Annette Apitz is an award-winning writer, director, and producer of fiction and documentary films. She began her career in Berlin, Germany, where she worked at Coproduction Office and zero film. She then got her M.F.A. from Columbia University in New York, where she received the New Line Cinema Award for her thesis film. Her films have won awards and screened at festivals including The Tribeca Film Festival, Hamptons, Austin, Nashville, Florida, and Palm Springs, as well as on HBO Latin America, WB, Amazon, Hulu and at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC and MoMA in New York.
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Annette wrote and directed the feature film FIGHTING FISH, starring Val Emmich and Halley Feiffer. The film, a Slew Pictures production, premiered at the 2010 Nashville Film Festival, won Best Feature at the LA Femme Film Festival and won Best Actress at NY Visionfest. The script was in the top 25 for the Sundance Feature Film Lab, placed in the top 50 at Chesterfield Paramount, and after streaming on Hulu and Amazon can be seen on Apple+, Tubi, and more.
Annette was selected to participate in the 2024 Cine Qua Non Script Revision Lab for her script "Iris and Emily". Her screenplay adaptation of the novel "The Homemaker," written for Emmy-Award winning producer Jennifer Latham, was a Vermonter Fellowship finalist at the 2018 Stowe Story Lab.
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Annette has written for documentary series, feature films, and documentary features and works as a producer for short documentaries and promo films. She has been a panelist and moderator for New York Women in Film and Television and The Brooklyn Arts Council, and is a member of Film Fatales. She is a co-founder of Transatlantik Film, based in Berlin.
In addition to her Masters from Columbia, Annette has a B.A. from McGill University. She teaches screenwriting and directing and loves helping her students tell their stories.
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FILMS
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• KIT KEITH: THE COMFORT OF MEMORY (2014) short documentary, DV, writer/director/editor
2014 St. Louis International Film Festival
William Shearburn Gallery, St. Louis
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• FIGHTING FISH (2010) feature film, HD, writer/director/producer
Starring Val Emmich and Halley Feiffer; produced by Slew Pictures
2011 LA Femme Film Festival: Best Feature
2011 Visionfest, Opening Night Selection and Best Actress
2010 Nashville Film Festival, New Director's Competition
2010 Talking Pictures Film Festival
2010 Rhode Island International Film Festival
Amazon, Hulu, AppleTV
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• RE-SPITE (2007) short film, Super-8, writer/director/editor
2008 Hamptons International Film Festival
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• A WARM, COMFORTING HOME (2006) short doc film, Super-8, writer/director/editor
2007 Tribeca International Film Festival: Best Documentary Short Finalist
2006 Hamptons International Film Festival
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• A RIVER IN INDIA (1999) short film, 16mm, writer/director
Starring Ali Morrison, Isabelle Townsend
2000 Crested Butte Reel Fest: Best Student Short
2000 Film Fest New Haven: Audience Award Best Dramatic Short
1999 Austin Film Festival: Audience Award Best Student Short
1999 Columbia University Faculty Selection: Most Original Film
2001 East Lansing Film Festival
2000 Alcala Short Film Festival
2000 BBC British Short Film Festival
2000 Brooklyn Film Festival
2000 Palm Springs International Short Film Festival
2000 Florida Film Festival
2000 Women in the Director’s Chair Intl. Film and Video Festival
2000 Palm Beach International Film Festival
1999 Brooklyn Arts Council International Film and Video Festival
1999 N.Y.U. International Student Film Festival
HBO Latin America; WB television
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• ALASKA (1997) short film, 16mm, writer/director
Starring Merritt Wever, Brenda Currin
1997 Rosebud Film Festival: Rosebud Award;
1997 Filmfest D.C.
Baltimore Museum of Art; PBS
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• THE VISIT (1996) short film, 16mm, writer/director/editor
1997 Back Maria Film Festival: Director's Citation Award
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SCRIPTS
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• THE FORGER, feature screenplay, 2024 Cine Qua Non Script Revision Lab
• THE HOMEMAKER, feature screenplay adaptation, 2018 Stowe Story lab
• PHOENIX, feature script, Finalist Sundance Writer's Lab
• FIGHTING FISH, feature script, Finalist Sundance Writer's Lab, Chesterfield Top 50
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WORK HIGHLIGHTS
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• Video Producer for Moto Films, Odyssey Networks, Daily Beast, EMP Studios, UWF
• Script re-writes for feature films MAD and CAN HITLER HAPPEN HERE?
• Additl. Writer (uncredited), Showtime's YEARS OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY
• Additional Writer, STUCK, feature documentary
• Writer, THE HOMEMAKER, feature film adaptation
• Writer, Director, Producer, FIGHTING FISH, produced by Slew Pictures
• Production and Art Dept. Coordinator for MJM Productions, Winton DuPont, Nickelodeon, Sussan Group
• Assistant to the Producer at Coproduction Office and zero film; Berlin, Germany​
• Adjunct Film Professor at NYC College of Technology and BMCC​
• Digital Content Producer at MTV.com, UNICEF USA
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LINKS
FilmThreat: "Annette Apitz has made a strong film with some tough subject matter.. it’s a character study of flawed individuals that is memorable in its execution."
Women and Hollywood VOD Picks of the Week (Fighting Fish)
Women and Hollywood Guest Post: "Fighting Fish - The Story of Making an Ultra-Low-Budget Indie"
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EDUCATION
• Columbia University Film Division, New York, M.F.A.: Film - Directing
• McGill University, Montreal, B.A.: English - Film and Communications
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LANGUAGES
• German, English, French
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