by Ellen Weissbrod
Filmmaker Ellen Weissbrod merges her own coming of middle-age story with her pursuit of the truths behind the legends of 17th century female painter Artemisia Gentileschi's dramatic art and life. This unconventional but heartfelt hunt upends typical artist biographies and delivers instead a funny, engaging and all together different kind of documentary.
Although Ellen Weissbrod has been making documentaries for almost twenty years, a woman like that is her first personal, feature length film. Weissbrod's previous work includes the IDA nominated Face to Face a provocative portrait of thirty-eight year old conjoined twins Lori and Reba Schappell; the Emmy nominated It Just Takes One; and the Warner Bros. feature documentary, Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones, which premiered at the Edinburgh, Toronto and New York Film Festivals. Roger Ebert named it as one of the best films of 1990. Weissbrod has also made award winning commercials for HBO and many music videos.
Melissa Powell has been making films for over thirty years. Her production credits include: Jill Godmilow's Mabou Mines: Lear 87 Archive (Condensed); Aaron Copland for American Masters on PBS; and Xero, Maggie Greenwald's first feature. Powell was the Line Producer on Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones and produced blessing directed by Paul Zehrer, which premiered at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival. She Co-Produced Grind directed by Chris Kentis, starring Billy Crudup and the late Adrienne Shelley.
