UCM Gallery's visiting lectures series hosts filmmaker Ky Dickens

Aug 30, 2010, 10:13 AM

Ky Dickens is an award winning documentary filmmaker and will be at UCM Saturday Sept. 11. (Submitted Photo)
WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- The UCM Gallery of Art and Design and Visiting Artist Lecture Series will host award winning documentary filmmaker Ky Dickens Saturday, Sept. 11.

A lecture and round table discussion, moderated by Nancy Weant, faculty member of the UCM Department of Art and Design and Center for Women’s Studies, is planned for noon in Lovinger 1290 in support of Dickens’ film, “Fish Out of Water.” Local and regional participants will discuss the misinterpretation of homosexuality and the Bible. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Dickens began her film career at CBS, working as a camera operator for the evening news. In 2001 she began filming music videos and independent films, and in 2006 she formed her own production company, Yellow Wing Productions.

Under the umbrella of Yellow Wing Productions, Dickens directed short films for the About Face Theater, Equality Illinois and Yale University. She produced two independent films, including “Range Life,” written and directed by Robert Trondson, and “Ante Meridiem,” written and directed by Russ Blemker. She also has shot video of a wide variety of live musicians, including Concrete Blonde, Nina Hagen, Cat Power, Amy Ray, Peaches and many others.

In 2009, Yellow Wing Productions released Dickens’ first feature-length directorial debut, “Fish Out of Water,” which quickly received both national and international distribution representation. The film had a powerful run on the festival circuit, receiving the After Ellen prize for the Best Festival Release with a Lesbian Character and the Jury Prize for Best Documentary at Chicago’s Reeling Film Festival. It also received the Audience Award runner up prize at the Tallgrass Film Festival was a showcase film at Rhode Island International Film Festival.

Dickens graduated with Magna Cum Laude honors from Vanderbilt University with a double major in sociology and communications and a minor in fine art.

Dickens’ lecture is in conjunction with the Missouri Valley Community Action Agency’s Show Me Social Justice International Film Festival. “Fish Out of Water” also will be screened at 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 11, at the Carmike Theaters, 386 Hawthorne Blvd. in Warrensburg.