about
Kai Swanson (they/she) is an independent filmmaker, actor, and producer who has made a significant mark on the international film circuit, with screenings at prestigious festivals such as the Oscar® qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival and RiverRun International Film Festival, Buenos Aires International Film Festival, Chelsea Film Festival, and the Newport Beach Film Festival. Their comedic series #millcore is distributed on Amazon Prime, while the feature film East of Middle West, which Kai produced, is available on Apple TV and Amazon Prime.
Kai's prowess as a producer has been recognized with numerous accolades, including the Best American Indie at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, the Audience Award for Best Feature at the Sarasota Film Festival, and Best Producer at the Montreal Independent Film Festival. Their work is characterized by a unique blend of formal experimentation and playful narrative strategies that challenge traditional narratives around gender and history, seeking to forge new connections with concepts of historicity, time, and cultural representation.
The films they produce and stories they write make formal and playful interventions that parallel the obfuscation of gendered histories. Although distinct in form, the investigation of the individual human experience as being part of a collective or homogenous culture is present in all their work. The goal of this manipulation is to create new relationships with historicity, time, and representations of cultures and identity.
In the academic sphere, Kai serves as an Assistant Professor in Cinema & Television Arts and co-coordinator of the Global Film & Cultures minor at Elon University, following their time as an Visiting Assistant Professor in Cinematic Arts at the University of Iowa. Their commitment to equitable education and critical media literacy underscores a pedagogical approach that is as innovative as it is inclusive, aimed at enriching the contemporary mediated landscape of cinema.
Kai is a proud member of the Television Academy and the National Association of Latino Independent Producers. Their upcoming publication, Behind the Laughter: The Mechanics of American Comedy's History, Writing, and Production, is set to be released by Kendall Hunt Publishing in April 2025.
