Biography
A graduate of NYU’s noted Tisch School of the Arts, Nancy hit it out of the ballpark when her film True Love took the top prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 1989. Born in the Bronx, New York, to Argentine and Sicilian immigrant parents, Nancy used her unique perspective on the world to comedic effect in her debut feature which The New York Times called an “exuberant, raucously funny film about a big Italian-American wedding and all its abundant fallout. If Moonstruck had been made by, for and about real people, it might have been a lot like True Love.”
Together with husband and producing/writing partner Rich Guay, Nancy’s work foregrounds the female perspective and explores topics like unrequited love (Dogfight), three-generations of Italian-American women (Household Saints), abortion (If These Walls Could Talk), working mothers (The 24-Hour Woman), undocumented workers (Dirt) and estranged sisters (Union Square).
Overview of the Archive
Savoca’s archive represents nearly three decades of genuine indie filmmaking and includes notes, notebooks, photos, and script drafts.
Savoca Symposium
The 2019 symposium Character Driven: Exploring the Career and Archives of Nancy Savoca featured remarks from professor Giorgio Bertellini and panelists included entertainment lawyer Susan Bodine, City College of New York professor Jerry Carlson, Columbia University professor and fellow maverick Ira Deutchman, producer and screenwriter Richard Guay and University of Rhode Island assistant professor Justin Wyatt.
In conjunction with the Cinetopia Film Festival, the symposium included screenings of Household Saints and Dogfight. Savoca was the Guest of Honor and we were thankful both she and Richard Guay could attend the ribbon cutting for the exhibit True to Life: Film Director Nancy Savoca’s Quest for Authenticity.
Screen Arts Mavericks & Makers 