Emilie’s films are grounded in realism and hybridity, where she weaves together fiction and nonfiction, starting with real-life accounts and true stories, which are then reimagined to capture emotional truths and foster empathy for people and place. She collaborates with both professional actors and non-actors and is committed to working closely with members of the communities featured in her films. Emilie works to elevate female-driven stories, ensuring that women are represented on both sides of the camera and her projects include a diverse range of narrative, experimental, and documentary feature and short films, public video projections, and digital exhibitions.
An award-winning filmmaker, a Rotterdam Producers Lab alumni and an Andy Warhol Foundation grant recipient, she began her filmmaking career while living in Trinidad and Tobago for a decade, where she served as Creative Director for the trinidad+tobago film festival and led initiatives like the Caribbean Film Database and the Caribbean Film Mart. In 2017, she released her debut narrative feature, Moving Parts, which tackles human smuggling and sex trafficking in the capital city, Port of Spain (available through the distributor, Indiepix).
In 2023, Emilie was awarded the Digital Humanities Fellowship from the University of Colorado, Boulder, to develop a digital exhibition based on the archive of Ann Roy, a feminist who worked to bridge the cultures of Mexico and the US (www.theannroycollection.com). Currently, she is in post-production on Leo Sacer, a social documentary exploring the complex interactions between residents of a small mountain community and a relocated mountain lion.
Emilie is also developing her second feature, an alt-western indie / eco-drama set in the near future on the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. She released a proof of concept called Silt (2022) which premiered at the Independent Film Festival Boston and won the Special Jury Award. It has since played at festivals such as Chicago Underground, Charlotte, Hawaii, Denver, Dallas, Santa Fe, and the Mother Tongue Film Festival at the Smithsonian. It was also awarded a Climate Resiliency & Storytelling award by FEMA and the Jury Prize at Borders/No Borders Film Festival in Houston.
Originally from Colorado, Emilie now lives in Oklahoma and teaches at the University of Oklahoma.