Birthday Girl

Directed by Portia A. Buckley

Type of Project: Drama
Length: 16:38
Producer: Michael Lindley
Editor: Harry Cepka
Cinematographer: Adric Watson
Sound Design: Andrew White  

‘Birthday Girl’ follows ‘B’, a middle aged woman, as she struggles to balance her role as a mother to an overprotective son with her own love life. The film explores what happens when these two worlds collide.

Graduate
pab463@nuy.edu

Portia A. Buckley is a British film-maker, currently completing her MFA in Writing & Directing Film at Tisch, NYU. Raised in London, she graduated from the prestigious Courtauld Institute of Art, receiving a Distinction for her Masters, ‘Documentary, Photography & Film in Global Contemporary Art.’ Prior to this she completed an Art Foundation at Camberwell College of Art in London, where she received a Distinction.

Portia is interested in merging the line between documentary and fiction as a way of highlighting contemporary socio-economic issues. Drawn by the stories of opioid addictions adversely affecting rural towns, Portia travelled to Ireland and embedded herself within the local community, where she wrote/directed the short 'Radiator' (2017), which premiered at the Regent Street Cinema at the Irish Film Festival London. ‘Radiator’ is currently online at NOWNESS as part of their top tier content.

Portia has just completed her latest, Kodak sponsored and BFI funded short, 'Birthday Girl' (2019), in Moss Side, Manchester, a place synonymous with stories of gang culture, rife amongst a small, ethnically diverse community. Through Portia’s participation with the community, her aim is to give an authentic representation of a resilient female character and portray a notorious area of England that has never been depicted on screen. ‘Birthday Girl’ premiered at Leeds International Film Festival in November 2019 in the North of England.

Portia’s first feature ‘Princess Road’ is currently in development, based on the material explored in her most recent short, ‘Birthday Girl.’