Anthony Onah
American film director
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Anthony Onah is a Nigerian-American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for his debut feature, The Price (2017), which premiered in competition at the 2017 South by Southwest Film Festival.[1]
University of California, Los Angeles (MFA)
Anthony Onah | |
|---|---|
Onah in 2024 | |
| Education | Harvard University (BA) University of California, Los Angeles (MFA) |
| Occupations | film director, screenwriter, producer |
Early life and education
Onah was born in Benue State, Nigeria. He grew up moving around with his ambassador father, Adoga Onah. After having lived in the Philippines, United Kingdom, Nigeria, and Togo, his family settled in Arlington, VA and Washington, D.C.[2][3]
Onah studied as an undergraduate at Harvard University, graduating with honors in biochemical sciences and writing a thesis titled A Neural Switch Controlling Phototactic Behavior in Drosophila.[4] He received the Pechet Foundation grant given to biochemistry majors and the Thomas T. Hoopes Prize for outstanding scholarly work.[5][6]
Accepted at Cambridge University for graduate school in genetics, Onah turned down admission, instead working as a scientist during which time he was published in The Journal of Neuroscience,[7][8] and subsequently chose to attend the MFA program in film directing at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he was admitted with a university fellowship.[3][2]
Career
Short films
In grad school at UCLA, Onah wrote and directed the short film The Cure, which was recognized by mtvU, won a 2008 Directors Guild of America Award,[9] and was featured in The Los Angeles Times.[10] Onah was subsequently named to Indiewire's list of 10 Exciting New Voices.[11] He was also awarded the Hollywood Foreign Press Award and the Edie and Lew Wasserman Fellowship. His next film True Colors world premiered at the 2011 Woodstock Film Festival. Onah then completed A History of Violence with renowned cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker[12] and Dara Ju, which won him a second student Directors Guild of America Award in 2012.[13][14][15] In 2012, he was also invited as a directing talent to the Berlin Talent Campus.[16] With Dara Ju, Onah went on to win the first Afrinolly Short Film Competition, Africa's most prestigious Short Film Competition awarding a $25,000 cash prize.[17]
After graduating film school, he was named to Filmmaker Magazine's list of 25 New Faces of Independent Film.
Onah's screenplay Goliath was one of 12 projects selected for the 2019 Sundance Screenwriters Lab.[18]
Feature films
The Price
Onah made his feature debut with The Price, which he wrote and directed. An expansion of his film school short Dara Ju, the feature was developed with the support of the Sundance Institute, IFP, Ford Foundation, and Film Independent.[19][20]
The Price (2017) premiered in the Narrative Feature Competition at the 2017 South by Southwest Film Festival.[21] Orion Pictures and Samuel Goldwyn Films acquired the film for theatrical distribution shortly thereafter.[22]
The film played numerous festivals including the 2017 Seattle International Film Festival, where is nominated for the FIPRESCI Prize in the New American Cinema Competition.[23] Onah also won the Craig Brewer Emerging Filmmaker Award for the film at the 2017 Indie Memphis Film Festival.[24] Upon its theatrical release, Variety magazine wrote that The Price is "a thoughtfully crafted, elegant-looking indie drama that suggests a bright future for Onah" and "a first feature so assured on nearly all levels."[25]
Goliath
Onah is in active development on the dramatic thriller Goliath, which was invited to the Sundance Screenwriters Lab.[26] The screenplay received a Sloan Foundation fellowship. [27]
Filmography
Short films
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Editor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Keepers | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2008 | The Cure | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2010 | Gimme Grace | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| 2011 | True Colors | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2012 | Dara Ju | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Feature films
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | The Price | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| TBA | Goliath | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Accolades
| Awards | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipients and nominees | Result |
| Directors Guild of America Awards[28] | November 8, 2012 | Student Film Award | Anthony Onah | Won |
| South by Southwest Film Festival[29] | March 14, 2017 | Grand Jury Prize | The Price | Nominated |
| Seattle International Film Festival[30] | June 11, 2017 | FIPRESCI Prize in the New American Cinema Competition | The Price | Nominated |
| Indie Memphis Film Festival[31] | November 5, 2017 | Craig Brewer Emerging Filmmaker Award | Anthony Onah | Won |