Ellen Spiro

Ellen Spiro is an American documentary filmmaker.[ 1] She is a producer and director of the television documentary Are the Kids Alright?, which won an Emmy Award in 2005.[ 2]

Her early work was shot on a compact Sony palmcorder and highlighted gay and lesbian stories.[ 3] One of her earliest works, Diana's Hair Ego, was the first small format video to be broadcast on national television.[ 3] Her work was presented twice in the Museum of Modern Art.[ 4]

Spiro created the 10 Under 10 Film Festival in Austin, TX.[ 5]

In 2006, Spiro was awarded an artist's residency at the Bellagio Center, sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation, in Bellagio, Italy.[ 6] She worked with Phil Donahue on Body of War, a film about paralyzed Iraq War veteran Tomas Young, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and won a 'People's Choice Award' and the 'Audience Award for Best Documentary' at the Hamptons International Film Festival.[ 7] It was shortlisted for nomination for an Academy Award in 2007.[ 8] In December, Body of War was named Best Documentary of 2007 by the National Board of Review.[ 9] [ 10]

Spiro is a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, where she has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in documentary, experimental film, and music film production in the Department of Radio-TV-Film.[ 11] She is also a visiting professor at the University of California at Berkeley.[ 11]

10. "Author: Ellen Spiro." The Scholar & Feminist Online. Retrieved 6 Mar. 2024.