Mary Sweeney is an American director, writer, film editor and film producer.
16 Facts About Mary Sweeney
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Mary Sweeney was briefly married to American film director David Lynch, with whom she collaborated for 20 years.
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Mary Sweeney is the Dino and Martha De Laurentiis Endowed Professor in the Writing Division of the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California.
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Mary Sweeney was formerly the chair of the Film Independent board of directors.
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Mary Sweeney graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, with a BA in History.
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Mary Sweeney earned a Certificate of Fine Arts from the Corcoran School of Fine Arts in Washington, DC After completing a master's in cinema studies at New York University, Sweeney worked her way up the ranks of film editing in New York and San Francisco, on films such as Reds by Warren Beatty, Tender Mercies by Bruce Beresford, Places in the Heart by Robert Benton, Little Drummer Girl by George Roy Hill, and The Mean Season by Phil Boursos.
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From 1985 to 2006, Mary Sweeney collaborated as producer, writer, script supervisor and editor with filmmaker David Lynch from Blue Velvet to Inland Empire.
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Mary Sweeney's editing credits include Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart, Twin Peaks, Industrial Symphony, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, On the Air, Hotel Room, Lost Highway, The Straight Story, Mulholland Drive and Baraboo.
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Mary Sweeney won the British Academy Award for Best Editing for Mulholland Drive.
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Mary Sweeney developed, produced, wrote and edited The Straight Story, for which Richard Farnsworth received an Academy Award nomination.
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Mary Sweeney's producing credits date from 1995 and include Lost Highway, The Straight Story, Mulholland Drive and Inland Empire, directed by Lynch, and Baraboo, her directorial debut based on her original screenplay.
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Mary Sweeney wrote, directed, produced and edited a short silent film, In the Eye Abides the Heart, filmed in Buenos Aires, which premiered at the 2006 Venice Film Festival, and then played the international festival circuit.
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Mary Sweeney had been on the board of directors of Film Independent for over two decades since 2000, and was elected chair of the board in 2013, and served nine years in that position before stepping down.
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Mary Sweeney was installed as the Dino and Martha De Laurentiis Endowed Professor in 2012.
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Mary Sweeney is vice president and founding member of the Desert X non-profit Board of Directors.
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Mary Sweeney is a member in good standing of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Directors Guild of America, and Writers Guild of America, where she is on the WGA Independent Writers Committee.