Joana Vicente

Joana Vicente (born in Portugal) is an independent movie producer and executive. A prominent figure in the New York film industry, Vicente has produced over forty films with her producing partner and husband Jason Kliot. In 1999 Vicente and Kliot produced Tony Bui's feature debut, Three Seasons, which took the three top awards at the Sundance Film Festival, including the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize. Vicente and Kliot have since worked with directors such as Steven Soderbergh, Brian De Palma, Hal Hartley, Nicole Holofcener, Jim Jarmusch, and Alex Gibney.
Vicente graduated from the Masters program at The Catholic University of Portugal with a degree in Philosophy. She began her career as the Press attaché for the Portuguese delegate (and former Prime Minister of Portugal) at the European Parliament, and then as a radio news producer for the UN.
Vicente has served as the Executive Director of IFP (Independent Filmmaker Project), the nation's oldest and largest organization of independent filmmakers, since December 2009. Under Vicente's leadership, the IFP was bestowed with the honor of developing and operating the Made in NY Media Center after an RFP was issued by the NYC Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment and the New York City Economic Development Corporation. Opened in DUMBO, Brooklyn in October 2013, facilities include: an incubator and community workspace co-working spaces; a library; offices for anchor tenants; classrooms designed to host a wide array of educational programs, such as hands-on workshops, live demonstrations and expert seminars; a media arts gallery, showcasing cutting-edge, new-media storytelling installations from artists within the international art and filmmaking community; a 72-seat screening room for exhibiting and sharing the latest work from the Center and around the world; and the 1,600-square-foot café Cuper, which encourages casual collaboration and discussion in a social-eating setting. The state-of-the-art Media Center aims to bring together professionals from the film, television, advertising, new media, gaming, marketing and branding industries for collaboration and new opportunities.
In 2013, Vicente was named to Variety's Women's Impact List and Marie Claire's New Guard power list. She also served on the World Cinema Jury for the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. In 2014, she was named one of the Brooklyn Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in Brooklyn Culture. In April of that year, Vicente gave a talk at the TedxLIU conference "The Innovator Within: Redefining Entrepreneurship" entitled "Keep Walking: How to achieve your goals or Crossing the Street in Saigon: A Metaphor for the Young Entrepreneur".

Vicente and Kliot are co-founders and presidents of Open City Films, a production company of feature films and documentaries with an acclaimed catalogue of films including Three Seasons, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Coffee and Cigarettes, Redacted, The Assassination of Richard Nixon, Welcome to the Dollhouse and Awake. Throughout the years, their films have been nominated for 23 Independent Spirit Awards- four have won. Their films have also been selected numerous times for the Cannes, Berlin, Venice, and Toronto film festivals and have garnered four winning trophies at The Sundance Film Festival.

In 1998, Vicente and Kliot founded Blow Up Pictures, the first digital production company in the United States. Their first film, Chuck & Buck, was the first digital film produced and distributed in the US. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for five Independent Spirit Awards in 2001. Under the Blow Up banner, Vicente and Kliot also produced such films as Lovely and Amazing, Series 7: The Contenders, and Love In the Time of Money.

In 2003, Vicente and Kliot co-founded HDNet Films with Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner. The company produced 18 films in five years, all shot on digital video. The HDNet Films production of Steven Soderbergh's Bubble was the first film ever to be released "day-and-date," in the United States, simultaneously opening across theatrical, cable and satellite television, and home video platforms. This innovative distribution strategy allowed consumers to choose how, when and where they wished to see a film.

Films produced under HDNet include Academy-Award nominated Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, and Redacted, which took the Silver Lion at the 2007 Venice Film Festival.

• 2013 Sundance Film Festival World Cinema Jury Member
• 2011 Jerusalem Film Festival Pitch Point Jury Member
• 2010 Nantucket Film Festival Tony Cox Screenwriting Award Jury Member
• 2010 Jacksonville Film Festival Women In Film honoree
• 2010 Jacksonville Film Festival Excellence in Producing Award
• 2008 Venice International Film Festival Short Film Competition Jury Member
• 2007 Made in NY Award, conferred by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the New York Office of Film, Television, and Broadcasting
• 2006 Academy-Award nomination, Best Feature Length Documentary for Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
• 2000 Independent Spirit Award nomination, Best First Feature for Three Seasons

• [1] Screen Daily: Landis, Martel, To recruited for Venice jury duty

• Jerusalem International Film Lab Advisory Board
• Artists Public Domain Board

• Staten Island at the Internet Movie Database (2009)
• American Swing at the Internet Movie Database (2008)
• Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson at the Internet Movie Database (2008)
• Quid Pro Quo at the Internet Movie Database (2008)
• Awake at the Internet Movie Database (2007)
• Mr. Untouchable at the Internet Movie Database (2007)
• Surfwise at the Internet Movie Database (2007)
• Redacted at the Internet Movie Database (2007)
• Broken English at the Internet Movie Database (2007)
• Fay Grim at the Internet Movie Database (2006)
• Diggers at the Internet Movie Database (2006)
• The Architect at the Internet Movie Database (2006)
• Herbie Hancock: Possibilities at the Internet Movie Database (2006)
• S&Man at the Internet Movie Database (2006)
• The War Within at the Internet Movie Database (2005)
• One Last Thing... at the Internet Movie Database (2005)
• Bubble at the Internet Movie Database (2005)
• Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room at the Internet Movie Database (2005)
• The Assassination of Richard Nixon at the Internet Movie Database (2004)
• The Pornographer: A Love Story at the Internet Movie Database (2004)
• The Best Thief in the World at the Internet Movie Database (2004)
• Coffee and Cigarettes at the Internet Movie Database (2003)
• The Guys at the Internet Movie Database (2002)
• Never Get Outta the Boat at the Internet Movie Database (2002)
• Love in the Time of Money at the Internet Movie Database (2002)
• Lovely & Amazing at the Internet Movie Database (2001)
• Love the Hard Way at the Internet Movie Database (2001)
• Little Senegal at the Internet Movie Database (2001)
• Series 7: The Contenders at the Internet Movie Database (2001)
• Down to You at the Internet Movie Database (2000)
• Chuck and Buck at the Internet Movie Database (2000)
• Return to Paradise Lost at the Internet Movie Database (1999)
• Three Seasons at the Internet Movie Database (1999)
• Taxman at the Internet Movie Database (1999)
• O.K. Garage at the Internet Movie Database (1998)
• A, B, C…Manhattan at the Internet Movie Database (1997)
• Chocolate Babies at the Internet Movie Database (1997)
• Childhood's End at the Internet Movie Database (1997)
• Strawberry Fields at the Internet Movie Database (1997)
• Too Much Sleep at the Internet Movie Database (1997)
• Souvenir at the Internet Movie Database (1996)
• Black Kites at the Internet Movie Database (1996)
• Alkali, Iowa at the Internet Movie Database (1996)
• Blixa Bargeld Stole My Cowboy Boots at the Internet Movie Database (1996)
• Welcome to the Dollhouse at the Internet Movie Database (1995)
• Touch Base at the Internet Movie Database(1994)
• Games & Private Life at the Internet Movie Database (1991)