Annmarie Morais

Annmarie Morais (born 1973 in Jamaica) is a Jamaican-Canadian screenwriter best known for writing the film "How She Move". She earned a BFA from York University in Film and Video in 1995.

Morais won funding for two Vision TV Cultural Diversity Drama Competition movies: "Hotel Babylon" and "Da Kink in My Hair", which aired on Vision in 2004 and 2005. [ [http://www.visiontv.ca/Media/Releases/hotelbabylon.html Hotel Babylon ] ] "Hotel Babylon" is the story of immigrants working in a hotel in Winnipeg, Canada. "Kink" was adapted from the Trey Anthony play about a beauty parlour in a Jamaican-Canadian neighbourhood. Morais was also a writer and story editor on the television series adapted from the play, which aired on Global Television in 2007.

Nicholl Prize

Morais was the first Canadian to win the prestigious Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting. She was also the first person to win the Nicholl with a resubmitted script. "Bleeding" was a finalist in 1998, and she resubmitted it without changes in 1999. [ [http://www.yorku.ca/yfile/archive/index.asp?Article=3931 Y-File ] ] The prize, administered by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, garnered Morais $25,000.

How She Move

While at York, Morais had produced a short documentary "Steppin" on step-dancing in Toronto's Jane-Finch neighborhood. In 2004, she received Telefilm financing to produce a feature film based on the same concept. Originally titled Step, the film How She Move was accepted into the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. At Sundance, a bidding war resulted in a $3.4 million offer from Paramount and MTV Films. [ [http://www.macleans.ca/culture/entertainment/article.jsp?content=20080117_76374_76374&page=1 How she move that 49th parallel] MacLean's January 17 2008] The film received wide release in the United States and Canada in January 2007.

Current Projects

Splitting her time between Los Angeles and Toronto, Morais has created a television show for ABC Family about high-school cheerleaders, called "The Flip Side." She is also writing a thriller set in London, "The Collectors" to be directed by fellow Jamaican-Canadian Clement Virgo and adapting Jane Finlay-Young’s novel "From Bruised Fell". [ [http://www.yorku.ca/web/about_yorku/yorku_magazine/YorkU_Feb08_FINAL.pdf YorkU_feb08_>>PDF ] ] [ [http://www.telefilm.gc.ca/data/FlashInfo/FlashInfo_843.asp Téléfilm Canada - Flash info ] ]

References

* [http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=881751&auth=Elizabeth+Yates Brantford screenwriter hits it big] Brantford Expositor February 1 2008
* [http://festival.sundance.org/2007/insider/backstory1.html Sundance interview]

External links

*imdb name|1907245
* [http://www.oscars.org/nicholl/index.html Nicholl Fellowships]