Nancy Kelly
Introduction (2-3 lines)
Veteran independent filmmaker Nancy Kelly’s most recent documentary REBELS WITH A CAUSE is a stunningly beautiful new film narrated by Frances McDormand. REBELS tells the story of the schemers and dreamers who fought to keep developers from taking over the breathtaking landscape of the California coast. REBELS received the 2012 Mill Valley Film Festival Audience Favorite Award for Best Documentary - Active Cinema.
Kelly also wrote, produced and directed an award-winning documentary trilogy about the transformative power of art: TRUST: Second Acts in Young Lives (public television America ReFramed series) about a Honduran teen whose traumatic life story is unveiled in a daring original play; SMITTEN (PBS Prime Time Special), about art collector Rene di Rosa, who is smitten by art; and DOWNSIDE UP (PBS Independent Lens series), about how MASS MoCA, America’s largest museum of contemporary art, revived Kelly’s dying home town. She also directed and produced the narrative feature THOUSAND PIECES OF GOLD (PBS American Playhouse theatrical film) starring Rosalind Chao and Chris Cooper. She was a fellow at the Sundance Institute Director's Lab with THOUSAND PIECES OF GOLD and participated in the Bay Area Video Coaltion Mediamaker program.
Kelly's business and life partner, Kenji Yamamoto, has been Editor/Producer on all of Nancy Kelly’s films. Yamamoto has also edited the acclaimed documentaries NEW MUSLIM COOL directed by Jennifer Maytorena Taylor and THIRST, directed by Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman. He recently edited STATES OF GRACE, produced and directed by Helen Cohen and Mark Lipman. He most recently edited RADICAL GRACE by Rebecca Parrish, winner of Best of the 2015 AFI Film Festival.
