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Valerie Weiss | |
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Alma mater | Princeton University Harvard Medical School |
Occupation | Filmmaker Producer |
Spouse | Robert Johnson |
Website |
www |
Valerie Heather Weiss is an American filmmaker and producer.
Valerie Weiss is a filmmaker and scientist. She grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She attended Princeton University, where she majored in molecular biology. She got a Ph.D. in biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology and a master's degree in medical sciences from Harvard Medical School. While at Harvard, she founded and was the filmmaker-in-residence and festival director of the Dudley House Film Program, the organization's film program for graduate students from 1999 to 2003. [1] Later she was accepted to the American Film Institute's Directing Workshop for Women, where she made a sci-fi social satire film called Transgressions. [1]
In 2004 Weiss founded PhD Productions, a film company, with her husband Robert Johnson. [2]
Valerie met her future husband Robert Johnson at Princeton as cast members in the production of Cyrano de Bergerac. [3]
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Weiss directed the "Ad Astra Per Aspera" episode in Season 2 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. [4]
Before directing Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Weiss directed episodes of the first three seasons of Outer Banks (TV series) and her fourth feature film, Mixtape, for Netflix. [5] Mixtape, starring Julie Bowen, Gemma Allen, and Nick Thune received a 100% Fresh score from Rotten Tomatoes as well as being listed as one of the top family films of 2021 by the Washington Post and Common Sense Media. [6]
Weiss has directed Mixtape, a family dramedy about grief, and her third feature, The Archer, a feminist action film about the Kids for Cash scandal in the private prison system. The Archer premiered at the 2017 SXSW Film Festival. [7]
Of Weiss's second feature, A Light Beneath Their Feet, critic John Anderson says in his Thompson on Hollywood Indiewire review, "Not only does director Valerie Weiss's latest effort straddle several genres simultaneously—among them, the coming-of-age drama and the social critique—it also features a pair of break-out performances: Madison Davenport, who plays high-schooler Beth Gerringson; and Taryn Manning ("Orange Is the New Black"), who plays Beth's mother, Gloria ... Manning, under Weiss's direction, puts a spin on Gloria that distinguishes her from similarly unstable characters." [8]
A Light Beneath Their Feet also received a review from The Hollywood Reporter, calling it, "A sensitive and moving depiction of a family dealing with mental illness." "Featuring standout performances by Taryn Manning as a woman with bipolar disorder and Madison Davenport as her teenage daughter grappling with whether to take flight, A Light Beneath Their Feet will strike particular chords among the many who have had similar personal experiences." [9]
Matt Fagerholm of RogerEbert.com called A Light Beneath Their Feet a "triumph of empathetic filmmaking" and said, "Regardless of the genre she happens to be tackling, Valerie Weiss is remarkably gifted at portraying the complexity of human relationships." [10]
Director
Year | Title |
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2023 | Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - episode #12: "Ad Astra per Aspera" |
2023 |
Outer Banks - episode #6: "The Dark Forest" episode #8: "Tapping the Rudder" |
2022 | Echoes - episode #7: "Falls" |
2022 |
Monarch - episode #2: "There Can Only Be One Queen" episode #5: "Death and Christmas" |
2021 | Mixtape |
2021 | Outer Banks - episode #5: "The Darkest Hour" |
2020 |
Outer Banks - episode #7: "Dead Calm" episode #8: "The Runway" |
2019 | Prodigal Son - episode #10: " Silent Night" |
Why Women Kill - episode #4: " You Had Me at Homicide" | |
For the People - episode #18: " Moral Suasion" | |
The Resident - episode #27: " Virtually Impossible" | |
The Rookie - episode #16: " Greenlight" | |
2018 | How to Get Away with Murder - episode #63: " The Baby Was Never Dead" |
Impulse - episode #6: " In Memoriam" | |
Scandal - episode #119: " Air Force Two" | |
The Librarians - episode #39: " And a Town Called Feud" | |
2017-19 |
Suits episode #98: " Home to Roost" episode #113: " Good Mudding" episode #120: " Whale Hunt" |
2017-18 |
Chicago Med episode #37: " Ctrl Alt" episode #47: " Ties That Bind" episode #69: " Play By My Rules" |
2017 | Chicago P.D. - episode #93: " Monster" |
The Archer | |
2016 | An American Girl Story: Maryellen 1955 Extraordinary Christmas |
2015 | A Light Beneath Their Feet |
2011 | Losing Control |
2009 | In the Mix |
2006 | Transgressions |
2004 | I Love You |
2003 | Dance By Design |
Producer
Year | Title |
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2015 | A Light Beneath Their Feet |
2014 | Bread and Butter |
2011 | Losing Control |
2004 | I Love You |
Writer
Year | Title |
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2011 | Losing Control |
2004 | I Love You |
2003 | Dance By Design |
Actress
Year | Title |
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2003 | Dance By Design |