
Nietzchka Keene
Writing
Biography
Professor Nietzchka Keene (June 26, 1952 – October 20, 2004) was an American film director and writer. She taught filmmaking and editing at the University of Wisconsin–Madison until her death.
Known For

Margit and her older sister Katla flee for safety after their mother is burned to death for witchcraft. Finding shelter with Johan and his resentful young son, Jonas, the sisters help form an impromptu family unit that’s soon strained by Katla’s burgeoning sorcery.
The Juniper Tree

Two musicians and a roadie take money that is owed to them from a job. One flees to Mexico, and everyone has questions.
Border Radio

A passionate artist creates in order to release her strong pent up emotions. Themes of justice and retribution especially influence her. One night she sees a dying man in a car and decides to search for answers.
Heroine of Hell

A shocking tragedy sends Mara down a path of sin, redemption, grace, and evil. Barefoot to Jerusalem is the story of a woman struggling to face her deepest desires, her darkest fears, and ultimately, the devil.
Barefoot to Jerusalem

The relationship between an embittered farm woman and her orphaned niece reaches a breaking point in this dark, psychological pastoral.
Hinterland

Two women are torn between the past, with its traditions and apparent security, and the future full of uncertainty.
My Aunt Nora

As a woman anxiously awaits her overdue period, she performs African-based rituals of purification. She cleans house and body, and calls on the spirits (Orishas in the Yoruba tradition), receiving much needed inspiration and assurance in a dream. The film combines beautifully intimate still and moving images of the woman’s body and home space, along with playful stop-motion sequences. —Jacqueline Stewart, UCLA Film and Television Archive
Cycles

A stop-motion menagerie of birds illuminate a nun’s spiritual ecstasy and terror in this experimental animated work set to the music of Christian mystic Hildegard von Bingen.
Aves

Nietzchka Keene evokes a woman’s fractured inner world in this enigmatic portrait composed in water, mirrors, and blood.