Dreaming about running with horses in a 2023 Photo by Keana Willis.
Teeny is my real last name.
It means “figgy” in Arabic, so it’s silly in two languages. ;-)
I make things and tell stories with heart and truth, whether film, writing, podcast, or design. I’m interested in identity, gender/sexuality, and community/culture.
Most movies and media were prohibited where I grew up so it’s ironic that…
I am a filmmaker now. Garbage in, garbage out. My grandfather pastored a small Seattle church in a small sect that banned women-in-pants and outsider friendships. One Sunday evening, the youth pastor held church outside around a burn barrel. Everyone else relinquished their secular CDs to the flames. I came empty-handed; I owned nothing secular to toss.
Unsatisfied with the quality of permissible media, I enrolled at NYU Film School for Screenwriting and Film/TV, where I watched my first rated R film, Rosemary’s Baby. I set out to change art, but instead, art changed me. I left the faith.
To quell the cacophony of competing feelings inside me, I turned the camera inward for my first feature documentary, BIBLE QUIZ. It is about the evangelical sport of Bible memorization but is a tender, heartfelt coming-of-age journey about romance, sexuality, and identity.
BIBLE QUIZ won the Slamdance Grand Jury Award (and nine other Grand Jury festival awards see below), played on Netflix, in Alamo Draft movie theaters in seven cities, on Kanopy, on the Sundance Channel Global in 20+ countries, and selected for the US State Department’s “American Film Showcase.” Hollywood Reporter called it "instantly lovable,” the LA Times said it was “Smart, funny, and disarming,” and the San Francisco Bay Guardian said it “stuck with me like no other film this year…a film that people will remember for years to come.” I’m working on a fiction adaptation of this story now.
After, I wondered how females in other strict, insular faiths worked through their feelings about gender in religion.
I was inspired by the women behind the first all-female Hasidic rock band Bulletproof Stockings for my second feature documentary, BULLETPROOF STOCKINGS. I’m in post-production now on it. It won The Doc-a-chusetts Pitch at Salem Film Fest, the LEF Moving Image grant, and Cambridge art grants, and was a finalist at Fork Films and Chicken & Egg.
Also, on this topic, I’ve written a short narrative script PUBLIC POOL about a Hasidic girl and an unlikely friendship at the public pool with subtle queer undertones. It won many screenplay awards and was invited to the Berlin Film Festival’s Berlinale Talents, and I want to see it made.
I always aimed to make a film trilogy about gender/women in the Abrahamic religions. After I came out, I knew my third film needed to touch upon queerness and it’s intersectionality with religion. My third and final film in the project is a short documentary Unity Mosque, a queer-affirming, gender-equal, non-hierarchical mosque in Toronto, Canada. To say Imam El Faouk and his co-founder/husband Troy Jackson bring joy to their community and are inspiring is an understatement to say the least. The film can be found on Good Docs, but before that, it was a festival darling and played the big queer fests, including Inside Out, Outfest, NewFest, along with many other queer and regular film festivals.
I also work in narrative film. I recently finished post-production on a short narrative, a teen comedy about periods that will play on a major streamer (will be announced soon!). I’ve also written a short narrative script PUBLIC POOL about a Hasidic girl and an unlikely friendship at the public pool with subtle queer undertones. It won many screenplay awards and was invited to the Berlin Film Festival’s Berlinale Talents, and I want to see it made.
Here’s me wearing a blazer, a professional article of clothing, but I’m also smiling because, you know, I’m fun like that. Circa 2019.
Currently, I have a few projects in the works:
I’m making a short film about Egyptian queer activist Sarah Hegazi. Her activism and death touched me and many other Queer folx and Arabs around the world. This work has been supported by the IDA (International Documentary Association), InsideOut re:Focus Grant, PGA Create, and Breaking Through The Lens.
I’m also in post-production on a new, whimsical, experimental memoir podcast series for ESPN 30 for 30 called Girl V Horse (working title), targeting a 2024 release. The film chronicles my quest to race an ultramarathon against a horse…yes, you read that right: race as in running. It’s part fun, part proving an evolutionary theory, and part proving I’m still strong after a chilling health struggle. In February 2020, the film was invited to the Tribeca Film Institute If/Then Pitch at the Big Sky Film Festival.
I also make branded projects, short films and series, and I like to collaborate. I just finished COMMUNAL FUTURES, a short docs-series about communal collectives for the co-living company The Collective. I also worked for The HuffPost (formerly The Huffington Post) and Bloomberg News Video.
Want to collaborate?
Bop me an email and let’s get the wheels turning!
Here I am directing UNITY MOSQUE not wearing a mask in the ancient era of 2019 B.C. (Before Covid)
Bits and bobs:
I’m nomadic, but my likely haunts are Brooklyn, Los Angeles, Beirut, & Seattle
Lebanon & the United States both claim me as a citizen of their lands.
I grew up as a forest child in the greens of Washington State.
Nasty Ribbons is my other creative outlet. I create and sell feminist award ribbons, enamel pins, parody pageant sashes, and accessories. They’ve been featured in the likes of BUST magazine, USA Today, Culture Trip & more.
I also set design and graphic design. Ask me for my portfolio. Some clients include BOYS IN THE HALL with Tom Brokhaw, Little Caesars, Dress Barn, mtvU, Microsoft, Miller High Life, OralB, Fidelity Investments, MacGuffin Films, AARP, McDonald's, Dove, Subway, Verizon, Whiskas, Celebrex, Del Taco, and indie features IN OUR NATURE and CONTEST.
I like to run. A lot. I’ve run one fifty-mile ultramarathon against horses, three marathons, countless half marathons, am in two running clubs (Front Runners and CHRC), and I have grand and very serious plans to race a marathon against a horse.
I’ve held local political office for two terms.
I performed and invented musical glass instruments with the MIT Glass Band
I’ve officiated four weddings to date.
I was the treasurer of the Hajji Baba Rug Club at the National Fine Arts Club.
I like puns.
RESUME or CURRICULUM VITAE available on request.
Nicole has raced two marathons and countless half marathons, great professional prep because let’s be honest, making a film is pretty much a marathon.
AWARDS & RESIDENCIES:
RECOGNITION FOR THE SARAH HEGAZI DOCUMENTARY
Work-in-Progress
2020 IDA (Independent Documentary Association) Enterprise Development Grant
InsideOut Re:Focus Grant
Breaking Through the Lens
PGA Create Lab
AWARDS FOR UNITY MOSQUE
Best Direction, LGBT Toronto Film Festival
FILM RECOGNITION FOR GIRL V HORSE
2020 Tribeca If/Then Pitch at Big Sky Film Festival
FILM RECOGNITION FOR BULLETPROOF STOCKINGS
2019 Winner at The Doc-a-chusetts Pitch at Salem Film Fest
LEF Moving Image grant
Cambridge art grants
Finalist at Fork Films
Finalist Chicken & Egg.
FILM AWARDS FOR BIBLE QUIZ
2014-2015 Selected as American Cultural Envoy/Film Ambassador – US State Department (American Film Showcase)
2013 Grand Jury Sparky Award for Best Feature Documentary – Slamdance Film Festival2013
Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary – United Film Festival San Francisco2014
Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary – Big Muddy Film Festival2014
Silver Doc SpIFFY Award for Best Documentary – Spokane International Film Festival
2013 Local Audience Choice Award – Tacoma Film Festival
2014 Audience Award – Big Muddy Film Festival
2014 Most Promising Filmmaker – Spokane International Film Festival
2013 Emerging Filmmaker Award – Chagrin Documentary Film Festival
SCREENWRITING AWARDS FOR PUBLIC POOL (in development)
2016 Berlinale Talents Short Film Station – Berlin, Germany
2016 Phoenix Film Festival Short Script Winner
2016 CA Women’s Film Festival Short Script Winner
2016 Woods Hole Film Festival Short Script Finalist
2016 Bare Bones Film Festival Short Script Finalist
2016 All Sport Film Festival Short Script Finalist
2016 Screencraft Short Script Semi-Finalist
AWARD FOR SPECIAL REPORT: REAL ZOMBIES IN BROOKLYN
2011 Grand Jury Award – Zed Fest, Hollywood, CA
PLAYWRITING AWARDS:
2006 New South Young Playwrights Award (for “Queen of the Arctic Nile”) – Horizon Theatre
ARTIST AWARDS/GRANTS:
2016 LEF Moving Image Pre-Production Grant
2016 Cambridge Arts
2015 MIT Council for the Arts
2014 MIT Council for the Arts
2011 Artist Trust GAP Award/Grant
2011 Tacoma Arts Commission Grant
OTHER AWARDS:
Spoonflower Fabric Design Winner
Cinereach Reach Film Fellowship Finalist
NYU Tisch School of the Arts Trustee Scholarship
Miss Pierce County Scholarship
ARTIST FELLOWSHIPS & RESIDENCIES:
2016 Berlinale Talents (selected for the short film station)
2016 Art Kibbutz Residency
2015 Berlinale Talents
2015 Brushcreek Foundation for the Arts Residency
2014 Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Residency
© Nicole Teeny, 2010–2023. All rights reserved.