Deborah Kampmeier

Deborah Kampmeier is an American film and theater writer and director known for the films Hounddog and Virgin.[1] Deborah began her career in theater as an actress after training at the National Shakespeare Conservatory from 1983–85, and has taught acting in NYC for the past 20 years at such institutions as NYU, Stella Adler Studios, Michael Howard Studios,[2] Playwrights Horizons and The National Shakespeare Conservatory.

Films

Kampmeier made her first feature film Virgin starring Elisabeth Moss and Robin Wright Penn for $65,000 in 2003. The film picked up awards at the Hamptons Film Festival, Sedona Film Festival, Santa Fe Film Festival, Female Eye Film Festival in Toronto.[3] The film was nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards, the John Cassevetes Award and a best actress award for Moss.[4]

Kampmeier's film Hounddog debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2007[5] in the dramatic category, where it was met with a significant amount of controversy over its content.[6] The film features a 12-year-old girl named Lewellen played by Dakota Fanning, who lives with her "abusive father and alcoholic grandmother". The inclusion of a non-graphic rape scene caused Christian film critics and activists to negatively comment on the film, with it being called "child abuse" and Bill Donohue calling for a federal investigation against Kampmeier.[7] Donohue stated that the film was breaking anti-pornography laws and that Dakota Fanning was being exploited.[8]

The Sundance Film Festival organizer, Geoffrey Gilmore, praised Kampmeier for trying to cover "challenging material". Kampmeier responded to the criticism by explaining that Fanning and the two other child actors in the film, Cody Hanford and Isabelle Fuhrman, were only acting and decried the attacks against "my mother, my agent ... my teacher, who were all on the set that day" by critics.[8] Fanning also stated herself, "I'm not going through anything like that, it's just my character. It's just another scene and wasn't any different from anything else I've done" and said that the controversy was "blown out of proportion".[9]

References

  1. ↑ "Full Moon Films". Full Moon Films. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  2. ↑ "Our Teachers". Michael Howard Studios. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  3. ↑ "Deborah Kampmeier". Film Fatales NYC. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  4. ↑ http://doublewidemedia.com/category/directors/deborah-kampmeier
  5. ↑ "Hounddog". Sundance Institute. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  6. ↑ "Controversy swirls around ‘Hounddog’". Today. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  7. ↑ Hummel, Debbie. "Film's Child Rape Scene Causes Stir". Washington Post. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Staff writer (January 24, 2007). "Controversy swirls around ‘Hounddog’". MSNBC. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
  9. ↑ Staff writer (January 24, 2007). "Outcry over Fanning child rape scene". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved August 26, 2012.