Sydney Freeland
{{short description|Native American film director from New Mexico, U.S.}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Sydney Freeland
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1980|10|10}}
| birth_place = Gallup, New Mexico, U.S.
| nationality = Navajo Nation, American
| education = Academy of Art University, San Francisco
| alma_mater =
| occupation = Director
Screenwriter
| known_for = Rez Ball (2024), Drunktown's Finest
}}
Sydney Freeland (born October 29, 1980) is a Native American filmmaker. She is a citizen of the Navajo Nation.
She wrote and directed the film Drunktown's Finest (2014), which garnered numerous acclaims after premiering at the Sundance Film Festival.{{Cite web|url = http://www.vogue.com/11264093/drunktowns-finest-sydney-freeland/ |title=Why You Should See Drunktown's Finest This Weekend |date=19 February 2015 |accessdate = 8 April 2015 |website = Vogue |last = Sciortino|first = Karley|archive-date = 27 March 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150327165603/http://www.vogue.com/11264093/drunktowns-finest-sydney-freeland|url-status = dead}} Her second film, Deidra & Laney Rob a Train, debuted at Sundance and was released on Netflix in 2017;{{Cite web|url = https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/deidra-laney-rob-a-train-970218|title = 'Deidra & Laney Rob a Train': Film Review, Sundance 2017|date = 1 February 2017|accessdate = 17 July 2018|website = The Hollywood Reporter|last = Linden|first = Sheri}} her third, Rez Ball, released in 2024.{{cite magazine |last1=Wang |first1=Jessica |title=How Rez Ball brings Indigenous authenticity to the Friday Night Lights-inspired sports drama |url=https://ew.com/rez-ball-sydney-freeland-interview-8719093 |access-date=18 February 2025 |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |date=30 December 2024}}
Early life
Freeland was born in Gallup, New Mexico, in 1980 to a Navajo father and a Scottish mother, and she was raised on a Navajo Reservation. Freeland attended Academy of Art University in San Francisco{{cite web|title=Academy of Art University Alumni|url=http://blogs.academyart.edu/alumni/alumni.html|website=Academy of Art University|accessdate=2 November 2016}} and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in computer animation and a Master of Fine Arts in film. She is a 2004 Fulbright scholar, who focused her scholarship on a field study of Indigenous peoples in Ecuador. Freeland received a 2007 Disney Scholarship and was a 2008 Disney Fellowship semifinalist. Freeland is also a 2009 Sundance Institute Native Lab fellow.{{cite web|last1=Silverstein|first1=Melissa|title=Sundance Women Directors: Meet Sydney Freeland|url=http://blogs.indiewire.com/womenandhollywood/sundance-women-directors-meet-sydney-freeland|website=Women and Hollywood|publisher=Indiewire|accessdate=5 April 2015|archive-date=10 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910130908/http://blogs.indiewire.com/womenandhollywood/sundance-women-directors-meet-sydney-freeland|url-status=dead}}
Career
Prior to making her first feature-length film, Drunktown's Finest, Freeland previously worked as a production assistant, as a writer and as a camera intern.{{cite web|last1=Gatewood|first1=Tara|title=Shifting Views with Drunktown's Finest|url=http://www.nativepeoples.com/Native-Peoples/March-April-2014/Shifting-Views-with-Drunktowns-Finest/|website=Native Peoples|accessdate=5 April 2015}} Freeland worked for a number of different media companies, including The Food Network, Walt Disney, Comedy Central, and National Geographic.{{cite web|first1=|title=Hoverboard|url=https://www.pbs.org/filmfestival/all-films/hoverboard/|website=PBS Online Film Festival|publisher=PBS|accessdate=5 April 2015|archive-date=15 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150115213633/http://www.pbs.org/filmfestival/all-films/hoverboard/|url-status=dead}}
Freeland directed a six-minute short, Hoverboard, utilizing Kickstarter to help fund the short.{{cite web|last1=Freeland|first1=Sydney|title=Hoverboard|url=https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1536383690/hoverboard|website=Kickstarter|date=7 October 2013 |accessdate=5 April 2015}} The film was inspired by Back to the Future Part II. Drunktown's Finest is her second venture into filmmaking. The 95-minute-long film{{cite web|url=http://www.nativepeoples.com/Native-Peoples/March-April-2014/Shifting-Views-with-Drunktowns-Finest/|title=Shifting Views with Drunktown's Finest|work=nativepeoples.com}} is a coming-of-age story about the complex issues surrounding identity and the struggles faced by Native American people.{{cite web|url=http://filmmakermagazine.com/83510-director-sydney-freeland-discusses-drunktowns-finest/#.VSSflFyKzwx|title=Director Sydney Freeland Discusses Drunktown's Finest - Filmmaker Magazine|work=Filmmaker Magazine|date=23 January 2014}} The film's name is inspired by a controversial 20/20 segment on ABC News, which branded the town of Gallup, New Mexico as "Drunk Town, USA", after the increase of instances of alcoholism on the border of the Navajo Nation.{{cite web|last1=Brodeur|first1=Paul|title=Combating Alcohol Abuse in Northwestern New Mexico: Gallup's Fighting Back and Healthy Nations Programs|url=http://www.rwjf.org/content/dam/farm/books/books/2003/rwjf37850|publisher=Robert Wood Johnson Foundation}} Freeland wrote and directed Drunktown's Finest as a way to combat negative stereotypes of her home community. Freeland, who is herself a transgender woman, also directed a digital series about queer and trans women called Her Story.{{cite web|last1=Jusino|first1=Teresa|title=Interview: Her Story Director Sydney Freeland on Trans People Telling Trans Stories|url=http://www.themarysue.com/tms-interview-her-story-director-sydney-freeland/|website=The Mary Sue|date=9 September 2015|accessdate=6 December 2015}} The series was nominated for the newly created Emmy Award category of Outstanding Short Form Comedy or Drama.{{cite web|last1=Brighe|first1=Mari|title=The Emmy-Nominated Trans Web Series Her Story Could Change Everything |url=http://www.advocate.com/transgender/2016/7/31/emmy-nominated-trans-web-series-her-story-could-change-everything|website=The Advocate|date=31 July 2016|accessdate=8 March 2017}}
In 2014 Freeland was named a United States Artists (USA) Fellow.{{Cite web |title=United States Artists » Sydney Freeland |url=https://www.unitedstatesartists.org/fellow/sydney-freeland-2/ |access-date=2023-02-26 |language=en-US}}
On March 19, 2022, Freeland joined as a director for the upcoming superhero streaming series Echo for Disney+.{{Cite web |last=Barnhardt |first=Adam |date=March 19, 2022 |title=Marvel's Echo Adds Reservation Dogs Director |url=https://comicbook.com/marvel/news/echo-disney-plus-series-sydney-freeland/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220320144427/https://comicbook.com/marvel/news/echo-disney-plus-series-sydney-freeland/ |archive-date=March 20, 2022 |access-date=March 20, 2022 |website=ComicBook.com}} In 2022, she was included in the Fast Company Queer 50 list.{{Cite web |title=Sydney Freeland is No. 41 on the 2022 Fast Company Queer 50 list |url=https://www.fastcompany.com/queer-50/list/rank/41 |access-date=2022-06-19 |website=Fast Company |language=en-US}}
Filmography
- 2008: The Migration (Short) - director{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2978148/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1|title=Sydney Freeland|work=IMDb}}
- 2012: Hoverboard (Short) - producer, writer, director
- 2014: Drunktown's Finest - screenwriter, director
- 2016: Her Story (Web Series) - director
- 2017: Deidra & Laney Rob a Train - director{{Cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2978148/|title=Sydney Freeland|website=IMDb}}
- 2018–2019: Grey's Anatomy (TV series) - director (2 episodes)
- 2018: Heathers (TV series) - director (1 episode)From the Heathers series page on HBO Nordic streaming service.
- 2019: Station 19 (TV series) - director (1 episode)
- 2019: Chambers (TV series) - director (1 episode)
- 2019: Tales of the City (miniseries) - director (1 episode)
- 2019: Fear the Walking Dead (TV series) - director (1 episode)
- 2019: Impulse (TV series) - director (1 episode)
- 2019: Emergence (TV series) - director (1 episode)
- 2020: Nancy Drew (TV series) - director (2 episodes)
- 2020: P-Valley (TV series) - director (1 episode)
- 2020: The Wilds (TV series) - director (1 episode)
- 2021: Rutherford Falls (TV series) - director (4 episodes)
- 2021: Reservation Dogs (TV series) - director (2 episodes)
- 2022: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (TV series) - director (1 episode)
- 2024: Echo (TV series) - executive producer, director (4 episodes)
- 2024: Rez Ball - screenwriter, director
Awards and nominations
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|2978148}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Freeland, Sydney}}
Category:American women film directors
Category:American women screenwriters
Category:American television directors
Category:American LGBTQ film directors
Category:American LGBTQ screenwriters
Category:American transgender writers
Category:Academy of Art University alumni
Category:Transgender women writers
Category:Transgender screenwriters
Category:LGBTQ people from New Mexico
Category:LGBTQ Native Americans
Category:People from Gallup, New Mexico
Category:Film directors from New Mexico
Category:Screenwriters from New Mexico
Category:Native American screenwriters
Category:21st-century American screenwriters
Category:21st-century American women writers
Category:American women television directors
Category:21st-century Native American people
Category:20th-century Native American women
Category:21st-century Native American women
Category:Native American women writers