Terence Nance

Terence Nance
Born
Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Alma materNew York University
Occupations
  • Filmmaker
  • writer
  • director
  • actor
  • musician
Years active2007–present

Terence Nance is artist, musician, and filmmaker born in Dallas, Texas in what was then referred to as the State-Thomas community. He is best known for his directing debut An Oversimplification of Her Beauty, and as the creator of the avant-garde TV program Random Acts of Flyness, which is produced by his production company MVMT for HBO and streams on Max.

Early life

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Nance was born in Dallas, Texas. He earned his MFA from New York University where he studied visual art.[1]

Career

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Nance wrote, directed, scored, and starred in his first feature film, An Oversimplification of Her Beauty, which incorporates an earlier short film, How Would You Feel?, animation and an original score by Nance and Flying Lotus.[2] It premiered in the Sundance Film Festival's New Frontier section in 2012 and was also screened as part of the 2012 New Directors/New Films Festival in New York.[3] Scholar Terri Francis has described it as "...an experimental film...that recreates the unspoken space amid friendship and relationships. Starring Terence Nance himself and the girl with whom he is caught up in this difficult dance, the film shifts between reconstruction and reimagining using both animation and live action."[4] The film was also featured at a screening as part of the Afrofuturist Film Festival at the New School on 3 May 2015.[5]

An Oversimplification of Her Beauty, which premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and was released theatrically in 2013. In the years following Nance was chosen as one of the 25 new faces of independent film, awarded the Guggenheim fellowship and the USA Artist Award for his multidisciplinary creative practice.

In the summer of 2018, Terence’s Peabody Award-winning television series Random Acts of Flyness debuted on HBO to critical acclaim. The New York Times hailed the show as “hypnotic, transporting and un-categorizable” adding that, "it’s trying to disrupt and re-disrupt your perceptions so that, finally, you can see."[6]

In September 2018, Nance was announced as the director of the sequel to Space Jam, produced by Ryan Coogler.[7] On July 16, 2019, Nance was informed he would be replaced as director of Space Jam: A New Legacy, though he retained both screenwriting and executive producing credits.[8][9]

In 2020, Nance (under the name Terence Etc.) released his first EP, THINGS I NEVER HAD followed in 2022 by his debut album V O R T E X on Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder Label. Most recently he collaborated on film and TV projects with TELFAR, Rage Against the Machine, Earl Sweatshirt, and a feature length film experience with Andre 3000 for his debut solo album New Blue Sun. This was followed by his first feature length score for Tayarisha Poe’s The Young Wife starring Sheryl Lee Ralph, Kiersey Clemens and Leon Bridges.

In 2023, Nance collaborated with Blackstar Projects on his first solo museum show, SWARM at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia. The show featured immersive video installations.

The exhibition opened on the heels of season 2 of Random Acts of Flyness, subtitled The Parable of the Pirate and the King. Richard Brody of The New Yorker described season 2 as “a work of music-like Afrofuturism, the closest thing I’ve seen to a cinematic reflection of the tones and moods of the music of Sun Ra, complete with the mythopoetic dimension.”[10]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Director Writer Producer Actor Role Notes
2009 No Ward Yes Yes Documentary
2012 An Oversimplification of Her Beauty Yes Yes Yes Yes Himself Also editor and animator
2016 Women Who Kill Yes Darren
2018 The Burial of Kojo Yes
2021 Space Jam: A New Legacy Yes Executive Replaced as director by Malcolm D. Lee

Short films

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Year Title Director Writer Producer Actor Role Notes
2010 How Would You Feel? Yes Yes Yes
2011 Native Sun Yes Yes
2015 Swimming in Your Skin Again Yes Yes
2016 Univitellin Yes Yes Yes
They Charge for the Sun Yes Yes
2017 The Paris Project Co-producer Yes Michael Wynton
2018 Piu Piu Executive Yes Himself
Nowhere, Nobody Yes Yes Co-directed with Naima Ramos-Chapman[11]

Television

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Year Title Director Writer Executive
Producer 		Actor Role Notes
2015–17 The Show About the Show Yes Tony
2017 Lost & Found Yes Jonathan
2018–2022 Random Acts of Flyness Yes Yes Yes Yes Himself Also creator, composer and editor

Discography

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  • Things I Never Had (2020)
  • V O R T E X (2022)

Accolades

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Year Ceremony Category Result
2014 Guggenheim Fellowship Creative Arts Recipient
2018 United States Artists (USA) Fellowship Film Recipient

References

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  1. ^ Macaulay, Scott (19 July 2012). "Terence Nance". Filmmaker. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
  2. ^ "Terence Nance". Filmmaker. 19 July 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
  3. ^ "2012 New Directors/New Films Full Lineup Announced!". 23 February 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
  4. ^ "Close-Up Gallery: The Afrosurrealist Film Society". Retrieved 3 January 2017.Francis, Terri. "Close-Up Gallery: The Afrosurrealist Film Society." Black Camera 5.1 (2013): 209-219. Project MUSE. Web. 3 May. 2015.
  5. ^ "Afro Futurism Conference 2015 — e V e N T + T I C K e T S". Archived from the original on 2015-11-03. Retrieved 2015-05-03.
  6. ^ Poniewozik, James (August 1, 2018). "Review: 'Random Acts of Flyness' Is a Striking Dream Vision of Race". New York Times.
  7. ^ Guthrie, Marisa (September 19, 2018). "LeBron James Sets 'Black Panther's' Ryan Coogler to Produce 'Space Jam' Sequel (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 19, 2018.
  8. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (July 16, 2019). "Malcolm D. Lee Takes Over As Director On 'Space Jam 2'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
  9. ^ "Space Jam 2". directories.wga.org. Retrieved 2022-11-03.
  10. ^ Brody, Richard (2022-12-09). "The Radical, Exuberant Transformation of "Random Acts of Flyness"". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2024-09-25.
  11. ^ Green, Dylan (February 7, 2019). "Earl Sweatshirt's 'Nowhere, Nobody' Co-Director Breaks Down the Film: "They Have the Code"". DJ Booth. Retrieved April 4, 2021.
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