Vivian Norris de
Montaigu is based in Paris and holds a PhD, focusing on Cinema
Studies, and wrote a dissertation on Globalization and Media.
Currently she is an independent producer on a feature film about
Muhammad Yunus and Microcredit as well as directing and producing a
documentary on the life of Obama's mother, Ann Dunham. She has
directed/produced shorts, docs and written screenplays since
1990.
Dr. Norris de Montaigu has lived in and travelled to many different
parts of the world looking at the effect Cinema has on societies,
and how commercial (Hollywood) cinema can be used (or abused) in
terms of communicating social messages. She has written about and
lectured on the use of entertainment to help create a better world
and the educational use of cinema in classroom for the past two
decades at the university level and at film festivals (University
of Texas, Rome Filmstudio festival, HEC Business school,...).
Post-doc research includes the future of Digital Distribution, and
issues related to Biotechnology and the Oil Industry.
She works as an independent producer and founded Vigilante VNM
productions to produce high quality documentaries and
co-productions.
With one foot always in the non-profit and development world,
Dr.Norris de Montaigu has worked with those in need, focusing on
women, teen mothers, microcredit and film. She has straddled the
worlds of contemporary art and film for the last twenty-five years,
curating both art collections, cultural exchanges and film
festivals. Dr. Norris de Montaigu is co-producing a feature film
based on the uplifting work of the Grameen microcredit Bank and
Muhammad Yunus and the women who are empowered by microcredit. The
team works closely with Muhammad Yunus and Grameen. She more
recently began shooting a documentary with Prof. Gloria Origgi of
CNRS, on how the extraordinary life of Obama's mother, Ann Dunham,
paralleled major social and cultural changes of the past fifty
years.
Dr. Norris de Montaigu has also worked creating bridges between the
film industry and education side, lecturing on uses of cinema in
the classroom, helping create a Film Studies program and organizing
conferences linked to film festivals. She co-founded a festival
which focus on cinema by women directors and has curated other
festivals internationally. Dr. Norris de Montaigu supports the
citizen photo news site demotix.com and is currently focused on
alternative distribution and networking between NGOs, grassroots
organizations, and others, in order to help audiences access vital
content.
Dr.Norris de Montaigu's Post-doc research into the Future of
Digital Distribution, and the Oil and Biotechnology Industries link
the economic, social and ethical realities brought about by a world
which is both a beneficiary and victim of globalization. She has
also been an Outsider Art enthusiast since she first saw works by
Adolf Wolfli in Europe in 1987, collecting works by Darger,
Widener, and Steffan.
She has lived in Paris for many years, as well as in Rome, Oslo,
Seattle, and LA along with her native Texas.