JORDANA SPIRO
Jordana Spiro is a director, writer and actress. Her debut feature NIGHT COMES ON, which she directed and co-wrote premieres at the Sundance Film Festival in 2018. She developed the film at the Sundance Institute’s Directors, Screenwriters, and Composers Labs, and through a Cinereach development grant. Her short SKIN premiered at Sundance and won the Women In Film Productions award. Jordana earned her MFA in Film from Columbia University (2015) and received the Adrienne Shelly Foundation Fellowship. As an actress she has starred in numerous films and television series and is currently acting in her 2nd season of OZARK for Netflix. She studied drama at the Circle in the Square Theatre School in New York and was selected to join the Berlinale Talent Campus in Berlin.

Director’s statement
Angel's journey is an internal battle pushing her towards retribution for her mother's murder. She has convinced herself that this one devastating act, regardless of the consequences, will give her life meaning. This story began to develop for me during a period of time when I was feeling a slow and steady separation from myself and what I felt was meaningful. It was an exploration of how the desire for a purpose, to not feel adrift, can be so intense that one might cling to it regardless of the consequences. I wanted to explore this through a female protagonist who wasn't immediately emotionally available or easy to understand. During this time, I was volunteering with an organization called Peace4Kids, a place that provides a safe community for foster youth to grow and discover their significance. From these young women and men I learned so much about resilience and bravery. […]  I knew that this film could be one space for the strength and fierceness of their voice to ring out. But if I was going to set the film in this world, it was imperative to me that I wrote it with someone who had experienced aging out first hand. Through P4K, I met writer and foster youth advocate, Angelica Nwandu. She and I formed an instant connection and once we began writing together, the script started to take on its 3 dimensional shape. […]  This is a story about the possibility of rediscovery and the power of an honest connection to another human being. We contain within us a mingling of darkness, childhood innocence, the heartache of loss, the need to survive, and above all, love.