Victoria Schultz

Victoria Schultz is a Finnish photographer and documentary film producer. Born in Helsinki, Finland, she attended a school run by nuns from St. Louis, Missouri and studied at the University of Helsinki where she received a master's degree in languages and literature. She wrote her master's thesis in 1964 on the work of the African American writer James Baldwin. In 1967, she arrived in New York where she obtained another master's from Columbia University School of Journalism. It was there that she focused on film and photography that centered on social upheavals.

Early life Schultz was born in 1941 in Helsinki, Finland. Growing up, Schultz had a passion for books, comics and magazines that combined images and texts. Also, as an avid movie-goer, she developed her love for strong, visual narration. As she became a documentary filmmaker, she focused first on developing factual stories.

She covered the Nicaraguan revolution as a reporter for WBAI radio and the Finnish Broadcasting Company. She also served as a photographer. Women in Arms portrays the brave roles of the Sandinista women in the revolution. It won awards in many countries and was shown extensively in the United States on college campuses, by the Nicaraguan Film Industry, and at art theatres including the in New York City at Bleecker Street Cinema, and the Museum of Modern Art. It is still being shown and also used as a visual reference to the days of the Nicaraguan revolution.

Photography Schultz's first portfolio, "Stories from Inside the Camera", is a series of photos portraying dramatic moments from her past. The series includes subsections, "Yes and No in my Sister's Soul," which includes the use of negative film to portray the self, "Shadowboxing in my Father's Eye," which depicts the F-stops in the camera's lens, and "Not Much Fun to be His Other One," which is a depiction of a couple's struggle.

Another portfolio includes "Animal Tales," "Escapees from the Zoo" and "I Married a Crocodile." In the first subsection, the series of photos includes the wearing of animal masks to accentuate human urges and anxieties. The second involves a bride and a large, live reptile to represent our partner choices in life.

The third portfolio series, "Social Matters," touches upon world affairs. It includes the series "Amerika", "Que Viva Mexico!" and "Activists of the Occupy Movement." Without the constraints of CNN or the UN broadcasting company, she expresses her personal thoughts in her photos as well as her sense of humor.

Films Funded by the Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, and the New York Council of the Arts, Victoria Schultz directed and produced many independent documentaries, such as Women in Arms, "La Frontera" "Covering Chiapas" "Argentina under Tyranny" and "Holy Terror.".

Back to making films, Schultz has recently produced and directed a feature film YOU NEVER KNOW, which tells the story of a young woman who returns to her native Finland and discovers family secrets having to do with Soviet Russia's control of the country. Her distributor in New York is CINEMA GUILD. She is currently working on a series of memoir films, with each one depicting a fragment from her long and adventure-filled life.