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Diandrea Rees[1] (born February 7, 1977) is an American screenwriter and director.[2][3][4] She is known for her feature films Pariah (2011), Bessie (2015), Mudbound (2017), and The Last Thing He Wanted (2020). Rees has also written and directed episodes for television series including Empire, When We Rise, and Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams.

Key Information

Rees is the first African-American woman nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, for Mudbound. She has also received Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Writing and Outstanding Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie, and won the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Miniseries or TV Film for Bessie.

Reeds received a United States Artists Fellowship in 2011.[5]

Early life and education

[edit]

Rees was born in 1977 in Nashville, Tennessee. Her father was a police officer[6] and her mother was a scientist at Vanderbilt University.[7] Rees attended local schools and college at Florida A&M University. After graduating from business school, Rees held an array of jobs, including working as a salesperson for panty-liners, a vendor for wart-remover and bunion pads,[8] and also worked in marketing and brand management.[9] While working for Dr. Scholl's, Rees worked on set for a commercial and she realized she enjoyed the creation of film content. This led her to pursue film school.[8] For graduate school, she attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. While at New York University for film, Spike Lee was her professor and mentor.[8] Dee Rees went on to work under Spike Lee on his films Inside Man (2006) and When the Levees Broke (2006). During this time, she worked on a script for what would later be the feature film Pariah. For her graduate thesis, she adapted the first act of the script and directed it as a short film of the same name. In 2007, the short played at 40 film festivals around the world, winning numerous accolades, including the Audience Award at the Los Angeles Film Festival.[10]

Career

[edit]

Rees' first full-length film was a documentary, Eventual Salvation (2009), which aired on the Sundance Channel. The film follows her American-born, 80-year-old grandmother, Amma, as she returns to Monrovia, Liberia to rebuild her home and community. She had barely escaped the devastating Liberian Civil War only a decade earlier.

Rees completed development and filming of her debut feature film, Pariah, which she has described as semi-autobiographical. In graduate school Rees interned for Spike Lee, whom she got to executive produce the film.[11] It premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.[12] Lisa Schwartzman of Entertainment Weekly wrote, "In her fearless, world-here-I-am! debut Pariah, writer-director Dee Rees demonstrates, with simplicity and verve, that there's no substitute for authenticity".[13] Pariah explores the complexities of religion, politics and socioeconomic class within and surrounding a Black family.[14] The short film version of Pariah was initially a thesis project done by Dee Rees in film school.[15] It was difficult to receive funding for the feature film, and the process took about five years to reach completion.[15] The format and content changed significantly from the short film to the feature film.[16] The transition from short film to feature film meant it needed to be more accessible for a wider audience in order to make money.[16] This accessibility reached new audiences and sparked new conversations that were focused on blackness and sexuality in a new way.[16]

At the time Pariah (2011) was released, the film was one of the very few films that follow the journey of a young person of color as they come to terms with their sexuality and come out to their friends and families.[14] In 2011, she won many awards for Pariah, including the John Cassavetes Award at the Independent Spirit Awards, the Gotham Independent Film Award for Breakthrough Director, the Outstanding Independent Motion Picture Award at the NAACP Image Awards, and the Outstanding Film –Limited Release Award at the GLAAD Media Award in 2012.[17]

Pariah has been compared to the written work of Audre Lorde, specifically Zami: a New Spelling of My Name.[14] Both forms provide a different take on the lived experiences of young Black lesbian women in a way that gives the characters depth and power. Both stories of identity, they are not only diversifying the characters audiences enjoy in media, but also providing an authentic expression of these lives.[14]

In 2015, Rees' film Bessie premiered on HBO, starring Queen Latifah as the iconic singer Bessie Smith.[18] The film was well received by critics.[19]

It also won four Primetime Emmy Awards, including the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie. Rees was nominated for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special and Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special.

Together with Virgil Williams, Rees wrote Mudbound, a period drama adapted from the 2008 novel of the same name by Hillary Jordan. Rees also directed the film, starring Carey Mulligan, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Clarke, Jason Mitchell, and Mary J. Blige. After being shown at Sundance in 2017, Mudbound became the highest purchase of the festival, being bought for $12.5 million by Netflix.[8] Mudbound was shot in New Orleans over 28 days in the summer of 2016.[20] The film tells the story of two families in the Mississippi Delta in the 1940s. The McAllan family is white and their neighbors, the Jacksons, are black.[20] The Jacksons are sharecroppers who have a connection to the land, while the McAllans are a middle-class family that own a large plot of land in Mississippi.[21] Mudbound tells a story of racism and race relations that continue to be played out today. The movie explores whiteness and the privilege associated with it, while comparing and contrasting the experiences of white and Black people of the period.[8] This work contains many personal connections for Rees, such as her grandfather's experiences in the army and her grandmother's aspiration to be a stenographer.[8] Rees used her grandmother's journal to help guide her process. It contained family photographs of their slave ancestors, with the names of who fought in wars. Rees says that by using this it was a way of interrogating her own personal history. She used written text from the journal, a war ration book, and a photograph of her great grandmother, and each one was an inspiration for something in Mudbound.[21]

Rees and Williams were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Mudbound, which made Rees the first African-American woman ever to be nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, as well as the first African-American woman to be nominated for a writing Oscar since Suzanne de Passe was nominated for Best Original Screenplay for the 1972 film Lady Sings the Blues.[22][23] The nomination of Mary J. Blige for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Mudbound made Rees the first African-American woman to direct a film for which an actor or actress was nominated for an Academy Award.[24][25]

A lesser-known project of Rees' is the show Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams, where Rees was given the chance to engage with the many emotions looming around the election of Donald Trump, and manipulate them within a sci-fi context, which is now streaming on Amazon Prime.[26]

Rees is also attached to write and direct An Uncivil War for FilmNation.[27] In 2018, Rees was nominated for NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Directing and Outstanding Writing.[28]

Rees directed The Last Thing He Wanted, based upon the novel of the same name by Joan Didion, which stars Anne Hathaway and Willem Dafoe.[29][30][31] The film was distributed by Netflix.[32]

Rees directed multiple episodes of the Apple TV+ war miniseries Masters of the Air.[6]

Rees is currently set to write and direct MGM's feature film adaptation of George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess.[33] She will be working alongside the film's producers, Irwin Winkler[33] and Charles Winkler.[33]

In 2019, Rees began work as writer and director for her upcoming film, The Kyd's Exquisite Follies.[34] An original script, the film is a musical fantasy about a young musician in search of stardom.[34] Rees is working alongside producer Cassian Elwes,[34] with singer-songwriter Santigold[34] set to compose.

In June 2021, Dee Rees was announced as the first African-American woman to direct a Criterion film.[35] With the addition of her breakout film, Pariah (2011), Criterion has acknowledged its need for the addition of more female directors and director of color, and has vowed to bring more diversity to light.[35]

Filmmaking

[edit]

Influences

[edit]

Rees has said that she was inspired by the realistic directorial style of Cassavetes,[36] and the cinematographer Bradford Young's organic style on the television show Friday Night Lights.[36]

Method and Themes

[edit]

As with Rees's first breakout feature, Pariah (2011), Dee Rees pulls much of her directorial influence from her own life.[7] Rees also cites her own life experiences in the protagonist of her newest project, The Kyd's Exquisite Follies.[7] As a Black lesbian filmmaker, Rees's intersectional identity is a huge part of her and is also unique in Hollywood. Rees has said that her dissimilarity from much of Hollywood has only amplified the importance of translating her experience into her films.[7]

Rees's sexuality makes an appearance in her films, such as her 2011 film Pariah (2011), which tells the story of a teenage Black girl navigating the exploration of her sexuality.[10] HBO's Bessie (2015), also written and directed by Rees, explores the sexual identity of blues singer Bessie Smith.[1] Rees also described the protagonist of her latest project, The Kyd's Exquisite Follies as androgynous,[7] again connecting her own experience of sexuality to her filmmaking.

Rees's identity as a Black woman is also very prevalent in her films, as Black women are extremely central in her films, such as Pariah (2011), Mudbound (2017), Bessie (2015), and a few of her upcoming projects.

Still early in her career, Rees has shown a large array of stylistic choices in her films in her exploration for her identity as a filmmaker. However, Rees has been said to spend hours on shots that end up only being a few seconds, focusing intently on visual details.[7]

Collaborators

[edit]

Spike Lee was Rees's mentor throughout her time at NYU Tisch, and the two worked on films together such as Inside Man (2006) and When The Levees Broke (2006). Lee also worked as a producer on Rees's breakout film, Pariah (2011).

Cassian Elwes, producer of Mudbound (2017), has worked with Rees on multiple projects, such as The Last Thing He Wanted (2020) and Rees's upcoming project, The Kyd's Exquisite Follies.

Lisa Cortés directed and produced the 2023 documentary film Little Richard: I am Everything, with Rees serving as an executive producer.[37]

Personal life

[edit]

Rees is a lesbian, and she described Pariah as semi-autobiographical.[38] On National Coming Out Day in 2011, in an interview with BlackEnterprise.com, Rees discussed her coming out experience. When she came out her parents weren't accepting. They sent her emails, cards, letters and Bible verses. Rees sees Pariah as semi-autobiographical because she can relate to the main concepts of the film.[39]

Since at least 2017, Rees has been in a relationship with poet and writer Sarah M. Broom.[40] They are now married and currently reside in Harlem.[7]

Rees, who is of African American descent, incorporates her family's history, specifically her own grandmother's, in her 2017 film Mudbound where American violence and racism are more relevant to the lives of all citizens and a marker of each individual's identity.[41]

Filmography

[edit]

Short film

Year Title Director Writer
2005 Orange Bow Yes Yes
2007 Pariah Yes Yes
2009 Colonial Gods Yes Yes

Feature film

Year Title Director Writer
2011 Pariah Yes Yes
2017 Mudbound Yes Yes
2020 The Last Thing He Wanted Yes Yes

Television

Year Title Director Writer Notes
2015 Bessie Yes Yes TV movie
Empire Yes No Episode "Without a Country"
2017 When We Rise Yes No 2 episodes
2018 Electric Dreams Yes Yes Episode "Kill All Others"
2020 Space Force Yes No 2 episodes
2022 Upload Yes No Episode "Welcome Back, Mr. Brown"
2023 Saint X Yes No Episode "A Lovely Nowhere", also executive producer[42]
2024 Masters of the Air Yes Yes Directed 2 episodes, co-wrote 1 episode
TBA Criminal Yes No Directed 4 episodes[43]

Awards and nominations

[edit]
Year Association Category Work Result
2007 Chicago Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival Best Narrative Short Pariah (2007) Won
Iris Prize Festival Iris Prize Won
Los Angeles Film Festival Audience Award – Best Short Film Won
Palm Springs International ShortFest Future Filmmaker Award Won
Best Live Action Over 15 Minutes Won
San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival Audience Award – Best Short Won
Urbanworld Film Festival Best Narrative Short Won
2008 Ashland Independent Film Festival Best Student Film Won
2011 Alliance of Women Film Journalists Best Woman Director Pariah (2011) Nominated
Best Woman Screenwriter Nominated
Black Film Critics Circle Best Director Won
Best Original Screenplay Won
Black Reel Awards Best Screenplay, Original or Adapted Nominated
Best Director Nominated
Gotham Awards Breakthrough Director Won
NAACP Image Awards Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture (Theatrical or Television) Nominated
Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture (Theatrical or Television) Nominated
Independent Spirit Awards Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award Won
Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize Nominated
Women Film Critics Circle Awards Best Woman Storyteller Nominated
2015 Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special Bessie Nominated
Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special Nominated
2016 Directors Guild of America Awards Outstanding Directing – Miniseries or TV Film Won
2017 Academy Awards Best Adapted Screenplay Mudbound Nominated
Alliance of Women Film Journalists Best Woman Director Nominated
Best Woman Screenwriter Nominated
Austin Film Festival Audience Award – Marquee Feature Won
Chicago Film Critics Association Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated
Critics' Choice Movie Awards Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated
Georgia Film Critics Association Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated
Humanitas Prize Feature – Drama Won
Independent Spirit Awards Independent Spirit Robert Altman Award Won
NAACP Image Awards Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture Nominated
Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture Nominated
New York Film Critics Online Best Director Won
San Francisco Film Critics Circle Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated
San Diego Film Critics Society Best Adapted Screenplay Runner-up
Satellite Awards Best Director Nominated
St. Louis Film Critics Association Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated
USC Scripter Awards Best Screenplay Nominated
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Best Director Nominated
Best Adapted Screenplay Won
Women Film Critics Circle Best Woman Storyteller Nominated
Courage in Filmmaking Won
Writers Guild of America Awards Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Dee Rees

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia

Diandrea Rees (born February 7, 1977), known professionally as Dee Rees, is an American director, screenwriter, and producer.
Born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, Rees holds an MBA from Florida A&M University and a Master of Fine Arts from New York University Tisch School of the Arts, where she honed her filmmaking skills after interning on projects by director Spike Lee.
Her breakthrough came with the short film Pariah (2007), which screened at over 40 festivals and secured 25 "Best Short" awards before expanding into a feature adaptation in 2011 that premiered at Sundance and won the John Cassavetes Award at the Independent Spirit Awards as well as the Gotham Award for Breakthrough Director.
Rees directed the HBO biographical drama Bessie (2015) about blues singer Bessie Smith, which earned four Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Television Movie, and 12 nominations overall.
In 2017, she helmed Mudbound, a period drama examining race relations in the post-World War II American South, which received widespread recognition including an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay—the first such nod for an African-American woman—and additional nominations from the Writers Guild of America and Black Reel Awards.
Rees's oeuvre frequently delves into intersections of race, family dynamics, and personal identity through character-driven narratives, though later projects like the 2020 Netflix adaptation The Last Thing He Wanted drew mixed critical reception for narrative execution despite her established reputation for visual storytelling.

Early Life and Education

Upbringing in Nashville

Dee Rees was born in 1977 in . Her father served as a , while her mother worked as a at . As an , Rees grew up in a middle-class household in a predominantly white suburb during the , later describing this period as a "typical, boring suburban experience." The family lived in the Antioch neighborhood of Nashville, where Rees attended local schools and joined her parents for events such as homecomings, exposing her to aspects of Black cultural life in the region. Her suburban environment included proximity to racial tensions typical of the post-civil rights South; Rees has recounted living next door to a member, whom her father identified as a Grand Dragon through his police work, though no hooded gatherings were observed by the family. These experiences informed her later reflections on Southern racial dynamics, as evidenced in her filmmaking, but she emphasized a stable family structure without overt domestic conflict during her youth. Rees completed high school in Nashville before pursuing higher education elsewhere, marking the transition from her formative years in the city. Her parents and grandmother remained in , maintaining family ties that influenced her personal development into adulthood.

Entry into Filmmaking and Formal Training

Rees initially a career in , earning a master's degree from in 2000. Following graduation, she relocated to and worked for four years as a business consultant, during which exposure to television commercials sparked her interest in directing such content. Recognizing that formal education was necessary to enter the directing field, she applied to and was accepted into New York University's Tisch School of the Arts graduate film program, enrolling in 2004 after quitting her job. At NYU Tisch, Rees completed her Master of Fine Arts in film, graduating in 2007. There, she studied under , who served as both her professor and mentor, providing guidance that influenced her early development as a filmmaker. As part of her thesis project, she directed a short film adaptation of the first act of what would become her feature Pariah, marking her initial foray into narrative directing within the structured academic environment. This training equipped her with technical and creative skills, transitioning her from commercial aspirations to independent storytelling.

Professional Career

Early Short Films and Pariah (2007-2011)

In 2007, Dee Rees directed the short film Pariah as her graduate thesis project at Tisch School of the Arts, adapting the first act of a longer script into a 30-minute coming-of-age centered on a Bronx teenager navigating her identity amid family and peer pressures. The film starred in the lead role, foreshadowing her casting in the 2011 feature expansion. This short received recognition, including awards, and screened at festivals, marking Rees' entry into narrative filmmaking with a semi-autobiographical lens drawn from her own experiences as a . Rees followed with the 2008 short Eventual Salvation, a lesser-documented work that further honed her directorial skills during her graduate period, though specific production details and festival runs remain sparse in available records. These early shorts demonstrated Rees' focus on intimate, character-driven stories exploring experiences, themes that persisted in her subsequent work. The 2007 Pariah short served as the foundation for Rees' feature debut, Pariah (2011), which she expanded into a full script while interning in the industry post-graduation. Partnering with Nekisa Cooper, Rees secured financing for a low-budget production under $500,000, retaining Oduye and adding actors like and Pernell Walker to portray family dynamics and identity conflicts in . The film premiered at the 2011 on January 21, earning the Special Jury Award for visual design and audience praise for its raw portrayal of adolescent autonomy. Critical reception highlighted Rees' assured direction, with outlets noting its authentic depiction of coming-of-age without sensationalism, though some reviews questioned its narrow focus on urban specificity.

Television and Bessie (2012-2015)

Following the release of her feature debut Pariah in 2011, Dee Rees transitioned into directing for television while developing larger-scale biographical projects. In 2015, she directed the second episode of 's second season, titled "Without a Country," which aired on Fox and focused on family dynamics and corporate intrigue within the Lyon family's music empire. Rees's primary work during this period was Bessie, a HBO television film she wrote and directed, chronicling the life of blues singer Bessie Smith from her early 1920s nightclub beginnings to prominence as the "Empress of the Blues" amid personal struggles including bisexuality, substance abuse, and racial barriers. starred as Smith, with supporting roles by as her mentor and as her husband Jack Gee; production involved principal photography in Georgia and New York under producers including 's . The film premiered on on May 16, 2015, running 112 minutes and emphasizing Smith's raw performances and episodic life events rather than a linear biopic arc. Critics praised Bessie for its unflinching depiction of Smith's sexuality, ambition, and era-specific challenges, with Roger Ebert's review noting its "sexually-charged, intense" quality and deliberate episodic structure that mirrored the subject's turbulent path. It holds a 91% approval rating on based on 32 reviews, highlighting strong musical sequences and performances. At the , Bessie received 12 nominations and won four, including Outstanding Television Movie, though Rees's directing work earned a nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special without a win. The film's success marked Rees's first major network television achievement, building on Pariah's acclaim to secure her HBO deal post-Sundance.

Mudbound and Mainstream Recognition (2016-2018)

In 2016, Dee Rees co-wrote and directed , an adaptation of Hillary Jordan's 2008 novel depicting the intertwined lives of two families—a white landowner family and a Black family—in the during and after , exploring themes of , , and post-war trauma. The screenplay was developed by Rees and , with production financed by , MACRO, and Zeal Management on a budget of approximately $11 million, facing logistical challenges including extreme heat, humidity, and weather disruptions during filming in rural exteriors. The cast featured as Laura McAllan, as Henry McAllan, as Florence Jackson, as Jamie McAllan, and as Ronsel Jackson. Mudbound premiered at the on January 21, 2017, in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section, where it received strong early buzz for its ensemble performances and Rees's direction. acquired global distribution rights for $12.5 million shortly after, marking the largest deal at the 2017 Sundance festival and signaling a shift toward streaming platforms investing in prestige dramas. The film had a on November 17, 2017, followed by streaming availability, which broadened its reach to millions of viewers beyond traditional arthouse audiences. Critically, Mudbound earned widespread acclaim, holding a 97% approval rating on based on 202 reviews, with praise centered on Rees's unflinching portrayal of systemic racial and economic inequities without sentimentality. At the 2018 Independent Spirit Awards, Rees accepted the Award for outstanding directional achievement in a produced by an independent studio, distributor, or , highlighting her role in elevating the project's artistic execution. The film's awards momentum peaked at the , securing four nominations: Best Adapted Screenplay for Rees and Williams—making Rees the first Black woman nominated in that category—Best Supporting Actress for Blige, Best Original Song for "Mighty River" performed by Blige, and Best Cinematography for , the first woman ever nominated in that field. Despite the historic nods, won no Oscars, a outcome some observers attributed to biases against streaming releases and ensemble-driven narratives lacking a single breakout star. This visibility via and the Oscar contention propelled Rees into mainstream discourse, positioning her as a director capable of tackling epic-scale American histories, with subsequent announcements of high-profile projects like An Uncivil War underscoring her elevated industry status by late 2017.

Recent Projects and Challenges (2019-Present)

Following the acclaim for (2017), Dee Rees directed the (2020), an of Joan Didion's 1996 produced by and starring as a entangled in Central American arms dealing amid her father's death. The film, shot in 2019, faced production hurdles including a compressed schedule and location challenges in , contributing to its mixed execution. In June 2019, Rees announced The Kyd's Exquisite Follies, an original musical fantasy script she wrote and planned to direct, featuring music by and visual effects by , centered on a young musician's surreal journey. Despite initial momentum with producer attached, the project has seen no further development or release announcements as of 2025, highlighting persistent financing and studio commitment issues for independent visions by minority directors. Rees shifted to television, directing episodes 7 and 8 of the Apple TV+ miniseries (2024), which depict the Tuskegee Airmen of the 99th Fighter Squadron during , emphasizing interpersonal dynamics and racial tensions on the ground rather than aerial combat. She described the episodes' core challenge as portraying the pilots' "impotence" and psychological strain when separated from their aircraft, requiring a gritty, character-driven tone amid historical accuracy demands. In November 2023, at the , Rees revealed plans for an untitled experimental dark comedy as her next feature, aiming to externalize a protagonist's chaotic inner monologue through stylized visuals inspired by performers like , , and . No production start or casting details have emerged by 2025, underscoring broader industry obstacles. Rees has publicly addressed systemic barriers, including in April 2019 when she criticized "discriminatory theatrical practices" limiting access for African American audiences to films like , attributing it to venue policies in underserved areas that favor mainstream releases over diverse content. Her career trajectory reflects acute challenges for Black female directors, such as restricted creative liberty and greenlight disparities compared to male counterparts, as she noted in a 2020 interview where securing feature funding post-Mudbound demanded navigating Hollywood's preference for formulaic projects over ambitious originals. These factors have resulted in extended gaps between features—over three years from to her next announced work—exacerbated by critical pans for the 2020 film, which scored 28% on and drew accusations of narrative incoherence despite its topical themes.

Filmmaking Approach

Influences and Inspirations


Dee Rees has identified Spike Lee as a primary influence and mentor in her filmmaking career. While studying at New York University Tisch School of the Arts, Rees interned on Lee's projects Inside Man (2006) and When the Levees Broke (2006), where he served as a professor and active guide. She has stated that Lee's films captivated her during childhood, marking him as one of the first Black directors she recognized, and inspiring her engagement with cinema prior to her own aspirations in the field. Rees's early career path was also shaped by African-American cinema, with her parents' fandom introducing her to the medium; specifically, Eddie Murphy's portrayal of an advertising executive in (1992), directed by , prompted her initial pursuit of marketing before transitioning to film. For her debut feature Pariah (2011), Rees drew from personal experiences during her coming-out process, which directly motivated the script's development, alongside the tone established in Jennie Livingston's documentary Paris Is Burning (1990). In preparing Bessie (2015), Rees immersed herself in Bessie Smith's compositions to understand the singer's intersectional experiences, supplemented by Angela Y. Davis's Blues Legacies and Black Feminism (1998) for historical context on blues performers. Elements of Mudbound (2017) incorporated autobiographical details, such as a scene reflecting Rees's memory of her mother giving her coins before college departure. For The Last Thing He Wanted (2020), she referenced the stylistic innovations of 1970s New Hollywood filmmakers to inform the political thriller's aesthetic. Rees has emphasized a broad array of inspirations, prioritizing visual artists and tonal qualities over direct cinematic mimicry in her broader oeuvre.

Directorial Techniques and Style

Dee Rees's directorial style emphasizes realism and intimacy, drawing from documentary influences to capture authentic relationships and emotional undercurrents without overt manipulation. In films like Pariah (2011), she employs camera language to mirror character , using tight close-ups to convey confinement and isolation, gradually widening shots as protagonists achieve and openness. Profiles dominate early scenes to obscure full identity, transitioning to frontal compositions bathed in white light to signify emergence and clarity. Rees prioritizes restraint over , allowing emotional resonance to build subtly through precise blocking and , positioning characters at distances that evoke longing or proximity that amplifies tension, as seen in (2017). This "invisible hand" approach subordinates directorial flourishes to narrative immersion, fostering an organic flow where spectator emotions arise naturally rather than through forced spectacle. Her collaboration with cinematographers like and yields organic visuals—natural lighting, textured reflecting inner states, and deliberate details such as field furrows in to ground period authenticity—while avoiding digital artifice despite budget constraints. Narratively, Rees subverts conventions for subjective depth, weaving multiple perspectives in into a unified tapestry of fractured lives, using internal monologues to immerse viewers in characters' psyches and voice timbre in casting to enhance verisimilitude. Dialogue layers subtext, where characters express unintended meanings or silences reveal truths, informed by her "triple bumper" theory of overt statement, hidden intent, and underlying emotion. Influenced by John Cassavetes's unvarnished realism, Rees integrates class and relational dynamics via observational camera work honed in documentaries, revealing unspoken bonds without scripted exposition.

Core Themes and Narrative Choices

Dee Rees's films recurrently explore the tension between individual identity and external constraints, particularly within Black family structures and societal norms. In Pariah (2011), the protagonist Alike grapples with her emerging identity amid a devoutly religious mother's disapproval and a distant father's obliviousness, underscoring themes of self-discovery and authenticity over prescribed roles. Rees has described the story as fundamentally about "a trying to figure out how to be herself," applicable beyond race or sexuality to universal struggles with parental expectations and personal expression. This motif extends to Bessie (2015), where blues singer Bessie Smith's , colorism, and abusive sibling dynamics highlight resilience against respectability politics and intra-community hierarchies. Racial injustice and its intersection with class and gender form another core thread, most prominently in (2017), which depicts post-World War II through parallel white and Black family perspectives, emphasizing entrenched segregation and the psychological toll of . Rees frames these narratives around survival amid imposed limits, questioning whether such pressures destroy or liberate characters, as seen in the sharecroppers' endurance against threats and economic bondage. Her work avoids reductive victimhood, instead portraying agency through quiet defiance, such as Alike's poetic assertions or Ronsel Jackson's wartime disillusionment in . Narratively, Rees favors character-driven intimacy over spectacle, employing layered subtext in dialogue to mirror real interpersonal evasions—termed her "triple bumper theory," where characters withhold direct truths to shield themselves or others, fostering authenticity in conflicts. In Pariah, this manifests in elliptical family exchanges that build tension without overt exposition, complemented by handheld camerawork and Alike's poetry voiceovers to internalize her arc. shifts to a broader epic canvas with multiple voiceovers and non-linear flashbacks, interweaving perspectives to expose racial parallels without , a choice Rees credits for humanizing systemic divides. Across projects, she prioritizes emotional specificity—drawing from semi-autobiographical roots in Pariah—to universalize particular experiences, eschewing broad archetypes for nuanced, flawed protagonists.

Notable Collaborators

Dee Rees's early career featured close collaboration with Spike Lee, who mentored her as a professor at New York University Tisch School of the Arts starting in 2005. She interned on his feature film Inside Man (2006), assisting the script supervisor, and on the documentary When the Levees Broke (2006). Lee later served as executive producer on Rees's debut feature Pariah (2011), providing guidance during its development. Their professional relationship built on Lee's role in nurturing Rees's transition from advertising to independent filmmaking. Producer emerged as a key longtime collaborator, partnering with Rees on multiple projects beginning with (2017), where he helped secure financing and distribution at the . Elwes produced her adaptation (2020), optioning Joan Didion's novel to develop it alongside Rees post-Mudbound. He continued this partnership on the musical fantasy The Kyd's Exquisite Follies, announced in 2019, handling production duties while Rees directed and wrote. Elwes's involvement has supported Rees's shift toward larger-scale genre explorations. Rees has worked with cinematographer on Mudbound, whose visual style contributed to the film's Academy Award nominations for and adapted screenplay in 2018. While not recurring across all projects, such technical partnerships highlight Rees's selective assembly of crews for period and character-driven narratives.

Reception and Legacy

Achievements and Critical Praise

Dee Rees's feature film (2017) earned her a historic Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, making her the first Black woman nominated in that category. The film received four Oscar nominations overall, including Best Supporting Actress for , and was praised for its unflinching depiction of racial tensions in the post-World War II American South, with critics highlighting Rees's command of ensemble storytelling and visual poetry. Her directorial debut Pariah (2011), a semi-autobiographical , won the Award at the Independent Spirit Awards and the Breakthrough Director prize at the , recognizing its raw exploration of a teenager's struggle with identity and family dynamics. Critics lauded the film's authenticity and restraint, with citing it among her favorite films of the year and outlets like crediting it with anticipating shifts in Hollywood's portrayal of queer narratives. The HBO biographical drama Bessie (2015), which Rees wrote and directed, secured 12 Primetime Emmy nominations, including for Outstanding Television Movie, and won four ; Rees herself received the Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television and Drama. Reviewers commended its vivid portrayal of blues singer Bessie Smith's life, emphasizing Rees's ability to blend historical detail with performative intensity led by . Rees has also been honored with the Courage in Filmmaking Award from the organization in 2017 for her contributions across Pariah and . Her body of work has drawn praise for elevating underrepresented voices through structurally innovative narratives, though some acclaim notes the tension between artistic ambition and industry barriers for Black female directors.

Criticisms, Commercial Outcomes, and Artistic Shortcomings

Dee Rees' films have achieved modest commercial results, primarily through festival acquisitions and streaming platforms rather than wide theatrical releases. Pariah (2011), produced on an estimated budget of $450,000, grossed $769,552 at the across a limited run in 24 theaters. Mudbound (2017) secured a $12.5 million sale to at the , marking a record for the event, but lacked traditional earnings as a streaming exclusive. Her HBO biopic Bessie (2015) and adaptation The Last Thing He Wanted (2020) similarly bypassed theatrical markets, with no public data available, reflecting a career trajectory dependent on prestige deals amid challenges securing broad distribution. Critics have highlighted narrative and execution flaws in several works, particularly The Last Thing He Wanted, which earned widespread derision for its convoluted plotting and failure to adapt Joan Didion's novel coherently. Roger Ebert's review described it as "incomprehensible to an almost impressive degree," faulting the film's loss of narrative control and abstract structure that undermined storytelling. The Atlantic labeled it "disastrous," attributing shortcomings to mishandled exposition and deviations from the source material that prioritized ambition over clarity. Additional critiques noted a "messy plot" lacking tension and intelligence, with excessive plot elements leading to inelegant dumps of information rather than graceful handling. Earlier films faced accusations of artistic limitations masked by thematic focus. In Pariah, some observers argued that social justice elements obscured "cinematic shortcomings," such as underdeveloped character dynamics beyond identity struggles. Mudbound drew isolated complaints of pedestrian execution despite its potent racism themes, with one review noting the film "stalls for moments at a time," disrupting momentum in its otherwise naturalistic portrayals. These critiques suggest recurring challenges in balancing ambitious narratives with tight pacing and structural discipline, contributing to perceptions of uneven artistic output post-breakthrough acclaim.

Controversies and Public Statements

In April 2019, at Film at Lincoln Center's 50th anniversary gala, Dee Rees delivered a speech condemning discriminatory theatrical practices that have historically and currently marginalized African American audiences and filmmakers. She described segregation-era incidents, such as her grandparents' need to watch films like The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) while monitoring exits for racial harassment, and her father's relegation to theater balconies in Nashville for screenings of West Side Story (1961). Rees extended this to modern examples, including deceptive ticket sales mislabeling Black-led films like Dead Presidents (1995) as unrelated genres to suppress attendance, false sold-out claims for Rosewood (1997) despite empty seats, and selective bag checks and dress code enforcement—such as "no hoodies"—targeting Black patrons at Straight Outta Compton (2015). Rees has frequently critiqued Hollywood's barriers for Black women directors, attributing funding struggles after Pariah (2011) to its focus on Black queer experiences, which she said limited opportunities compared to white male-led projects. In a 2017 interview, she highlighted how Black directors face skepticism about their ability to helm non-race-specific stories, stating that post-Pariah financiers questioned her versatility despite critical acclaim. She has advocated for expanded representation, praising institutions like for screening diverse works such as Pariah and (2017), while arguing that the industry's "golden age" narrative ignores Black exclusion. Promoting Mudbound, Rees connected its depiction of Southern racism to 2017 U.S. politics, asserting in November that Donald Trump's rise stemmed from white voters feeling the "American dream has been taken away from them" amid perceived grievances. She emphasized the film's role in confronting America's violent racial history without complacency, telling interviewers that audiences had been "lulled" by the absence of overt Jim Crow signs, yet underlying tensions persisted. These remarks positioned Mudbound as a timely critique amid events like Charlottesville. The 2018 Golden Globes nominations, which featured an all-male Best Director category excluding Rees alongside and others for films like , sparked industry backlash over gender and racial inequities. Rees addressed the snub on on January 11, 2018, framing it within broader recognition challenges for diverse filmmakers while focusing on her work's merits. Actress publicly supported her, stating in January that if Rees "was a white man she'd be directing the next Star Wars" and receiving unquestioned nominations.

Personal Life

Relationships and Family

Rees was born in , to a who worked as a and a mother who was employed as a scientist at . She has a named Sharonda. Rees came out as lesbian to her parents and siblings while in college, initially facing estrangement from her parents due to their reaction before later reconciling, as demonstrated by their joint viewing of her semi-autobiographical film Pariah (2011). Rees is married to author Sarah M. Broom, whom she met in 2012. The couple resides in Harlem, New York.

Views on Identity and Society

Dee Rees has expressed a focus on personal identity as a process of self-realization constrained by societal roles, particularly in racial and sexual contexts. In interviews about her debut feature Pariah (2011), she described the film's essence as a universal story of a young individual striving to define herself, stating that "if you strip away the race, if you strip away the sexuality, it's about the identity, it's about a girl trying to figure how to be herself." Yet, Rees's narratives consistently foreground the specific intersections of Blackness and queerness, portraying characters like the teenage protagonist Alike who navigate familial pressures, church influences, and peer dynamics while asserting lesbian desires in a Brooklyn setting saturated with Black cultural elements. Rees critiques societal barriers to authentic expression, especially in racially stratified environments. For (2017), she highlighted how characters in the Jim Crow-era are trapped by prescribed identities—farmers, soldiers, sharecroppers—unable to transcend racial and class-bound roles, with serving as a metaphor for the "muck of our own creation" in racial conflicts. She has attributed Hollywood's challenges for directors to racial s over gender imbalances, noting in 2020 that "the double standard to me is race" amid a creator-driven market favoring established voices. On broader societal issues, Rees addresses colorism, gender fluidity, and respectability politics through historical lenses, as in her HBO film Bessie (2015) about blues singer , where she explored the "intersectionality" of her subject's , , and feminine experiences, rejecting singular categorizations in favor of multifaceted portrayals. She advocates expanding representations of lives, emphasizing in 2021 that stories like Pariah resonate across demographics but require deliberate inclusion to counter mainstream neglect of such narratives. Rees has also pushed for minority inclusion in media, participating in panels on gender and racial representation data from organizations like the Geena Davis Institute, while cautioning against complacency in industry progress on and women's roles.

Awards and Nominations

Key Honors and Recognitions

Dee Rees earned the Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television and Mini-Series for her work on the HBO biopic Bessie (2015), awarded on February 6, 2016. The film received 12 Primetime Emmy Award nominations, securing four wins, including Outstanding Television Movie. For (2017), which Rees co-adapted and directed, she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay at the on January 23, 2018, marking her as the first African-American woman nominated in that category. Her debut feature Pariah (2011) premiered at the , where it won the Excellence in Cinematography Award in the U.S. Dramatic category. Earlier, her short film Pariah (2007) screened at over 40 international festivals and won the Audience Award at the Los Angeles Film Festival. Rees was also named a United States Artists Fellow in 2011, recognizing her contributions to film and video arts. In 2017, she received the Courage in Filmmaking Award from the organization for Mudbound and Pariah.

Filmography and Selected Works

Feature Films

Pariah (2011), Rees's debut , is a semi-autobiographical drama written and directed by her, centering on Alike, a 17-year-old Black teenager in grappling with her emerging identity amid family pressures and peer influences. The film premiered at the 2011 , where it received the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Performance. Starring as Alike and as her mother, it explores themes of self-discovery and cultural expectations with a runtime of 86 minutes and a under $500,000. Critics praised its authentic portrayal and Oduye's performance, earning a 95% approval rating on based on 122 reviews, though its theatrical release grossed only $14 million worldwide against limited distribution. Rees's second feature, (2017), is a co-written with and adapted from Hillary Jordan's 2008 novel, depicting interracial tensions between two sharecropping families—a white family led by Laura McAllan (Carey Mulligan) and a family headed by Hap Jackson (Rob Morgan)—in rural during and after . Filmed on location in with a budget of approximately $12 million, it features Mary J. Blige in her Academy Award-nominated supporting role as Florence Jackson and premiered at the 2017 before a release on November 17, 2017. The film's narrative, told through voiceover monologues, highlights racial injustice, poverty, and veteran trauma, receiving widespread acclaim with a 97% score from 202 reviews and nominations for four Oscars, including Best Supporting Actress for Blige and Best Adapted Screenplay. Despite critical success, its streaming model limited traditional data, though it drew over 2 million U.S. viewers in its first month per metrics. The Last Thing He Wanted (2020), Rees's third feature, is a adapted from Joan Didion's 1996 novel, co-written by Rees and Marco Villalobos, following journalist Elena McMahon () who abandons her 1984 U.S. coverage to aid her dying father, inadvertently entering Central American schemes involving figures like Treat Morrison (). Produced with a reported exceeding $20 million and shot in standing in for multiple locations, it premiered on on February 21, 2020. The adaptation diverges from the source by emphasizing action over Didion's stylistic prose, resulting in mixed-to-negative reception, including a 5% approval from 56 reviews citing narrative confusion and underdeveloped characters, alongside a 35/100 score. Roger Ebert's review described it as "incomprehensible," attributing issues to rushed editing and script deviations.

Television Directing Credits

Rees directed the second episode of Empire's second season, titled "Without a Country," which aired on October 7, 2015. In 2017, she helmed two hours of the ABC miniseries When We Rise, an eight-part production chronicling the gay rights movement. That same year, Rees wrote and directed the episode "Kill All Others" for Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams, an anthology series adapting the author's short stories; the episode explores themes of and political manipulation in a dystopian setting. For Netflix's in 2020, she directed season 1, episodes 5 ("Space Flag," aired May 29) and 6 ("The Spy," aired May 29), focusing on military satire involving inter-service rivalries and internal investigations. Rees directed the episode "Welcome Back, Mr. Brown" in season 2 of Upload (2022), a sci-fi comedy about digital afterlife. In 2023, she directed the episode "A Lovely Nowhere" for the Hulu series Saint X, while also serving as an executive producer on the psychological drama. Her most recent television directing work includes episodes 7 ("Part Seven") and 8 ("Part Eight") of Apple TV+'s Masters of the Air (2024), which depict World War II aerial combat and the experiences of the Tuskegee Airmen; she co-wrote one of the episodes.
YearSeriesDirected Episodes
2015S2E2: "Without a Country"
2017Two hours of the
2017Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams"Kill All Others" (S1E7)
2020S1E5: "Space Flag"; S1E6: "The Spy"
2022"Welcome Back, Mr. Brown" (S2)
2023"A Lovely Nowhere"
2024S1E7: "Part Seven"; S1E8: "Part Eight"

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