Minneapolis-based writer/director Nicole Brending is a graduate of Columbia University’s MFA Film Program. She is a three-time Jerome Foundation Grant recipient, a former McKnight Screenwriting Fellow, as well as the winner of the Ezra Litwak Award for Distinction in Screenwriting. Her feature project Preservation was the only American project selected for the 2011 Berlinale Co-Production Market and her short films have screened at over 50 festivals world-wide and garnered such awards as “Best of the Fest” (Palm Springs), “Best Short” (Hamburg and Q Cinema), the “Prix de Varti” (Ann Arbor) as well as a Student Emmy from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. In addition to her narrative work, she has made several experimental video pieces and conceived and directed music videos for artists such as Miss Guy and Universe Contest. She currently works as a screenwriter for film and television.