Melina Matsoukas is an American musci video director. She has collaborated with famous singers such as Rihanna, Beyonce and many more.
She recently made her feature directorial debut with the film Queen & Slim. So let’s find out some more about her life and career!
- Melina Matsoukas was born on January 14, 1981
- She is an American music video, film, commercial and television director
- She is a two-time Grammy Award winner
- Four-time MTV Video Music Awards winner
- For her “We Found Love” and “Formation” music videos
- She was honored with the Franklin J. Schaffner Alumni Medal by the American Film Institute in 2019
- Matsoukas grew up in Co-op City a housing development in the Bronx
- Her father worked as a carpenter
- Her mother taught math in a local high school
- When Matsoukas was eight, the family moved to Hackensack, New Jersey
- Her father is of half-Greek and half-Jewish descent
- Her mother is of African-Cuban and Jamaican descent
- Both her name and surname are Greek: Μελίνα Ματσούκα
- She earned her degree at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts
- She completed her graduate work at the AFI Conservatory with an MFA in cinematography
- Her graduate thesis was on music videos
- Matsoukas started out at Black Dog Film, then the now-defunct Gorilla Flix film production company
- She is currently a director at Prettybird
- Which she has been signed to since 2011
- Her work is described as “chock full of bright colors or crisp black and white images, smooth spotlights, and tasteful retro video models”
- Matsoukas says that expensive equipment is not necessary for a quality video and one should never think that way
- “A good video has the right visuals, a well conceptualised story and should be exciting and elicit reaction”
- In an interview for Venus Zine’s Fall 2010 issue, she says about being part of the music video world, “I love it. The quick turnaround, the creativity”
- In 2016 and 2017, Matsoukas directed several episodes of the critically and publicly acclaimed television series Master of None and Insecure
- Matsoukas made her directorial debut in film with Queen & Slim
- Starring Jodie Turner-Smith and Daniel Kaluuya
- Written by Lena Waithe
- It is scheduled to be released on November 27, 2019, by Universal Pictures
- She has directed many music videos of superstar Beyonce
- These include Upgrade U, Why Don’t You Love Me, Pretty Hurts, Formation
- She has also worked with superstars as Leona Lewis, Whitney Huston, Rihanna, Katy Perry and many more
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