A Haitian-American filmmaker and artist, Shirley Bruno's films take their point of departure from neglected histories as well as from rumors, dreams, superstitious beliefs, memories both real and imagined. Drawing from her Haitian heritage, preserving and radicalizing ancestral traditions and mythologies, she creates and reimagines modern myths that expose the impermanence between documentary and fiction, collective memory and official histories, the material and spiritual worlds.
Shirley's work has screened nationally and internationally at major festivals and contemporary art exhibitions. Her films Tezen and An Excavation of Us are included in the permanent collections of Centre National des Arts Plastiques France, Leal Rios Foundation Lisbon, and Vidéographe Montréal. Exhibitions and screenings of her work have presented at Berlinale, Locarno International Film Festival, Hammer Museum, MoMA, Montréal arts interculturels, La Galerie Municipale Vitry de Jean Collet, Villa Médici Rome, Palais de Tokyo, Maison Européenne de la Photographie among others.
A recipient of the Creative Capital Award (2021), the Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship (2019-21) while other funding and prizes for her work include the Abrons Arts Center, Triangle-Astérides, Prix Ars Electronica, Jerome Foundation, National Greek Film Centre, NYSCA, NYFA, StudioPrix Collector Prize. Her films continue to screen internationally on TV5Monde, Tënk, and Shorts TV International. She is an alumna of La Cité International des Arts & LIM Le Groupe Ouest Lab for her feature film debut Just Come \ Been To, as well as the Berlinale Talent Station for her latest project Saltwater Heart, a large scale video-installation and film in development.
Shirley holds a Masters with Distinction from London Film School and a Masters II with Mention from Le Fresnoy - Studio National des Arts Contemporains where she was an artist-fellow. She lives and works alternately in New York, France, and Haiti.
