Background
Anne Makepeace is a writer, producer, and director of feature and documentary films. Her films have won numerous awards and
been aired on networks around the world. She is the writer, director, and producer of "Coming to Light, Edward S. Curtis and
the North American Indians," a biographical documentary film about Edward S. Curtis (1868-1952). In 1990, Makepeace began
research on what would become a decade-long project to produce a film about Curtis. During the pre-production phase of the
Curtis film, Makepeace wrote, directed and produced her first documentary, "Baby, It's You." Through this experience, she
developed an intense interest in documentary filmmaking. Thus, when budget cuts at the National Endowment for the Humanities
would no longer provide funding for dramatic productions, Makepeace reconceived the Curtis feature film as a historical documentary.
Makepeace and her production team spent years conducting extensive research of primary sources and published materials in
dozens of libraries, archives, museums, and private collections. Filming and post-production took place in 1998-2000, during
which time Makepeace and her crew traveled throughout the United States and Canada to interview indigenous peoples and Curtis
scholars. Makepeace was born in Middlebury, Connecticut. She studied at Stanford University, earning a B.A. in English (1969)
and an M.A. in education (1971). She was an educator and, through her use of film and video in the classroom, developed an
interest in filmmaking. She returned to Stanford to study documentary film, completing her M.A. in film studies in 1982. Her
thesis film, Moonchild (1985), was sold to HBO, Bravo, PBS, and other networks around the world. Makepeace's other films include
Whistle in the Wind (1987); Thousand Pieces of Gold (1991); Night Driving (1993); Ishi the Last Yahi (1995); Baby, It's You
(1998); Coming to Light, Edward S. Curtis and The North American Indians (2000); Robert Capa in Love and War (2003); Eleanor
Roosevelt, Close to Home (2005); and Rain in a Dry Land (2006). Her films have been screened at festivals and museums around
the world. She has been the recipient of many awards for her films, including an Emmy for "Robert Capa in Love and War." Makepeace
has been funded by the Pulitzer Foundation, Sundance Documentary Fund, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, ITVS, National
Endowment for the Arts (NEA), National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), Showtime Networks, HBO, PBS, A&E, and the American
Film Institute. Makepeace has been a two-time writer/director fellow at the Sundance Institute and served on the Sundance
2001 Film Festival's documentary jury. In addition, she has been a resident of the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center,
the MacDowell Colony, and the Blue Mountain Center.
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