of the

in 2016. She is also an Assistant Professor of Professional Practice in the graduate film producing program at Columbia University School of the Arts.

Producing Filmography

* ''

'' (2006) – Co-Producer * ''

''(2009) – Producer * ''

'' (2012) – Producer * ''Arcadia'' (2012) – Consulting Producer * '' Stones in the Sun'' (2012) – Producer * ''The Kitchen'' (2012) – Executive Producer * '' Art Machine'' (2012) – Producer * ''

'' (2014) – Producer, Second Unit Director * ''

'' (2014) – Producer * ''

Addicted to Fresno ''Addicted to Fresno'' (formerly ''Fresno'') is a 2015 American dark comedy film directed by Jamie Babbit and written by Karey Dornetto. The film stars Natasha Lyonne and Judy Greer as two sisters that find themselves in trouble after housekeepe ...

'' (2015) - Executive Producer * ''The Invitation'' (2015) – Executive Producer * '' Lovesong'' (2016) - Executive Producer * '' Buster's Mal Heart'' (2016) - Executive Producer * ''

Gemini Gemini may refer to: Space * Gemini (constellation), one of the constellations of the zodiac ** Gemini in Chinese astronomy * Project Gemini, the second U.S. crewed spaceflight program * Gemini Observatory, consisting of telescopes in the Norther ...

'' (2017) - Producer * ''

The Strange Ones ''The Strange Ones'' is a 2017 American thriller drama film directed by Christopher Radcliff and Lauren Wolkstein, and written by Christopher Radcliff. It is a feature-length adaptation of a short film directed by Radcliff and Wolkstein in 2011. ...

'' (2017) - Executive Producer * ''Hunting Season'' (2018) - Co-Producer * ''

'' (2018) - Producer * '' Nancy'' (2018) - Executive Producer * ''

The Long Dumb Road ''The Long Dumb Road'' is a 2018 American road trip comedy film written, directed and produced by Hannah Fidell and co-written by Carson D. Mell. It stars Tony Revolori, Jason Mantzoukas, Taissa Farmiga, Grace Gummer, Casey Wilson, Pamela Reed, a ...

'' (2018) - Executive Producer * ''

Swallow The swallows, martins, and saw-wings, or Hirundinidae, are a family of passerine songbirds found around the world on all continents, including occasionally in Antarctica. Highly adapted to aerial feeding, they have a distinctive appearance. The ...

'' (2019) - Producer * ''

Black Box In science, computing, and engineering, a black box is a system which can be viewed in terms of its inputs and outputs (or transfer characteristics), without any knowledge of its internal workings. Its implementation is "opaque" (black). The te ...

'' (2020) - Executive Producer * '' I Carry You With Me'' (2021) - Producer * ''Catch the Fair One'' (2022) - Executive Producer

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Louie, Mynette American film producers Harvard University alumni Hunter College High School alumni American people of Chinese descent People from Brooklyn People from Honolulu Living people Year of birth missing (living people)