Kelly Gallagher

Biography

As an associate professor of film, Kelly Gallagher has developed and taught various courses in film production, including Cameraless Filmmaking and Recycled Images, the Essay Film, Survey of Film History II, Animating Non-Fiction, and Microcinemas and Experimental Exhibition. 

Gallagher is an experimental filmmaker, animator and educator. She makes colorful cut-out animations, experimental films, documentaries and found footage essays that explore political histories of resistance and personal stories of resilience. She has received support for her work from Creative Capital, New York State Council on the Arts, the Wexner, Doc Society, LEF Moving Image Fund, Oscilloscope Films and Orphans Film Symposium’s Helen Hill Award. Her handcrafted films and commissioned animations have screened at venues including the Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Art, Sundance Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival and Ann Arbor Film Festival. Her commissioned animations have been screened on Netflix, Criterion Channel and PBS. She has presented solo programs of her work at institutions including SFMOMA, Close-Up Cinema London, Balkanima European Animation Film Festival, Athens International Film and Video Festival, Wide Open Experimental Film Festival, and MUTA Audiovisual Appropriation International Festival, among others. Her films are distributed by Canyon Cinema. Gallagher enthusiastically organizes and facilitates fun and inclusive film workshops and camps for communities of all ages every time she gets the chance. 

Gallagher earned an M.F.A. in cinematic arts from the University of Iowa in 2015. She received a B.A. in film and video production from The Pennsylvania State University in 2009.

Education

• M.F.A., University of Iowa
• B.A., The Pennsylvania State University