https://www.emilieupczak.com/work daily 1.0 2026-02-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b48f1b925bf027fa4f2e041/1692631502339-4HJUVDI9I3XYBHQ11S3L/SILT_Morningstar+2.jpg Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b48f1b925bf027fa4f2e041/1695078650537-2PRWC727ZYQ10Y6UFK58/Screenshot+2023-09-18+at+5.10.31+PM.png Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b48f1b925bf027fa4f2e041/1695089463931-Y4R6F0CWV83FNLUGIBYZ/image-asset.png Work - dancing deities Dancing Deities is a documentary short that explores the music, dance and mythology of a rural Orisha community in Trinidad and Tobago. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b48f1b925bf027fa4f2e041/1695090535180-5OPZX75W0QZ9F6MHXMNP/Screenshot+2023-09-18+at+8.28.07+PM.png Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b48f1b925bf027fa4f2e041/1695090716967-TQW8MY2QSC6S5MW9QW3B/Screenshot%2B2023-09-18%2Bat%2B8.30.39%2BPM.jpg Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b48f1b925bf027fa4f2e041/1686169860474-J7N955D6WXO6U3UZ14C2/image-asset.png Work - The Controlled Wild This film explores human industry, expansion, boundaries, public and private land, wildlife, and wildlife corridors in the west. The idea originated as paintings by Nicholas Emery, which articulate contemporary urban realities that are themselves the legacy of historical industrial decisions that began in the late 1800’s in the west. In these paintings oil refineries, power lines, railroad lines, buildings, and barbed wire are juxtaposed with vast sprawling prairies, buffalo, elk, and wolves, that causes a dualistic tension. Emery began collaborating with filmmaker Emilie Upczak, who herself was making experimental shorts, and asking questions about identity and the land. Together they work to visually explore the tensions inherent in the intersection of the natural world and human industrial endeavor. Sound Design by Leland Burchmore Funded by INSITE, an initiative of RedLine Contemporary Art Center and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Partners include the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge and the University of Colorado Boulder Department of Cinema Studies and Moving Image Arts. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b48f1b925bf027fa4f2e041/1695183972740-AZCUHFMT6YW1OVV5NN0F/Screenshot+2023-09-19+at+10.26.01+PM.png Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b48f1b925bf027fa4f2e041/1695167956210-ORKHNN6AM9KRAT0FJ4I2/image-asset.jpeg Work - Macqueripe https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b48f1b925bf027fa4f2e041/1695337392409-9K14K9ELQ329QI4OQZQP/image-asset.png Work - Surreal Communion Review of the film “Eat, for This Is My Body”, directed by Michelange Quay. Written for the CRB: Caribbean Review of Books. 2008. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b48f1b925bf027fa4f2e041/1695337988916-PU1MAE0QUZ1BPBYR1J6B/Screenshot+2023-09-21+at+5.07.57+PM.png Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b48f1b925bf027fa4f2e041/1695348328070-THU64EOBZY9SLDT8A18X/Emilie-Upczak-Silt-1.jpg Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b48f1b925bf027fa4f2e041/1695350300118-TADTOEQXL7TMH4AF8V87/Screenshot+2023-09-21+at+5.19.06+PM.png Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b48f1b925bf027fa4f2e041/1736831187158-D9QP84SQGY9FANK32G0E/image-asset.jpg Work - knockabout The city streets of Port of Spain, and its varied cast of characters are the backdrop for this spoofy Trini-style-neo-noir. Philo, an expat detective turns to his previous partner Monique for help in solving a current high profile kidnapping case. But where this leads them is to the past, and an old rift between them regarding the disappearance of her brother, which Philo seeks to mend. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b48f1b925bf027fa4f2e041/1736833006907-NF2K7KZZDJXEUFV20K4M/Screenshot+2025-01-13+at+11.35.43%E2%80%AFPM.jpeg Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b48f1b925bf027fa4f2e041/1736833096383-SYZS9V50FAN1NMIXY7CM/Screenshot+2025-01-13+at+11.37.47+PM.png Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b48f1b925bf027fa4f2e041/1679494712325-HEZ95XL7BJ0009ODRJS2/Moving_Parts_Press_Photo-2+%281%29+copy.jpg Work - Moving Parts Narrative Feature 72’ / 2017 / T&T, US/ Drama English & Mandarin with English Subtitles After the death of her father, Zhenzhen is smuggled to the Caribbean island where her brother, Wei, works in construction. Wei gets her a job at a restaurant, but when the smuggler demands more cash, Zhenzhen is forced into a compromising position. Help comes unexpectedly from Evelyn, who runs an art gallery in the neighborhood—but the contrast between the dark rooms above the restaurant and the blindingly white gallery calls everyone’s innocence into question. Writer, Director, Producer Emilie Upczak Available on Amazon IMDB With a knack for storytelling, director Emilie Upczak has effectively employed an ever-consequential female gaze to look into the subject matter; and in the process, while dissecting the system of sex trade, she succinctly puts her point of view as a strong undercurrent of the narrative. Manoj Barpujari --fipresci https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b48f1b925bf027fa4f2e041/1769294869354-J0W3PA26VOGDTKK4DZ5L/Cracked+mud.jpeg Work https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b48f1b925bf027fa4f2e041/1769970499660-XCRMB4ADO3N6YDQQOJ0S/image-asset.jpeg Work - Grand Canyon Study #1 https://www.emilieupczak.com/about daily 0.75 2026-02-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b48f1b925bf027fa4f2e041/56433161-5b51-426b-9e79-1d401640ed3d/headshot_eupczak_2022.png.png About On location in Gallup, NM. Photo by: Laura Conway.