User:Montana84/Paige Williams

=Paige Williams= Paige Williams (born March 2, 1977), is an American television and film producer, directer, editor, and cinematographer based in Missoula, Montana and Los Angeles, California. She has directed several social documentaries:   Mississippi Queen (2009) - about LGBT families in the Deep South,   From Place to Place (2011) - changing America’s foster care system,   Step By Step (2009) - about the reforestation of Haiti,  and The Spirit of the Valley (2010) - helping people through the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Haiti

Background
Paige Williams was born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi and later moved to Clinton, Mississippi when she was eight years old. She graduated from Clinton High School where she was involved in band and the Attaché Show Choir, a national award-winning competitive show choir group at Clinton High School, playing saxophone. She won multiple awards in drama, Lincoln-Douglas debate, impromptu and extemporaneous speaking competitions.

In 1999, Williams graduated from Millsaps College, a private liberal arts college located in Jackson, Mississippi with a B.A. in Philosophy and an emphasis in Women's Studies. She received Best Actress in a supporting roll for her portrayal of Inez in Sartre’s "No Exit."

Williams moved to Missoula, Montana in 1999 and worked as a social worker for adults with disabilities at Opportunity Resources. In 2003, Williams was accepted into the MFA in Directing at The University of Montana. In 2004, Williams entered the MFA in Digital Filmmaking program and graduated from The University of Montana in 2006 with an MA in Theater along with an MFA in Film-making.

In August 2006, Williams formed the motion picture company, Porch Productions. Matthew Anderson joined the company as co-owner in 2009.

Work
In 2007, Williams began production of Mississippi Queen, her first feature documentary. This documentary tells the story of Paige Williams as she goes home to Mississippi to confront her ex gay minister parents and interview southerners on both sides of the issue. The film first screened in 2009 at The Delta International Film Festival, winning the Best Documentary Award. By December 2010, Mississippi Queen has won five awards and screened at 23 film festivals. Mississippi Queen is currently being developed into a television series.

Between 2008-2010, Williams co-produced and directed three short-documentary films: The Spirit of the Valley, Step By Step and From Place to Place: The Short Film, and one narrative short film entitled Bridesmaid.


 * From Place to Place: The Short Film features the stories of 6 young adults who recently aged out of Montana’s foster care system and the social workers who are changing the child welfare system to have better results for youth who age out of the system. The short film is available as a part of a community forum educational series created in collaboration with "Youth in Action" based in Washington, DC, as well as Porch Productions.

In 2009, Williams directed Step By Step featuring the work of Hôpital Albert Schweitzer Haiti’s reforestation project - Haitian Timber Reintroduction Program (also known as HTRIP). The film premiered at The Green Film Festival in Seoul, Korea.

In 2010, she directed The Spirit of the Valley featuring the work and history of Hôpital Albert Schweitzer Haiti that was founded in 1956 by Larry & Gwen Mellon in the Central Artibonite Valley of Haiti, and also their response to Haiti’s earthquake on January 20, 2010. The film premiered at the Montana Cine Film Festival in Missoula, Montana.

In 2011, Williams’ second feature documentary, From Place to Place: The Movie, will be released. The film follows Mandy and Raif for two years as they age out of Montana’s foster care system, then go to Capitol Hill to change the system that raised them, helping create radical foster care reform.