Female Filmmaker Friday: Nia DaCosta, Winner of Tribeca's Nora Ephron Award

Nia DaCosta is an American director and writer. Growing up in New York City, DaCosta knew she wanted to be director by the age of sixteen. Still new to the film scene, DaCosta’s big break came when she was accepted into Sundance Screenwriter’s Lab in 2015. It was there that she was able to workshop what would become her feature debut.

Forming relationships with the actors and producers working her script, DaCosta was able to fund and make her feature film Little Woods, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival this year and won the Nora Ephron Award. The film stars Tessa Thompson and Lily James as two sisters in a North Dakota oil town who must learn to survive through unlawful means. “It came from me wanting to tell a story about two women in a rural part of America,” DaCosta said in a recent interview.

In June of 2018, film distributor Neon acquired the North American rights.

To hear more about this female-driven film, watch this interview with Nia DaCosta: