ABOUT

Known for her distinct visuals and hit-you-like-a-Mack-truck storytelling, writer/director Nicole Brending doesn’t pull punches. Described by Indiewire as a “savage takedown of the Whitney/Britney industrial complex,” her debut feature film, Dollhouse: The Eradication of Female Subjectivity from American Popular Culture won several prizes including the Narrative Feature Grand Jury Prize and the George Stark Spirit of Slamdance Award at the 25th Slamdance Film Festival, as well as Best Movie of the Feature Competition at the 2019 Lucca Film Festival with Rutger Hauer presiding over the jury. She wrote, directed, produced, shot, production designed, edited, wrote music for and starred in the film, now distributed by Rock Salt Releasing and available on iTunes, Amazon, and Freevee.

Previously, her short film Selfied won the Silver Saint George for Best Short In Competition at the 38th Moscow International Film Festival with screenings in France, Italy, Cyprus, New York, and Australia. Her animated short film, Operated by Invisible Hands, received several prizes including a Student Emmy, the Prix de Varti at Ann Arbor, Best of the Fest at Palm Springs Shortfest, and the Ursula Award for Best Lesbian Short at the Hamburg International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.

As a screenwriter, her feature spec Lifer was optioned by BSpoke Entertainment and developed with Nicole Kidman's company Blossom Films. She wrote an adaptation of the memoir Whip Smart for legendary producer Robert Evans (The Godfather, Chinatown) with Catherine Hardwicke attached to direct, and co-wrote The Artist's Wife with director Tom Dolby (Last Weekend), which had its world premier at the 2019 Hampton’s International Film Festival and stars Lena Olin, Bruce Dern, Avan Jogia, and Juliet Rylance.

She is an alumna of the Berlinale Talent Campus and Co-Production Market as well as the Almanack Screenwriters Colony. Her work has been supported by the Jerome Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, the Milos Foreman Finishing Fund and most recently the MN State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant for her second feature film, Afterbirth.

She received her MFA in Film from Columbia University where she won the Ezra Litwak Award for Distinction in Screenwriting and her short Duluth received Faculty Honors, Best Editing, and Best Short Under 12 Minutes. In addition to her work in film she is also writing three books, including a graphic novel. Her writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere.