Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich
The moving image artists that move culture → Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich's films are concerned with Black women's experiences and Afro-Surrealism.
Artists
Who is Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich?
Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich is a filmmaker, visual artist, and educator, based in Brooklyn, New York. She acquired a Master of Fine Arts in 2015 from Temple University.
What are some defining characteristics of Hunt-Ehrlich's practice?
Primarily concerned with the themes of Black women's experiences, Afro-Surrealism and Pan-Africanism, Hunt-Ehrlich deals with stories that are tied to Caribbean heritage. She often derives the material for her creative projects from the literary works of Caribbean authors Suzanne Césaire, Édouard Glissant and Derek Walcott.
Writing represents an essential component of her creative process, a means of “communicating with the dead”. Hunt-Ehrlich's approach is methodical and meticulous, with writing serving the dual purpose of grounding her vision in text, but also providing the means for an honest exchange of ideas with her collaborators.
Her preferred medium is film, as her primary desire is to impress upon actors and viewers alike the materiality of the whole filmmaking process. While other filmmakers might espouse the freedom that digital affords during the creative process, Hunt-Ehrlich feels that this lack of limitation dissipates her own narrative focus. As a medium, celluloid is best suited to her vision of emphasizing the value of images of Black people. The interiority and the desires of her female characters emerge from a place of authenticity juxtaposed with the societal expectations that beset them from without. The dialectal tension that occurs between the former and latter finds its release through art.
Where have works by Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich been exhibited?
Hunt-Ehrlich has realized projects in Kingston, Jamaica, Miami, Florida and throughout the five boroughs of New York. She has presented screenings in major venues, festivals, and institutions worldwide such as the Guggenheim Museum in New York, Whitney Museum in New York, Tribeca Film Festival in New York, New Orleans Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Doclisboa, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and other spaces. In 2023, she screened her cinematic essay about Suzanne Césaire, Too Bright to See (Part I), at Pérez Art Museum Miami, and in 2024 it was screened at the Whitney Biennial in New York.
What awards and recognitions has Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich received?
Hunt-Ehrlich is the recipient of several awards: the Herb Alpert Award in 2023, Creative Capital Award in Experimental Film in 2022, Caribbean Cultural Institute Fellowship in 2022, Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship in 2020, Rema Hort Mann Award in 2019, UNDO/Ford Foundation Fellowship in 2019, TFI Future Filmmaker Award in 2015, and a Princess Grace Award Graduate Film Scholarship in 2014.
In 2020, she was a finalist for the Biennale College Cinema, from the Venice Film Festival. Hunt-Ehrlich has also received support from San Francisco Film Society's Rainin Grant for the screenwriting phase of the feature film The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire. Hunt-Ehrlich is also a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship in Film-Video in 2026.
Where can I find more information about Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich?
Hunt-Ehrlich maintains a site, an Instagram account, and a Vimeo channel.