Directing Bio

Cimi Grace is an American Writer/ Director. She spent time at the Brooks Institute Film program before graduating Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelors of Fine Art in Cinema Directing from Columbia College Hollywood in 2019. Her first major short film “Never Have i Ever” Was premiered at Orlando Film Festival and featured at several other festivals, including the Beverly Hills Film Festival.

She is highly inspired to make films that feature strong female characters and is a member of Cinefemme. She has a strong sense of visual design, having spent time as a Production Designer and believes in the absolute perfection and articulation of every frame. She believes in highly specific and limited color pallets and striking visuals. Character is at the heart of and drives every story she creates. Her goal is to create a unique tone in every film that is personal to each narrative. She strives to make films that bring awareness and normalcy to the issues of mental health, addiction, abuse, the female experience, and bring to light those without a voice.

Themes and narratives she is driven to explore are; duality, the balance between beauty and chaos, mental illness, the teenage experience, the specific moments in life that define individual humanity, the appeal of destruction, beauty, love, addiction, the relationship between man and God, and truth in cinema.

She is currently developing a feature film titled “Everything’s okay” based off of her early teenage years and close exposure to addiction, mental illness, and abuse, in which she hopes to explore the chaotic and formative nature of the teenage years and the unique family bond between sisters.

Some of her influences include; Jackson Pollock, Joe Wright, Baz Lurhman, Gretta Gerwig, Alma Har’el, Guillermo Del Torro, Damien Chazelle, Simone De Bevoir, Leo Tolstoy, Ray Bradbury, Jane Austen, Judy Pfaff, and David Foster Wallace. A few of the films that influence her work are American Beauty, Anna Karenina, Atonement, Moonrise Kingdom, Donnie Darko, Stoker, V for Vendetta, Honey Boy, Perks of Being a Wallflower, Moulin Rouge!, Comet, Joker, Little Women, Emma, and The Graduate.