Annmarie Morais
Annmarie Morais | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1973 Jamaica |
| Nationality | Jamaican-Canadian |
| Education | Bachelor of Fine Arts |
| Alma mater | York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Occupation | Screenwriter |
| Known for | Writing the film How She Move |
| Notable work | How She Move was accepted into the 2007 Sundance, Film Festival. |
| Awards | Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting |
Annmarie Morais (born 1973 in Jamaica) is a Jamaican-Canadian screenwriter best known for writing the film How She Move. She earned a BFA from York University in Film and Video in 1995.
Morais won funding for two Vision TV Cultural Diversity Drama Competition movies: Hotel Babylon and Da Kink in My Hair, which aired on Vision in 2004 and 2005.[1] Hotel Babylon is the story of immigrants working in a hotel in Winnipeg, Canada. Kink was adapted from the Trey Anthony play about a beauty parlour in a Jamaican-Canadian neighbourhood. Morais was also a writer and story editor on the television series adapted from the play, which aired on Global in 2007.
Nicholl Prize
[edit]Morais was the first Canadian to win the prestigious Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting. She was also the first person to win the Nicholl with a resubmitted script. Bleeding was a finalist in 1998, and she resubmitted it without changes in 1999.[2] The prize, administered by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, garnered Morais $25,000.
How She Move
[edit]While at York, Morais had produced a short documentary Steppin on step-dancing in Toronto's Jane-Finch neighborhood. In 2004, she received Telefilm financing to produce a feature film based on the same concept. Originally titled Step, the film How She Move was accepted into the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. At Sundance, a bidding war resulted in a $3.4 million offer from Paramount and MTV Films. [3] The film received wide release in the United States and Canada in January 2007.
Current projects
[edit]Splitting her time between Los Angeles and Toronto, Morais has created a television show for ABC Family about high-school cheerleaders, called The Flip Side. She is also writing a thriller set in London, The Collectors to be directed by fellow Jamaican-Canadian Clement Virgo and adapting Jane Finlay-Young's novel From Bruised Fell.[4] [5]
References
[edit]- ^ Hotel Babylon Archived February 10, 2005, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Y-File
- ^ How she move that 49th parallel MacLean's January 17, 2008
- ^ YorkU_feb08_>>PDF
- ^ "Téléfilm Canada - Flash info". Archived from the original on 2012-09-12. Retrieved 2008-02-03.
Sources
[edit]- Brantford screenwriter hits it big Brantford Expositor February 1, 2008
- Sundance interview
