DIRECTOR:

Amanda Renee Knox

SYNOPSIS

When a young girl hitchhiking is picked up by a stranger, who ends up taking whom for a ride?

DIRECTOR BIOGRAPHY

Amanda is excited to get back to work post pandemic! She is an award winning director, whose work has received international recognition. Amanda participated in Panavision’s New Filmmaker Program with her recent film The Errand and was named a finalist in the prestigious Chimaera Project’s Support HER director mentorship program with Tosca Musk. She was in consideration for a 2019 Academy Award, was awarded a DGA Jury Award for her short film Night Call and had the invaluable support of Film Independent for The Errand. Born on an Air Force Base in Spain, Amanda was raised in Texas, lived in New York and currently resides in Los Angeles. She has directed Kathleen Chalfant (Madame Secretary), Delaney Williams (The Wire), Marlyne Barrett (Chicago Med), Rachael Holmes (Mad Dogs) and Zeke Bridges (Bloodline). Nate Kohn, film critic of Chicago Sun Times, Ebertfest Director and Peabody Award Associate Director, describes her work as “really well made, powerful work”. 

She was most recently selected for the highly competitive Ryan Murphy Half Initiative shadowing renowned director, Gwyneth Horder-Payton on 911-Lone Star. In 2020, for her Limited Series, Honora: The Jane Toppan Story, Amanda was awarded a Story Summit Founders Award to attend The Story Summit founded by former Paramount Pictures President, David Paul Kirkpatrick. She was also named a Quarter Finalist in the NBC Female Forward program. 

In addition to this, she has shadowed director, John Hyams on Chicago PD and was invited in her second year of graduate school by the producers of Dick Wolf’s Chicago Med to be a shadowing director for two episodes shadowing Donald Petrie and the show’s Co-Executive Producer, Michael Waxman. Knox participated in the competitive Filmmaker-In-Residence program with Rob Cohen (The Fast and the Furious) providing her with invaluable mentorship for her high impact thesis film, Night Call. Amanda received a generous joint grant from The Annenberg Foundation and Caucus Foundation for Writers, Directors and Producers to complete Night Call. 

Night Call won the top festival prize at Academy Qualifying Bermuda International Film Festival where acclaimed producer Christine Vachon was one of three jurors. This festival win qualified Night Call for a 2019 Live Action Short Academy Award. Night Call screened in over 85 festivals worldwide and won 42 top festival awards garnering Knox with numerous Best Director and Emerging Filmmaker Prizes. Other notable awards and prizes include Cannes, American Pavilion Emerging Filmmaker Showcase and Caucus Foundation Gold Circle Award. In addition to these awards Night Call has aired on PBS, locally and nationally and had a limited theatrical run curated by Washington Post Chief Film Critic, Ann Hornaday. 

Amanda has had the extreme pleasure of sitting on the Jury of Oscar Qualifying Bermuda Film Festival with Mike Newell (Harry Potter, Four Weddings and a Funeral) and Oscar Qualifying deadCenter Film Festival. She has sat on the selection committee for festivals such as Slamdance, Bermuda Film Festival, Portland Film Festival and Blackbird Film Festival. A lover of action/suspense, Amanda's desire is to continue to create immersive films that engage audiences both viscerally and intellectually. 

She is represented by Echo Lake Entertainment.

DIRECTOR STATEMENT

When Mira Olsson sent her script The Errand to me I immediately knew I wanted to tell this story. This is a simple story about a young girl who doesn't ask for permission to make a change, she takes a bold action and gets a bold result. We shot this project in one 10 hour day with one process trailer, multiple camera mounts, two cameras, four company moves and a child actress who had never acted in a film. We also did this in December just before the shortest day of the year! I am so proud of this film, of the team and what we were able to accomplish! I am really happy that we were also able to do this safely at the beginning of the Omicron surge, and am looking forward to getting back to work post Covid!