From left: Wind Break (work-in-progress), Choking Hazard (2011) and Clam Bake (2012).
"Joanna Priestley's films are vibrant, exploratory, witty and daring, and, while they often explore serious themes, they appeal to viewers of all ages and dispositions." -Laura Ivins-Hulley, Indiana University Cinema
Short Biography
Joanna Priestley loves animation and she has directed, produced and animated 27 films that explore abstraction, botany, landscape, aging and human rights. Priestley has had retrospectives at MoMA (New York), Center for Contemporary Art (Warsaw, Poland), REDAT (Los Angeles), Stuttgart Animation Festival (Stuttgart, Germany) and the American Cinematheque (Los Angeles) and her films have been shown on PBS and BBC2. She has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Creative Capital, American Film Institute, MacDowell Colony, Fundación Valparaíso and the Millay Colony. Priestley received a Bachelor of Arts Degree with Honors from the University of California at Berkeley and an MFA Degree and the Louis B. Mayer Award from California Institute of the Arts. Priestley presents programs and juries film festivals worldwide, was founding president of ASIFA Northwest and is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Her films are on her website: www.primopix.com.
Long Biography
Joanna Priestley has made 27 award winning films about subjects dear to her heart: abstraction, botany, landscape, aging and human rights. Her work has won awards in film festivals all over the world, including the National Educational Film Festival (First Prize), National Independent Film and Video Festival (Grand Prix), Big Muddy Film Festival (Best of Festival), Canadian International Animation Festival (Special Merit Award), Athens Film and Video Festival (First Prize) and the Seoul International Cartoon and Animation Festival (First Prize).
Retrospectives of Priestley's films have been shown on PBS (USA) and the BBC (UK) and at the Museum of Modern Art (New York), REDAT (Los Angeles), American Cinematheque (Los Angeles, CA), Center for Contemporary Art (Warsaw, Poland), Stuttgart International Animation Festival (Germany), Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, MN) and High Museum of Art (Atlanta, GA). She has received fellowships from Creative Capital, National Endowment for the Arts, MacDowell Colony (Elodie Osborn Fellow), American Film Institute, Djerassi Foundation (Rothenberg Award) and the Fundación Valparaíso in Spain and was recently awarded the Media Arts Fellowship from the Regional Arts and Culture Council. Her films are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Priestley studied painting and printmaking at Rhode Island School of Design and at UC Berkeley, where she received a Bachelor of Arts Degree with Honors. She also attended California Institute of the Arts where she received an MFA Degree and the Louis B. Mayer Award. Her background includes Coordinator of the Northwest Film and Video Festival, Director of Strictly Cinema, Editor of "The Animator", Regional Coordinator of the Northwest Film Center, Co-Director and Co-Founder of FILMA: Women's Film Forum and founding President of ASIFA Northwest.
Priestley teaches animation workshops worldwide and she has run an apprenticeship program at ther studio in Portland Oregon. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and she serves on numerous juries and selection committees, including Stuttgart International Animation Festival, Nichold Screenplay Fellowship, Canadian International Animation Festival, Texas Filmmakers Production Fund, Big Muddy Film Festival and the Annie Awards. Priestley also loves medicinal herbalism, gardening and Burning Man. Her films can be seen on her website: www.primopix.com.