Tribeca All Access® 2009
Tanya Hamilton has received writing grants from the Pew Fellowship in the Arts Grant, Five-County Arts Grants of the Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellowship. For her short film,, Hamilton won the Best Short Film prize at the 1996 Berlin International Film Festival, the 1997 New Line Cinema award, and the Director's Guild of America Award for best female director. She is currently in production for her debut feature, Stringbean & Marcus, starring Mos Def, Sophie Okonedo, John Legend, and Snoop Dogg. Developed at the Sundance Institute's Filmmaking and Writing Labs, Stringbean & Marcus received production grants from the Minnesota Film Fund and the Producers Club of Maryland. Hamilton is a graduate of Columbia University's Division of FIlm and Cooper Union School of Art.
When haunting memories of a painful past threaten her future, a Rwandan refugee tries to end the cycle of violence by taking matters into her own hands.