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Lisa Cholodenko, born on June 5th, 1964, in California, is an American screenwriter and director known for her film The Kids Are Alright. She has made two other feature length films and directed for multiple television shows. She primarily directs New Queer Cinema style films and television, with large themes surrounding feminism and the LGBTQIA+ community.

Early life and education
She came out at age 17, allowing her life experiences to influence her queer cinema films. Cholodenko came from a liberal Jewish family in a Liberal neighborhood in Los Angeles, California.

Cholodenko received a Bachelor of Arts in gender studies from San Francisco University, then later received a Master of Fine Arts in screenwriting and directing at Columbia University. It was during her time at Columbia where she made her first feature length film High Art (1998).

Cholodenko received inspiration for her film The Kids Are Alright through her own personal experiences. She created the plot for the film when she and her girlfriend had decided to have a baby through a sperm donor. The co-writer of The Kids Are Alright, Stuart Blumberg, was a previous sperm donor, allowing the two to provide both point of views for the film.

Awards and nominations
Cholodenko has headlined the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival (LLGFF), as well as the London Film Festival. Cholodenko has been nominated for a Golden Globe award for best screenplay for her film The Kids Are Alright, and won Best Screenplay for The Kids Are Alright at the Independent Spirit Awards. She has received the Waldo Sat Screenwriting award for her first work High Art at the Sundance Film Festival. She also received the Best First screenplay award for High Art at the Independent Spirit Awards.

Cholodenko’s television career has also provided her with some awards in return, including a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series for the HBO limited series Olive Kitteridge.

Selected awards

 * 1998: CICAE, Golden Camera (nominee) for Laurel Canyon
 * 1998: Sundance Film Festival, Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award for High Art
 * 1998: Sundance Film Festival, Grand Jury Prize (nominee) for High Art
 * 1999: Independent Spirit Awards, Best First Screenplay for High Art
 * 1999: Independent Spirit Awards, Best First Feature (nominee) for High Art – with Dolly Hall (producer), Jeffrey Kusama-Hinte (producer), Susan A. Stover (producer)
 * 2002: CICAE, CICAE Art Cinema Award (nominee) for Laurel Canyon
 * 2010: Humanitas Prize (nominee) for The Kids Are All Right – with Stuart Blumberg
 * 2010: New York Film Critics Circle, Best Screenplay for The Kids Are All Right – with Stuart Blumberg
 * 2010: Women in Film, Dorothy Arzner Directors Award
 * 2010: Women Film Critics Circle Awards, Best Woman Storyteller for The Kids Are All Right
 * 2011: Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay (nominee) for The Kids Are All Right – with Stuart Blumberg
 * 2011: BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay (nominee) for The Kids Are All Right – with Stuart Blumberg
 * 2011: Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay (nominee) for The Kids Are All Right – with Stuart Blumberg
 * 2011: Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy (nominee) for The Kids Are All Right
 * 2011: Independent Spirit Awards, Best Director (nominee) for The Kids Are All Right
 * 2011: Independent Spirit Awards, Best Screenplay for The Kids Are All Right – with Stuart Blumberg
 * 2011: Writers Guild of America, Best Original Screenplay (nominee) for The Kids Are All Right – with Stuart Blumberg
 * 2014: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special for Olive Kitteridge
 * 2014: Venice Film Festival, Silver Mouse for Olive Kitteridge
 * 2015: Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Miniseries or TV Film for Olive Kitteridge

Career
Cholodenko has made three feature length films, and has played a role in television as well. Her first feature length film High Art made in 1998, tells the story of a group of impoverished queer artists living in Manhattan. Her second feature was Laurel Canyon, made in 2002. The film surrounds the character Alex and their experiences with their bisexual mother-in-law. After she made her first two films, Cholodenko moved back to Los Angeles from New York, where she eventually wrote The Kids Are Alright (2010) with Stuart Blumberg. The Kids Are Alright demonstrates a conventional family unit, with the major theme being centered around a middle-aged relationship.

Upon entering the film and television industry, Cholodenko was automatically faced with the label of a 'lesbian director', bringing her many challenges in the industry. This label expected her to create only specialized queer and gay projects, however, she was able to move towards creating more mainstream projects as well.

Television
In her more recent works Olive Kitteridge and The Slap, Cholodenko challenges political devaluation that has been associated with these recent projects, by encouraging the work of other women and queer artists and filmmakers.

The Kids Are All Right
Lisa Cholodenko examines family values along with domestic-romantic relationships in this feminist romantic comedy, with a same-sex twist. The film explores the challenges between the same sex couple, as well as the newly developing relationship between their children and their sperm donor. Cholodenko followed a non-heterosexual plot, as well as a non-normative plot. For this production, Cholodenko used a more conservative Hollywood film industry so it would be able to reach a larger audience; as films with same sex scenes automatically receive a restricted rating. Though the film has a non-heterosexual plot, Cholodenko has admitted in interviews that a portion of the films budget was put towards finding a strong male lead that would attract and appeal to the male viewers of the film.

Personal Life
Cholodenko moved her way back to California in order to 'orient herself towards a world where having a family could happen.' Cholodenko lives in Sherman Oaks area of Los Angeles.