Kirsten D’Andrea Hollander is a full-time professor at the Maryland Institute College of Art, where she teaches in Foundation and Filmmaking with a focus on Community Engagement. Equipped with an undergraduate degree in Painting from MICA in 1988, she turned to documentary filmmaking after receiving an MFA in Imaging and Digital Arts from UMBC in 1997. Her two-fold passion is bringing communities together and telling authentic stories that celebrate humanity. In 2011 Hollander was selected for an Independent Filmmaker Project Fellowship to launch her first feature length documentary Us, Naked: Trixie & Monkey, which premiered at New York’s IFC Center with the DOC NYC film festival in 2014. In 2015, Us, Naked was awarded Best International Feature Length Documentary at the Netherland’s DOCfeed Film Festival and Best Feature Length Documentary at New York’s Coney Island Film Festival. An unpredictable documentary, Us, Naked is about a pair of acrobatic burlesque performers juggling art, love and financial stability while hungering for success on their own terms. The film delivers a provocative look at the sacrifices made for one’s passion, the meaning of success, and the strength that comes from partnership. The film will be going into distribution February 2017. Hollander’s current documentary in post-production, Anatomy of Wings is about an unusual group of women and girls reflecting on their ten-year journey of practicing non-judgement across their city’s fractures.
