ADETORO
MAKINDE
Director
~ Writer ~ Producer ~Actress
A
consummate artist on stage, film and television, Adetoro is
a graduate of Georgetown University and the Duke Ellington School
of the Arts in Washington, D.C. She began her career as an actress,
where her performances received reviews of “excellent”
and “compelling” by The New York Times and The Washington
Post, respectively. However, disheartened by the continual lack
of opportunities as an actress, she expanded her efforts in
2000 and created the production company Backdoor Films.
In
its debut production, she wrote, starred and produced the short
film "For Charity’s Sake" (2000). Building on
the momentum of her newfound career, the following year, she
made the highly successful award-winning short, "WHOA"
(2001). The film went on to screen at over 50 venues worldwide
including the Sundance Film Festival, SXSW, AFI Fest, Aspen
Shortfest and LA Film Festival. Acquired for distribution by
Doug Liman's Hynotic, the film qualified her to take on the
Universal Pictures "Chrysler Million Dollar Film Festival:
Extreme Filmmaking Challenge", where 5 filmmakers where
selected to write, cast, shoot, edit and premiere a short film,
"Cop Block" (2002) in ten days during the Cannes Film
Festival. The next project "3
Minutes" (2003) was
produced as an invitation to participate in a filmmaker mentorship
program through Fox Searchlight.
Going
back to her independent roots, she once again wore multiple
hats as actress, director, writer and producer on the award-winning
short, “In Time” (2005). The film premiered at the
2005 Sundance Film Festival and continued to screen world-wide
including on HBO and Cinemax. For her acting performance, Makinde
was voted Best International Actress by the Nigerian Entertainment
Awards. Following this effort, she wrote, directed and produced
the short film "Steep" (2007) which premiered at the
2007 Chicago International Film Festival.
Currently,
her debut feature screenplay, "The American Can",
is in development with Sony Pictures and Overbrook Entertainment
as a star vehicle for Will Smith and directed by John Lee Hancock
of "The Blindside". The screenplay made it to the
final rounds of the Sundance Institute Screenwriter’s
Lab where the following comment was made:
"It
really is a terrific and powerful script Adetoro. The story
that you are telling is AMAZING. I'm definitely not just
saying that -- we considered it through and through... I
was actually very surprised by how moving it was. Not only
that-- for being a drama, it sure is action-packed. Very
suspenseful... and very well written on the page to show
that. And of course, feel free to submit projects to us
in the future; we're big fans of yours over here, so the
door is always always open."
Among
her many honors, she was invited by Kodak to an emerging filmmaker
program at the Sundance Film Festival, selected to participate
in a creative assignment for Nickelodeon, is a grant recipient
of the IFP:NY /New York State Council on the Arts Electronic
Film & Media Program, BMW/Blackfilm.com Filmmaker Award
and is a Film Independent Project:Involve Fellow. Most recently,
she was a finalist in the Lifetime Movie Network Every Women’s
Film Competition celebrating emerging women filmmakers and her
short “It Takes A Village” (2008) was the New York
State winner of the Chase Legacy Film Challenge presented by
Chase Bank, Blackfilm.com, HBO and Kodak.
Behind
the scenes, she was an Executive Assistant in Business Affairs
at Paramount Pictures on television shows including "Everybody
Hates Chris", "Medium", and "NCIS",
and as an Assistant to the Producer on the Fox pilot, "Supreme
Courtships". Frequently collaborating with fellow filmmakers,
Makinde has served as Producer, Casting Director and/or Production
Coordinator on several independent films, including, "Echelon
Conspiracy" starring Martin Sheen, Ed Burns and Ving Rhames,
"Let’s Talk" for BET Films and "A Good
Day To Be Black And Sexy" which premiered at the 2008 Sundance
Film Festival and was acquired by Magnolia Pictures. Among
her many hats, she also conducts workshops for children and
adults in acting and filmmaking, and was recently invited to
teach a 2-day production workshop in South Africa.
As
an artist, her unique voice is a beguiling breath of fresh air
as she aims to entertain, inform and bring about change. Not
one to back away from a creative challenge, her passion for
storytelling and truth will serve to offer a fresh perspective
to the world of cinema.
