Deborah Kampmeier

Deborah Kampmeier is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and acting teacher best known for her films "Split," (2016) Hounddog (2007) and Virgin. (2003).[1] Deborah began her career in theater as an actress after training at the National Shakespeare Conservatory from 1983–85, and has taught acting in NYC for the past 20 years at such institutions as NYU, Stella Adler Studios, Michael Howard Studios,[2] Playwrights Horizons and The National Shakespeare Conservatory. She currently teaches a Master Acting Class in New York City.[3]

Deborah Kampmeier
Born
Deborah Jane Kampmeier

(1964-11-21) November 21, 1964
Chattanooga, Tennessee. U.S.
OccupationDirector, producer, writer
Years active2003–present
Notable work
Hounddog, Virgin, Split

Films

Kampmeier made her first feature film Virgin starring Elisabeth Moss and Robin Wright Penn for $65,000 in 2003. The film picked up awards at the Hamptons Film Festival, Sedona Film Festival, Santa Fe Film Festival, Female Eye Film Festival in Toronto.[4] The film was nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards, the John Cassevetes Award and a best actress award for Moss.[5]

Kampmeier's film Hounddog debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2007[6] in the dramatic category, where it was nominated for the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize. It also met with a significant amount of controversy over its content.[7] The film features a 12-year-old girl named Lewellen played by Dakota Fanning, who lives with her "abusive father and alcoholic grandmother". The inclusion of a non-graphic rape scene caused Christian film critics and activists to negatively comment on the film, with it being called "child abuse" and Bill Donohue calling for a federal investigation against Kampmeier.[8] Donohue stated that the film was breaking anti-pornography laws and that Dakota Fanning was being exploited.[9]

The Sundance Film Festival organizer, Geoffrey Gilmore, praised Kampmeier for trying to cover "challenging material". Kampmeier responded to the criticism by explaining that Fanning and the two other child actors in the film, Cody Hanford and Isabelle Fuhrman, were only acting and decried the attacks against "my mother, my agent ... my teacher, who were all on the set that day" by critics.[9] Fanning also stated herself, "I'm not going through anything like that, it's just my character. It's just another scene and wasn't any different from anything else I've done" and said that the controversy was "blown out of proportion".[10]

In 2016, Kampmeier released her third feature-length film, "Split." It premiered in the Sarasota Film Festival on April 7, 2016.[11] The film centers on a young actress, named Inanna, who is split from her full self when she falls in love with a mask-maker and the relationship takes on dark subtleties. The film draws from the ancient myth of the same name and stars Amy Ferguson, Morgan Spector, and Raina Von Waldenburg. The director's daughter, Sophia Oppenheim, also appears in the film in her acting debut. Indie Outlook described the film as "an arrestingly raw howl of fury at the global stigmatization of female sexuality.[12]

Themes

Kampmeier is passionate about creating films that tell women's stories. She thinks that films showing women's stories are not better or worse than men's stories, but different. In an interview with Jan Lisa Huttner on March 11th, 2015, Kampmeier spoke about her film Virgin. The film is about a woman, Jessie, and her experience with date rape.[13] In the interview, Kampmeier said that "one of the criticisms [she] hear[s] a lot is that there are no sympathetic male characters in Virgin". She also mentioned she had difficulty distributing the movie because when she explained that her target audience was women, she was told that "women aren't a ‘demographic,' at least not a demographic you can market to. Boyfriends and husbands make the decisions". She concludes that all of the roadblocks she faced in finding a distributor for Virgin cemented her desire to put the experience of being a woman on screen.

Television

In 2019, Kampmeier was selected by director Ava DuVernay to direct an episode of the television series, Queen Sugar.[14] This marked Kampmeier's television directorial debut.[14]

Filmography

Director
  • Tape (2018)
  • Without Grace (Short) (2016)
  • Split (2016)
  • Peel (Short) (2016)
  • Hounddog (2007)
  • Virgin (2003)

Writer

Producer
  • Ramona (Short) (2016)
  • Split (2016)
  • Peel (Short) (2016)
  • Hounddog (2007)
  • Virgin (2003)
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References
  1. "Full Moon Films". Full Moon Films. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
  2. "Our Teachers". Michael Howard Studios. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
  3. "Full Moon Films - Master Acting Class". fullmoonfilmsny.com.
  4. "Deborah Kampmeier". Film Fatales NYC. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
  5. "Deborah Kampmeier - doublewide media". doublewidemedia.com.
  6. "Hounddog". Sundance Institute. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
  7. "Controversy swirls around 'Hounddog'". Today. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
  8. Hummel, Debbie (January 24, 2007). "Film's Child Rape Scene Causes Stir". Washington Post. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
  9. Staff writer (January 24, 2007). "Controversy swirls around 'Hounddog'". MSNBC. Archived from the original on November 6, 2012. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
  10. Staff writer (January 24, 2007). "Outcry over Fanning child rape scene". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
  11. "Sarasota Film Festival 2016 Film Guide". www.smsepub.com. Archived from the original on April 25, 2018. Retrieved November 9, 2018.
  12. "DEBORAH KAMPMEIER ON "SPLIT"". Indie Outlook. November 13, 2015.
  13. "Jan Chats with Deborah Kampmeier". www.ff2media.com. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
  14. "AVA DuVERNAY'S CRITICALLY-ACCLAIMED HIT DRAMA SERIES "QUEEN SUGAR" ANNOUNCES FIVE ADDITIONAL FEMALE DIRECTORS FOR SEASON FOUR INCLUDING LACEY DUKE, C. FITZ, PRATIBHA PARMAR, DEBORAH KAMPMEIER AND STACEY MUHAMMAD : Discovery Press Web". press.discovery.com. Retrieved July 13, 2019.
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