Miranda July's Headshot

Miranda July

Filmmaker, Artist, Writer...A Versatile Creative Force - Panelist Blurb

Miranda July is a filmmaker, performing artist and writer best known for her originality, wit, and particular brand of whimsy.  She has written, directed and starred in two feature films, including the award-winning Me and You and Everyone We Know and, most recently, The Future. Her videos, performances and web-based projects have been presented at sites such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum and in two Whitney Biennials, and her fiction has appeared in numerous publications, including Harper’s and The New Yorker. July was the featured cover story of the The New York Times magazine on July 21, 2011 in an article entitled, “Miranda July is Totally Not Kidding.”

Named by Roger Ebert as “extraordinary” and one of the best films of the past decade, July’s first feature-length film, Me and You and Everyone We Know received a special jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival and four prizes at the Cannes Film Festival, including the Camera d’Or.  Ebert stated that, "July’s film fits no genre, fulfills no expectations, creates its own rules, and seeks only to share a strange, lovable mind with us."  July’s most recent film, The Future, has been described as a tactful satire, again demonstrating July’s ability to blend playfulness with difficult and serious emotions.

July created a participatory website and companion book with artist Harrell Fletcher called Learning to Love You More, which is now in collection of The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The site provides assignments for amateur artists to complete and submit to take part in the communal art project.

Her fiction has appeared in The Paris Review, Harper’s, and The New Yorker. Her collection of stories, No One Belongs Here More Than You won the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award and has been published in twenty countries. Her latest book is It Chooses You.

Raised in Berkeley, California, July currently lives in Los Angeles.