Shatara Michelle Ford is an American director, writer, and producer. Their feature film directorial debut ''

Test Pattern A test card, also known as a test pattern or start-up/closedown test, is a television test signal, typically broadcast at times when the transmitter is active but no program is being broadcast (often at sign-on and sign-off). Used since the ear ...

'' (2019) received critical acclaim.

Career

Ford gained prominence in 2019 for ''

'', their feature film directorial debut. The story follows Renesha and Evan, a young interracial couple seeking medical care after Renesha is sexually assaulted by a stranger. Ford also wrote and produced the film. ''Test Pattern'' debuted in August 2019 at the

BlackStar Film Festival The BlackStar Film Festival is a Philadelphia film festival focused on films about and by black, brown and indigenous people from around the world. It has been described as the "Black Sundance. The festival is named after Marcus Garvey's shipping ...

, where it received the Lionsgate/STARZ Producer Award. Additional accolades were awarded at the

New Orleans Film Festival The New Orleans Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the nonprofit organization New Orleans Film Society, a film society founded in 1989. The festival has been held since the society's inception. The festival takes place in mid-Oc ...

and the

deadCENTER Film Festival The deadCENTER Film Festival was founded in 2001 in Oklahoma City. The festival was named "deadCENTER" because it is located in the exact center of the United States. Although presenting over a hundred films, and an international assemblage of film ...

. Their forthcoming coming-of-age film, ''Queen Elizabeth'', was named to the 2017

Black List Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist (or black list) of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list. If someone is on a blacklist, t ...

. It is in development as of 2021. They cited

German Expressionism German Expressionism () consisted of several related creative movements in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin during the 1920s. These developments were part of a larger Expressionist movement in north and central ...

and

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...

as key influences.

Personal life

Ford was raised in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, Missouri. Ford uses they/them pronouns.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

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Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American directors African-American film producers African-American screenwriters Writers from St. Louis {{US-film-director-stub