Nancy Kates is an independent filmmaker based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She directed Regarding Susan Sontag, a feature documentary about the late essayist, novelist, director and activist.Michael Fox, "Kates is in a Sontag state of mind" SF360 (accessed May 16, 2011) Through archival footage, interviews, still photographs and images from popular culture, the film reflects the boldness of Sontag's work and the cultural importance of her thought,Nancy Kates, "Regarding Susan Sontag: A Documentary Film Project"(accessed May 16, 2011) and received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities,"NEH announces $16 million in awards and offers for 286 humanities projects" National Endowment for the Humanities (accessed May 17, 2011) the National Endowment for the Arts,"FY 2010 Grant Awards: Arts on Radio and Television" National Endowment for the Arts (accessed May 17, 2011) the Foundation for Jewish Culture"Films on Susan Sontag, Joann Sfar Receive Hefty Grant" The Arty Semite (accessed May 17, 2011) and "Lynn and Jules Kroll Fund for Jewish Documentary Film" The Foundation for Jewish Culture (accessed May 17, 2011) and the Sundance Documentary Film Program."Regarding Susan Sontag" Sundance Institute Documentary (accessed May 17, 2011)
Kates is best known for her film Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin, a full-length documentary she made with co-producer Bennett Singer about Bayard Rustin, the gay civil rights leader.Rona Marech, , San Francisco Chronicle, January 16, 2003 (accessed May 16, 2011), and Michael Fox, "Berkeley filmmaker pays homage to overlooked civil rights activist," S.F. Jewish Bulletin (accessed March 30, 2007) The film premiered on the PBS series POV"POV: Brother Outsider" PBS (accessed May 16, 2011) and at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival,Shannon Kelley, "Brother Outsider Institute History, Sundance Institute (accessed May 23, 2011) and received numerous awards, including the 2004 GLAAD Media Award and audience awards at the major American gay and lesbian film festivals. It also received the award for best feature film at New York's New Festival and a number of jury prizes."Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin" (accessed May 23, 2011) "In the struggle for African-American dignity, Rustin was perhaps the most critical figure that many people have never heard of," says a review in TIME Magazine, "but neither mainstream society nor even the civil rights leadership could cope with his honesty."Andrew Sullivan "The Invisible Man" TIME Magazine, January 20, 2003 (accessed May 23, 2011) Hailed as "marvelous" by The Wall Street Journal,Joshua Muravchik, "Marquee at Last" The Wall Street Journal, January 20, 2003 (accessed May 23, 2011) "packed with information" by The New York Times,Elvis Mitchell, "Critic's Notebook; A Comeback for Sundance, Documentaries Leading the Way The New York Times, January 20, 2003 (accessed May 23, 2011) and "beautifully crafted" by The Boston Globe,Matthew Gilbert, "PBS Offers Inside Look at Civil-Rights Outsider: A Fascinating Look at Life of a Gay, Black Pacifist" Boston Globe, January 20, 2003 (accessed May 23, 2011) the Village Voice commends the film for "vividly bring[ing] back to life a man who deeply and brilliantly influenced the course of the civil rights and peace movements."Nat Hentoff, "An Indispensable Gay Man: His 1963 March on Washington 'Woke Up America' Village Voice, January 14, 2003 (accessed May 23, 2011)
In 1995, Kates' master's thesis for Stanford University's film program, Their Own Vietnam, won a Student Academy Award in documentary."Student Academy Award Winners" The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The film tells the stories of five American women who served in the Vietnam War, including a couple who met while serving. It presents a complex picture of their identities as women, using archival footage, home movies and snapshots.Thinh Nguyen. "Vietnam through Women's Eyes," Harvard Magazine. September–October 1996 (accessed March 30, 2007) The film screened at the Sundance Film Festival,"Their Own Vietnam" Institute History, Sundance Institute (accessed May 23, 2011) South by Southwest Film Festival, the Boston International Festival of Women's Cinema, and the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival among others, aired on public television, and received an award of merit from the International Documentary Association / David Wolper Awards.Susan Fisher, "Telling their own story," Minuteman, Lexington MA, 1996 The Journal of American History praised the film, saying that the "complex melding of images from the Vietnam conflict culled from newsreel footage, snapshots, and military recruiting films with the jarringly honest recollections of five female veterans makes this an extremely compelling film,"Leisa D. Meye, "Their Own Vietnam," The Journal of American History Vol. 85, No. 3, December 1998 and LA Weekly praised it for its "transformations fraught with anger, pain, unimaginable guilt and sometimes joy - and the honesty with which they're brought to light.""Their Own Vietnam," LA Weekly, November 22–28, 1996
Her previous films include Castro Cowboy, a short film about the late Marlboro model Christen Haren who died of AIDS in 1996, Joining the Tribe, Married People, and Going to Extremes.Dennis Conkin, "Local PBS to show documentary on lesbians in Vietnam," Bay Area Reporter, May 22, 1997, p. 21 A 1984 honors graduate of Harvard University, Kates worked for several years at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government writing public policy case-studies."The Case Program: Nancy Kates" Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government and Christopher Amar, "Nancy Kates wins medal in student film competition," Concord Journal, July 20, 1995 She is a former producer of the PBS series Computer Chronicles, and has worked as a producer, writer, and story consultant on various documentary projects. She also speaks frequently at schools, colleges and universities."Project Team: Nancy D. Kates" Regarding Susan Sontag
Awards
Brother Outsider
Outstanding Documentary. GLAAD Media Awards, 2004 Silver Hugo Award. Chicago International Television Competition, 2004 American Library Association Notable Videos for Adults, 2004 Jury Award for Best Documentary. Icelandic Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, 2004 CINE Golden Eagle, 2003 Audience Award for Best Documentary. 27th San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, 2003 Best Documentary. Cinequest San Jose Film Festival, 2003 Outstanding Documentary Feature (tie). Outfest: Los Angeles Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, 2003 Audience Award for Best Feature. New York Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, 2003 Best Documentary Award. Turin International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, 2003 Jury Award for Best Documentary. Chicago Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, 2003 Audience Award for Best Documentary. Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, 2003 First Prize in Documentary. Rhode Island Film Festival, 2003 Jury Award for Best Documentary. Athens International Film Festival, 2003 Audience Award for Best Documentary. Pittsburgh Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, 2003 Audience Award for Best Documentary. Indianapolis Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, 2003
Their Own Vietnam Student Academy Award, Documentary. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 1995 Certificate of Merit. David Wolper/International Documentary Association, 1995 Merit Award. South by Southwest Film Festival, 1996 Emerging Artists Award. , 1996 Second Prize, Documentary. UFVA Film and Video Festival, 1996 Athena Award (for achievement in Lesbian Film), Documentary, 1996 Women's Programming Award. Humboldt International Film Festival, 1996 Award of Merit. Sinking Creek Film Festival, Nashville, 1996
Castro Cowboy
Director's Choice Award. Black Maria Film Festival, 1993 Judge's Special Merit Award. New England Film and Video Festival, 1993 Bronze Apple Award. National Educational Film and Video Festival, 1993
Works Joining the Tribe Married People Going to Extremes Castro Cowboy (1992). 7 minutes Their Own Vietnam (1995). 23 minutes Vale of Tears (2002). 4 minutes Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin (2003) 84 minutes
External links Regarding Susan Sontag Brother Outsider Nancy Kates Wordpress Blog Nancy Kates IMDB
References
Pittsburgh International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival Records (Pittsburgh International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival Records, 1983–1994, CTC.1994.02, Curtis Theatre Collection, Special Collections Department, University of Pittsburgh)