Molly McGlynn is a

Canadian American Canadian Americans () are American citizens or in some uses residents whose ancestry is wholly or partly Canadian, or citizens of either country who hold dual citizenship. Today, many Canadian Americans hold both US and Canadian citizenship. Th ...

film and television director and screenwriter."Molly McGlynn's debut feature – a TIFF breakout – isn't a comedy or drama, just 'scorchingly true'"

CBC Arts CBC Arts () is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that creates and curates written articles, short documentaries, non-fiction series and interactive projects that represent the excellence of Canada's diverse artistic communitie ...

, September 15, 2017. She is known for her feature films ''

Mary Goes Round ''Mary Goes Round'' is a 2017 Canadian drama film directed by Molly McGlynn. It was screened in the Discovery section at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. The film centres on Mary, a substance abuse counsellor who loses her job afte ...

'', for which she won the

Jay Scott Prize The Jay Scott Prize is an annual film award presented by the Toronto Film Critics Association, in conjunction with commercial sponsor Stella Artois, to an emerging talent in the Canadian film industry. First presented in 2009, the award was named ...

from the

Toronto Film Critics Association The Toronto Film Critics Association (TFCA) is an organization of film critics from Toronto-based publications. As of 1999, the TFCA is a member of the FIPRESCI. History The Toronto Film Critics Association is the official organization of Toro ...

,Pinto, Jordan
"Anthropocene claims top Canadian honours at TFCA annual gala"
'' Playback'', January 9, 2019. and ''

Fitting In ''Fitting In'' is a 2023 Canadian coming-of-age comedy drama film written and directed by Molly McGlynn. It stars Maddie Ziegler, D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Djouliet Amara, and Emily Hampshire. The story centers around 16-year-old Lindy, who is diag ...

'', which won the award for Best Canadian Film at the

2023 Vancouver International Film Festival The 2023 Vancouver International Film Festival, the 42nd event in the history of the Vancouver International Film Festival, was held from September 28 to October 8, 2023. Awards Winners of the juried Canadian film awards were announced on Octob ...

Early life

Originally from

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, McGlynn and her family moved to

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

when she was five. She grew up in the United States but returned to Canada for university. McGlynn studied film at Queen’s University in

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the northeastern end of Lake Ontario. It is at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River, the south end of the Rideau Canal. Kingston is near the Thousand Islands, ...

and television writing and production at

Humber College The Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, rebranded as Humber Polytechnic since 2024, is a public Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, college in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1967, Humber has three mai ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Career

McGlynn began her career making short films, including ''Office Daydreams'', ''I Am Not a Weird Person'', ''Shoes'', ''Given Your History'', and ''3-Way (Not Calling)''."Playback’s 2017 5 2 Watch: Molly McGlynn"
'' Playback'', September 11, 2017. In 2013, ''Shoes'' tracked the life cycle of a pair of shoes and earned her a nomination for Best Short Film at the Female Eye Film Festival. ''3-Way (Not Calling)''—which stars Emma Hunter,

Kristian Bruun Charles Kristian Bonnycastle Bruun (born October 25, 1979) is a Canadian actor. He is best known for his roles in ''Orphan Black'', ''Murdoch Mysteries'', '' The Recruit'', ''The Girl Who Escaped: The Kara Robinson Story'', and '' The Rookie''. ...

, and

Emily Coutts Emily Coutts (born July 4, 1989) is a Canadians, Canadian actress. She is known for portraying Keyla Detmer, a bridge officer, on the Paramount+ series ''Star Trek: Discovery''. A graduate of York University's drama program, Coutts has written, ...

—premiered at the

2016 Toronto International Film Festival The 41st annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from 8 to 18 September 2016. The first announcement of films to be screened at the festival took place on 26 July. Almost 400 films were shown. Awards The festival's final awards were ...

. In 2017, McGlynn made her feature film directorial debut with ''

'', starring

Aya Cash Aya Cash (born July 13, 1982) is an American actress. She is best known for starring as Gretchen Cutler in the FX/ FXX dark comedy series ''You're the Worst'' (2014–2019), as Stormfront in the Amazon Prime Video superhero drama series '' The Bo ...

. She developed the screenplay at the

Canadian Film Centre The Canadian Film Centre (CFC) is a charitable organization founded in 1988 by filmmaker Norman Jewison in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Originally launched as a film school, today it provides training, development and advancement opportunities for ...

. It was screened in the Discovery section at the

2017 Toronto International Film Festival The 42nd annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from September 7 to 17, 2017. There were fourteen programs, with the Vanguard and City to City programs both being retired from previous years, with the total number of films down by ...

. The film centres on Mary, a substance abuse counsellor who loses her job after getting arrested for

drunk driving Drunk driving (or drink-driving in British English) is the act of driving under the influence of alcohol. A small increase in the blood alcohol content increases the relative risk of a motor vehicle crash. In the United States, alcohol is in ...

. Returning to her hometown to visit her estranged father, she struggles to cope with the revelations that her father is terminally ill and that she has a teenage half-sister she has never met. For her work on the film, McGlynn won the

for emerging filmmakers from the

. In 2018, she directed episodes of the web series ''

How to Buy a Baby ''How to Buy a Baby'' is a Canadian comedy web series, which premiered in November 2017 on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's web platform and on YouTube. Created by Wendy Litner and based on her own experiences having to pursue fertility t ...

'', for which she won the

Indie Series Award The Indie Series Awards (formerly the Indie Soap Awards) is an annual event hosted by '' We Love Soaps'', based in Los Angeles, California, honoring the best in independently produced, scripted entertainment created for the Internet. The ceremon ...

for Best Directing — Comedy at the 9th Indie Series Awards. Since then, she has directed episodes of the television series ''

Workin' Moms ''Workin' Moms'' is a Canadian television comedy-drama sitcom series that premiered on CBC Television on January 10, 2017. The show stars Catherine Reitman, Jessalyn Wanlim, Dani Kind, Enuka Okuma, and Juno RinaldiBad Blood'', '' Speechless'', '' Little Dog'', ''

Grown-ish ''Grown-ish'' (stylized as ''ish'') is an American teen comedy drama television series and a spin-off of the ABC series '' Black-ish''. The single-camera comedy follows the Johnson family's children as they go to college and begin their journe ...

'', '' Bless This Mess'', ''

The Wonder Years ''The Wonder Years'' is an American coming-of-age comedy television series created by Neal Marlens and Carol Black. It ran on ABC from January 31, 1988, until May 12, 1993. The series premiered immediately after ABC's coverage of Super Bowl X ...

'', ''

Kenan Kenan (also spelled Qenan, Kaynan, Caynam or Cainan) (; ; ) is an Antediluvian patriarch first mentioned in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. The '' Sefer ha-Yashar'' describes Cainan, the possessor of great astrological wisdom, which h ...

'' and ''

Animal Control An animal control service or animal control agency is an entity charged with responding to requests for help with animals, including wild animals, dangerous animals, and animals in distress. An individual who works for such an entity was once kn ...

''. McGlynn received

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

's Micki Moore Residency in 2020. She wrote and directed the film ''

'', starring

Maddie Ziegler Madison Nicole Ziegler (; born September 30, 2002) is an American actress and dancer. She appeared in Lifetime (TV network), Lifetime's reality show ''Dance Moms'' from 2011 (at age 8) until 2016, and starred in a series of music videos by Si ...

and

Emily Hampshire Emily Hampshire is a Canadian-American actress. Her best known roles include Angelina in the 1998 romantic comedy ''Boy Meets Girl (1998 film), Boy Meets Girl'', Vivienne in the 2006 film ''Snow Cake'', Jennifer Goines in the Syfy drama series ' ...

, which premiered at

South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

under the name ''Bloody Hell'' on March 13, 2023.Harvey, Dennis
"''Bloody Hell'' Review: A Teen Sex Comedy Thrown a Curveball by Mother Nature"
''Variety'', March 14, 2023; and Saito, Stephen
"SXSW 2023 Review: A Dire Prognosis Opens Up Emotional Floodgates in Molly McGlynn’s ''Bloody Hell''"
''The Moveable Fest'',·March 14, 2023 Her 2023 feature film ''

'' premiered at

SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

,Oddo, Marco Vito
"''Bloody Hell'' Review: Maddie Ziegler Struggles with Womanhood in Coming-of-Age Story"
''

Collider A collider is a type of particle accelerator that brings two opposing particle beams together such that the particles collide. Compared to other particle accelerators in which the moving particles collide with a stationary matter target, collid ...

'', March 14, 2023; and Dunlap, Sage
"''Bloody Hell'' empowers with unique coming-of-age story"
''

The Daily Texan ''The Daily Texan'' is the student newspaper of the University of Texas at Austin. It is one of the largest college newspapers in the United States, with a daily circulation of roughly 12,000 during the fall and spring semesters, and is among th ...

'', March 16, 2023Bradley, Laura
"Maddie Ziegler's SXSW 'Traumedy' ''Bloody Hell'' Is Brilliant – With a Period Twist"
''

The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. Founded in 2008, the website is owned by IAC Inc. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief ...

'', March 18, 2023 and won the award for Best Canadian Film at the

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McGlynn, Molly 21st-century Canadian screenwriters Canadian television directors Canadian women film directors Canadian women television directors Canadian women screenwriters Film directors from Montreal Writers from Montreal Living people Canadian Film Centre alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Queen's University at Kingston alumni Humber College alumni American intersex women American intersex writers Canadian intersex people Screenwriters from Quebec