Dionne Edwards

Dionne Edwards is a British filmmaker and screenwriter, of mixed Jamaican and Nigerian heritage, best known for her short film We Love Moses.^[1]

Early life

Whilst growing up Edwards spent time in the foster care system.^[2] Edwards studied film and TV production at the University of Westminster,^[3] following which she spent a year working at Working Title Films as a Working Title Action! Intern. Missing out on a place at the National Film and Television School she went on to work for the Rio Cinema in Dalston, East London, whilst continuing to work on her own films.

Career

In 2011 Edwards co-founded production company Teng Teng Films alongside producer Georgia Goggin. It has produced four of her short films, including her breakthrough short film We Love Moses.^[4] Hi, Miss! (2014) is a short film written and directed by Edwards, which explores the relationship between two quarrelling teenage photography students. It won the Audience Award at the East End Film Festival in 2015. We Love Moses (2016) is a short film written and directed by Edwards, which explores a 12-year-old's secret crush on her brother's best friend, both of whose lives are dramatically changed in a single moment in a shocking plot twist. The film explores girlhood, relationships and sexuality. Edwards was mentored on the project by Desiree Akhavan as part of the BFI Flare LGBT Filmmakers’ Mentorship scheme ^[4] and was pre-funded by Film London, as part of London Calling Plus.^[5] Screened at more than 50 festivals, it picked up nine awards including Best British Short Winner at the 2017 Iris Prize and Short Film of the Year at the Critics’ Circle Film Awards.^[6] It was licensed for broadcast by Cine+, Canal+ and HBO.

In 2018 she directed That Girl, part of drama anthology On the Edge, a Channel 4 mini-series that explored the criminal justice system from the perspective of a criminal, a witness and the victim.^[7]^[8] In 2019 she was an assistant director to Reinaldo Marcus Green on the Drake revival of the Channel 4 series Top Boy,^[9] she went on to direct two episodes of the BBC's Soon Gone: A Windrush Chronicle, which explored the experience of a family of Caribbean origin over four generations. In 2019 she was named a Screen International Star of Tomorrow.^[6] In 2020 she was an Sundance Adobe Fellow.^[2] She co-wrote an episode of Netflix's The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself with creator Joe Barton.^[10]

Filmography

Films

Pretty Red Dress (2023)

Short films

We Love Moses (2016)^[11]
Hi, Miss! (2014)^[12]
Got Got (2013)^[13]

TV

That Girl (2018)^[14]
Soon Gone: A Windrush Chronicle (2019)^[15]
The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself (2022)

References

^ "Through The Rusting Gates And Beyond". archive.ica.art. Retrieved 2021-03-13.
^ ^a ^b "Discover | Adobe Creative Cloud". creativecloud.adobe.com. Retrieved 2021-03-13.
^ "Film BA Honours - Courses | University of Westminster, London". www.westminster.ac.uk. Retrieved 2021-03-13.
^ ^a ^b "BFI Flare LGBT Filmmakers' Mentorship: meet the filmmakers". British Film Institute. Retrieved 2021-03-12.
^ Hills, Megan C. (2019-03-29). "Rising stars of cinema honoured at Film London's Lodestars celebration". www.standard.co.uk. Retrieved 2021-03-17.
^ ^a ^b Orlando Parfitt2019-07-08T08:34:00+01:00. "Stars of Tomorrow 2019: Dionne Edwards (writer/director)". Screen. Retrieved 2021-03-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^ On the Edge (TV Mini-Series 2018–2020) - IMDb, 14 August 2018, retrieved 2021-03-13
^ Corrodus, Corrine (2018-08-15). "On the Edge: That Girl, review: a sensitive and terrifying depiction of living with sexual assault". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2021-03-17.
^ Wilson2019-09-10T11:44:00+01:00, Benji. "Top Boy, Netflix". Broadcast. Retrieved 2021-03-17.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^ "Devilish drama".
^ Edwards, Dionne (2017-11-14), We Love Moses (Short, Drama), Jerome Holder, Raphel Famotibe, Danaë Jean Marie, Paige Cowan-Hall, retrieved 2021-03-12
^ Edwards, Dionne, Hi, Miss! (Short, Comedy, Drama), Reggie Bango, Isaura Barbé-Brown, Kelly Carvalho, Kadine Fontaine, retrieved 2021-03-12
^ Edwards, Dionne, Got Got (Short, Action, Fantasy, Horror), Cornelia Baumann, Lealle Brady, Bobby Bulloch, Gareth Kearns, retrieved 2021-03-12
^ Edwards, Dionne (2018-08-15), That Girl (Drama), Sam Behan, Chanel Cresswell, Alan Emrys, Daniel Francis-Swaby, retrieved 2021-03-13
^ Soon Gone: A Windrush Chronicle (Drama), Anzor Alem, Elliot Barnes-Worrell, Olivia-Mai Barrett, Gamba Cole, Douglas Road Productions, The Young Vic, 2019-02-17, retrieved 2021-03-13{{citation}}: CS1 maint: others (link)