Catharine Axley

Biography

Catharine Axley is an independent documentary filmmaker and educator. Her most recent film is ATTLA, a feature documentary co-produced by ITVS and Vision Maker Media, that aired nationally in 2019 as part of PBS' Independent Lens series. ATTLA is a selectee of the 2020-2021 American Film Showcase program through the U.S. Department of State, and was awarded Best Documentary Feature at the 44th American Indian Film Festival and Best Indigenous Film at the 2019 BendFilm Festival, among others. Her films have played at festivals including the San Francisco International Film Festival, DOC NYC, Heartland International Film Festival, Harlem International Film Festival, Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour, and the United Nations Association Film Festival. She holds an M.F.A. from Stanford University and a B.A. in History and Ethnicity, Race & Migration from Yale University and has taught at the University of Kentucky and Spelman College and now teaches in the Bellisario College of Communications at Penn State University. With support from ITVS, she is currently developing a new feature documentary film for which is a Fall 2021 Logan Nonfiction Fellow. Catharine is a member of SAL Film Group, a small group of filmmakers who contribute time and resources to fellow makers in early stages of development and ideation.