Amira Rose Stone
Amira grew up in a suburb of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Since graduating from NYU Tisch with a BFA in Film&TV, she has worked primarily in documentary directing, editing, production sound recording, and narrative production design. Amira’s films focus on dynamic characters and their intimate worlds. She asks: how can filmmaking bring us closer to roots –– sensorially and methodically? Amira is devoted to exploring forms of filmmaking that prioritize community, relationship-building and mental health through every stage of the process.
filmmaker’s statement
My identity and style as a filmmaker is evolving over time and experience. As a Jewish, queer, and Mexican midwesterner, I’ve always gravitated towards culturally, spiritually, and historically nuanced storytelling. Right now, my work centers American narratives and landscapes, be they of Turtle Island or greater Latin America. I’m drawn to people and places, with attention to history and change. Filmmaking to me is an immersive experience that helps to locate stories and memory inherent to faces, gestures, breath, speech, movement, energy, absence, presence, and so on. My job is merely to navigate when to show up, what to frame, how to relate, listen and ask, sequence and build.
Above all, it is collaboration and storytelling that initially pulled me to film. They provide a vital source of strength and connection between myself and all other participants, whether in front of or behind the camera. I place tremendous value on my relationships with collaborators — communication, trust, and laughter (the ability to “kick it”) are very important to me and to the success of my work.
I’m aware that while film has the potential to heal, it too has the power to harm. I am committed to a lifelong journey of minimizing the extractive and intrusive tendencies of filmmaking — through integration, care, right relationship, and, when appropriate, cultural advising. In this evolving practice, I study those seasoned in healing-centric and cross-cultural ethnographic filmmaking. I find teachers in directors such as Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and Verena Paravel. I began my own process of healing-centered filmmaking through my short film “Lava” when I collaborated with Wellness Consultant Eniola Kolawole. You can read more about the process of making “Lava” here.