Debra Granik

Debra Granik (born February 6, 1963) is an American filmmaker. She is most known for 2004's Down to the Bone, which starred Vera Farmiga, 2010's Winter's Bone, which starred Jennifer Lawrence in her breakout performance and for which Granik was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and 2018's Leave No Trace, a film based on the book My Abandonment by Peter Rock.

Early life and education Granik was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to father William R. Granik, an attorney with H.U.D. who litigated fair housing, and mother Brenda Granik Zusman. She grew up in the suburbs of Washington D.C.

Granik is the granddaughter of broadcast pioneer Ted Granik (1907–1970), founder and moderator of the long-run public affairs panel discussion program, The American Forum of the Air, on from 1934 to 1956, first on the radio and later on television. Granik is from a Jewish family.

In 1985, Granik received her B.A. in political science from Brandeis University. As an undergraduate at Brandeis, Granik also took classes at the Studio for Interrelated Media at the Massachusetts College of Art.

While at Brandeis, Granik took Henry Felt's film and media workshop production class and volunteered with the Boston grassroots filmmaking organization Women's Video Collective. While at the Massachusetts College of Art, Granik made educational films for trade unions on subjects like workplace health and safety, one of which was made for the Massachusetts Division of Occupational Safety. Granik worked in production on educational media projects, eventually working on long form documentaries by Boston-area filmmakers before deciding to go to graduate school for filmmaking at New York University.

Career

In 1997, Granik directed her first short film, Snake Feed, as her senior thesis with the mentorship of NYU film professor Boris Frumin, who was instrumental in sharing his love of post-World War II European neorealist films. Granik has said that Snake Feed was a work of narrative fiction, with the main characters, recovering addict Irene and her boyfriend Rick, playing dramatized versions of themselves.

In 2004, the short film of Snake Feed and the story of Irene and Rick became the basis of Granik's first feature-length film, Down to the Bone, which was a fictionalized depiction of their struggles. Down to the Bone was based on an original screenplay written by Granik and her creative partner, Anne Rosellini. The role of the main character Irene, played by Vera Farmiga, significantly raised Farmiga's profile as an actor. Down to the Bone was shot in Ulster County in upstate New York. It is the story of Ree Dolly, a teenager living in the Missouri's Ozark Mountains who is the sole caretaker of her two younger siblings and her catatonic mother. She is forced to hunt down her missing drug-dealing father in order to save her family from eviction. Winter's Bone won the Seattle International Film Festival Golden Space Needle Audience Award for Best Director and Best Actress award for Jennifer Lawrence. In 2011, Winter's Bone was nominated for four Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actress for Jennifer Lawrence and Best Supporting Actor for John Hawkes. The film featured a soundtrack made up of old time gospel, bluegrass, and traditional music found in the Ozarks and was produced by Steve Peters. It features the singing of Marideth Sisco, who worked as a music and folklore consultant for the region, and also appeared in the Winter's Bone. The actor John Hawkes sings one track on the soundtrack.

Winter's Bone was shot on location in the Ozark area of southern Missouri. Granik cast many of the supporting roles with first-time actors from the surrounding area and all of the homes on screen were established Ozark homes—no sets were built for this film. For the look of the film, Granik kept most of the established aesthetics of the homes in which they were shooting and many of the few mementos that were added to the homes were contributed by Ozark people in the community. The show was not picked up.

Granik developed a film adaption of Rule of the Bone, the 1995 novel by Russell Banks, but the project was still in development as of 2018. The film is a documentary about a man named Ron Hall, whose nickname is "Stray Dog," and portrays his life as an avid biker and Vietnam Veteran who sometimes struggles with PTSD. The film documents Hall's participation in an annual pilgrimage motorcycle ride called "Ride to the Wall" with fellow biker Vietnam vets from all over the country where they ride to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. The film tells the story of a father and daughter who illegally live on government land and are forced to adapt to more traditional living in mainstream life. It examines ideas of self-reliance and community, and was a critics' pick of The New York Times. Leave No Trace premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, and played at the Cannes Film Festival, and was shot in the forested areas of Oregon, including Forest Park near Portland, Oregon, over the course of 30 days. In addition to Oregon, Washington state was used for locations, with some scenes shot at a Christmas tree farm. Leave No Trace took approximately three and a half years to develop, from the first time Granik read Peter Rock's novel, My Abandonment, on which the film was based.

Other projects Granik has in development include a documentary about life after being released from jail and the subject of recidivism in East Baltimore – that was to feature Felicia "Snoop" Pearson from The Wire and elements of her memoir, Grace After Midnight

Another project is a film based on Barbara Ehrenreich's book, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, which focuses on poverty and the working poor in America. Vera Farmiga and Thomasin McKenzie who have gone on to successful careers after early roles in Granik's films. She is also known for using local, non-professional actors in her films.

Personal life Granik is married to Jonathan Scheuer, who has executive produced her films and is Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem. They live in New York City and have a child. 2024 Conbody vs. Everybody creator, director, executive producer

Documentary 2003: Thunder in Guyana – cinematographer

Short film Year Title Director Writer Producer 1997 Snake Feed

Feature film Year Title Director Writer 2004 Down to the Bone 2010 Winter's Bone 2018 Leave No Trace

Awards and nominations

1997: Austin Film Festival, Short Film Award (nominated) for Snake Feed 1998: Sundance Film Festival, Honorable Mention Short Filmmaking for Snake Feed 2002: Nantucket Film Festival, Tony Cox Award for Screenwriting for Down to the Bone 2004: Deauville American Film Festival, Grand Prix (nominated) for Down to the Bone 2004: Florida Film Festival, Grand Jury Award for Down to the Bone 2004: Gotham Awards, Gotham Independent Film Awards 2010, Breakthrough Director Award (nominated) for Down to the Bone 2004: Locarno International Film Festival, Golden Leopard - Video (nominated) for Down to the Bone 2004: Marrakech International Film Festival, Golden Star Award (nominated) for Down to the Bone 2004: Sundance Film Festival, Grand Jury Prize Dramatic (nominated) for Down to the Bone 2004: Sundance Film Festival, Directing Award Dramatic for Down to the Bone 2010: Berlin International Film Festival, Confédération Internationale des Cinémas d’Art et d’Essai (C.I.C.A.E.), Forum Award for Winter's Bone 2010: Berlin International Film Festival, Tagesspiegel, Readers' Jury Award for Winter's Bone 2010: Boston Independent Film Festival, Audience Award: Best Feature for Winter's Bone 2010: Boston Independent Film Festival, Special Jury Prize: Narrative for Winter's Bone 2010: Camerimage, Best Directorial Debut (nominated) for Winter's Bone 2010: Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, CFCA Award: Best Director (nominated) for Winter's Bone 2010: Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, CFCA Award: Best Screenplay, Adapted (nominated) for Winter's Bone 2010: Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards, Russell Smith Award for Winter's Bone 2010: Deauville American Film Festival, Prix du Jury for Winter's Bone – tied with The Myth of the American Sleepover, directed by David Robert Mitchell 2010: Deauville American Film Festival, Grand Prix (nominated) for Winter's Bone 2010: Detroit Film Critics Society Awards, Best Director (nominated) for Winter's Bone 2010: Gotham Awards, Gotham Independent Film Awards 2010, Best Feature for Winter's Bone – with Anne Rosellini, Alix Madigan 2010: Gotham Awards, Gotham Independent Film Awards 2010, Audience Award (nominated) for Winter's Bone – with Anne Rosellini, Alix Madigan 2010: Indiana Film Journalists Association, Best Director (nominated) for Winter's Bone 2010: Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards, Breakout Performance: Behind the Camera for Winter's Bone 2010: San Diego Film Critics Society Awards, SDFCS Award: Best Director (nominated) for Winter's Bone 2010: San Diego Film Critics Society Awards, SDFCS Award: Best Screenplay, Adapted (nominated) for Winter's Bone 2010: San Francisco International Film Festival, Audience Award: Best Narrative Feature for Winter's Bone 2010: Satellite Awards, Best Director (nominated) for Winter's Bone 2010: Satellite Awards, Best Screenplay, Adapted (nominated) for Winter's Bone 2010: Seattle International Film Festival, Golden Space Needle Award, Best Director for Winter's Bone 2010: Stockholm Film Festival, FIPRESCI Prize, Best Film for Winter's Bone 2010: St. Louis Film Critics Association, Best Adapted Screenplay (nominated) for Winter's Bone 2010: Sundance Film Festival, Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic Film for Winter's Bone 2010: Sundance Film Festival, Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, for Winter's Bone – with Anne Rosellini 2010: Torino Film Festival, Holden Award for Best Script for Winter's Bone 2010: Utah Film Critics Association Awards, Best Screenplay (nominated) for Winter's Bone 2010: Village Voice Film Poll, Best Screenplay (nominated) for Winter's Bone - with Anne Rosellini 2010: Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Awards, Best Adapted Screenplay (nominated) for Winter's Bone 2010: Women Film Critics Circle Awards, WFCC Award. Best Movie by a Woman for Winter's Bone 2011: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 83rd Academy Awards, Best Picture (nominated) for Winter's Bone 2011: Alliance of Women Film Journalists, EDA Female Focus Award: Outstanding Achievement by a Woman in the Film Industry 2011: Athena Film Festival, Director's Award for Vision and Talent for Winter's Bone 2011: British Independent Film Awards, Best Foreign Film (nominated) for Winter's Bone 2011: Central Ohio Film Critics Association, Breakthrough Film Artist (nominated) for Winter's Bone 2011: Central Ohio Film Critics Association, Best Adapted Screenplay (nominated) for Winter's Bone 2011: Chlotrudis Awards, Best Director for Winter's Bone 2011: Humanitas Prize, Sundance Film Category for Winter's Bone – with Anne Rosellini 2011: Independent Spirit Awards, 26th Independent Spirit Awards, Best Feature (nominated) for Winter's Bone 2011: Independent Spirit Awards, 26th Independent Spirit Awards, Best Director (nominated) for Winter's Bone 2011: Independent Spirit Awards, 26th Independent Spirit Awards, Best Screenplay (nominated) for Winter's Bone – with Anne Rosellini 2015: Atlanta Film Festival, Jury Award, Best Documentary Feature for Stray Dog – with Anne Rosellini 2015: Independent Spirit Awards, 30th Independent Spirit Awards Best Documentary Feature (nominated) for Stray Dog 2018: Seattle International Film Festival, Grand Jury Prize (nominated) for Leave No Trace 2018: Seattle International Film Festival, Golden Space Needle Award, Best Director (nominated) for Leave No Trace 2018: Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Director 2018: National Board of Review: Top Ten Independent Films 2019: Inaugural Career Spotlight Award of the Boston Society of Film Critics