Jodie Foster has culminated her experience as an actress into directing and will explore how she has forged a position as an esteemed filmmaker in both film and television through a conversation with filmmaker Julie Taymor.

Jodie Foster
Appearing in more than 40 films, Jodie Foster’s performances in The Accused and The Silence of the Lambs earned her two Academy Awards® for Best Actress. She continued her critical success with films like Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1975) and Martin Scorsese’s iconic Taxi Driver (1976). More recently, she has appeared in Neil Blomkamp’s Elysium, Roman Planski’s Carnage for which she received a Golden Globe Award nomination, and The Brave One for which she received a Golden Globe Award nomination. Foster made her television directorial debut for the acclaimed Netflix series, Orange is the New Black quickly followed by House of Cards, receiving an Emmy Award Nomination and a Director’s Guild Award Nomination, respectively. Foster founded Egg Pictures in 1992, producing such films as Nell (1994), which earned her an Academy Award® nomination for Best Actress and the Showtime telefilm The Baby Dance (1998) which received a Peabody Award, four Emmy® Award nominations and three Golden Globe® Award nominations.

Julie Taymor
Julie Taymor recently directed the play Grounded, starring Anne Hathaway, and completed a cinematic version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, filmed during her acclaimed stage production at TFANA. Her Theater credits also include the all-time highest grossing musical, The Lion King and Juan Darién. Operas include Oedipus Rex, with Jessye Norman, The Flying Dutchman, Salome, The Magic Flute at the Metropolitan Opera; and Grendel, composed by Elliot Goldenthal. Films include Titus, starring Anthony Hopkins; Frida starring Salma Hayek; Across the Universe, and The Tempest, starring Helen Mirren. Taymor is a recipient of the MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship.