Amy Williams

Amy Morrison Williams was born in Memphis, Tenn. but grew up on New York City's Lower East Side in the days when it was notorious for drugs and crime, but was still home to neighborhoods, including hers East 10th Street and Avenue C, PS 61 on East 12th Street, JHS 56 on Clinton and Henry streets, and IS 17 in Chelsea. Her father, a college professor, was a Ph.D. in German literature; a poet, writer and photographer, he had a wide range of gifts and interests, including films and movie making. Her mother worked as a transcriber and typesetter before becoming an accidental journalist and writer. Dr. Morrison was writing a critical work about Franz Kafka when he was severely injured in 1970 in Manhattan. Much of this story was told in Williams' first film, "The Morrison Project," which won Best Documentary and the Golden Starfish Award at The Hamptons Film Festival in 2003. With enormous passion for film and storytelling in her blood, even as a girl Williams gravitated to movie theaters as an escape from her childhood demons, and voraciously consuming movies before she was in double digits. She was unaware of her own eye for photography until she was an adult, when she learned to use the tools of the trade,working as a wedding photographer and videographer. But it was when she was living in Chapel Hill, N.C., that her thirst to make films grew, and she studied at Duke University's Center for Documentary Studies with the idea of making a documentary and beyond. Since her best documentary win at The Hamptons Film Festival, she has written her first screenplay and is working to build a topnotch team to bring the script to the screen and to life. While she has other projects completed and in the works, making this feature film is a most important goal in her life. Williams counts Martin Scorsese, Lee Daniels, Quentin Tarantino and the Coen Brothers as some of her biggest influences. Simultaneously, she has been working as a producer, raising 90 percent of the multi-million dollar funding for "Mothers and Daughters" while also acquiring domestic distribution and sales for the film, which stars Susan Sarandon, Sharon Stone, Christina Ricci, Courteney Cox and others. She also closed funding for "The Last Treasure Hunt," a festival film, and helped fund "Respire," a powerful short film she is directing about the epidemic of date rape, created solely by victims. She also is working on two children's films with producer/writer Heidi Swan, "Fourth of July Weekend," and "Kickback." Other projects include "The Dead Man," to be directed by Michael Costner and Ryan Holly. On the documentary side, Williams has shot and directed most of her film about life and death, "In the End," which is currently in post. Williams is a hardworking mom, a professional photographer as well as producer, director and writer. She runs, enjoys yoga and exercise, loves to cook and paint for fun, and is an ardent advocate for animals. She and her husband, Neil Williams, live in Malibu, California and have two daughters.