LAYNE MARIE WILLIAMS
Director/Filmmaker

I am interested in new worlds and the
weird and wonderful characters that reside there. 
I am hungry for collaborations that broaden my perspective and nourish both the makers and the watchers. I am interested in grand gestures, poetry, expressionism, fantasy, grit, and hard truths. I am an activist, a feminist, a Southern woman, a former Barbie, an eager student, a doodler and a dreamer. I am interested in social justice and learning from those whose histories and inspirations are different from my own.

​''Stories are lies in search of the truth.''
​                                          -Guillermo del Toro

Layne Marie Williams is an award-winning director and filmmaker currently based in Chicago, IL. She is the Founder/Executive Director of the womanist film collective, Women of The Now, and Co-Founder of the five year standing The Women's Film Festival in Philadelphia, PA. Layne Marie has written and directed numerous movies throughout her career and recently won Best Director for the paranormal short “Golden Voices” as part of the Indiana Film Race as well as taking home the gold for Best Actor, Best Cinematographer, and Best Picture.

Williams has had her work screened at Black Harvest Film Festival, the Chicago film mecca The Gene Siskel Center, The Adirondack Film Festival, as well as Collected Voices Film Festival where her film that she CoDirected “An Atramentous Mind” took home the award, Best of Fest.
Williams worked as the lead Producer and first Assistant Director of the feature film “Rendezvous in Chicago” under her company Women of The Now. Rendezvous recently took second place as the Audience Choice Award at the Adirondack Film Festival and was just nominated as Best Comedy Feature at The Strasburg Film Festival.

Williams worked with the group of musical composers, Mind Exchange Music who riffed on her early works “The Adventures of Miss Glitch” and “Bild Lilli Splash” as a live orchestra performed to the visuals of her films. A webisode of this collaboration is set to release before 2019.
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An Alabama native, Williams earned her undergraduate degree in Acting at The University of The Arts in Philadelphia, PA where she worked professionally as an actress upon graduation. Williams went on to fall deeply in love with working behind the camera once she picked up a camera again after graduating early from UArts. A true actor’s director, Williams believes in truth, grit, and that art has the power to change the world.

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