April Mullen
April Mullen
(Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada)
April Mullen () is a Canadian actress and filmmaker. She directed Below Her Mouth in 2016, which was an official selection at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). She was one of several honorees of the Birks Diamond Tribute celebrating Canadian women in film during the 2016 TIFF, and was interviewed about her film and that award on a morning news show in Toronto. Canada's leading newspaper profiled her "female gaze" on the film.Mullen is the first woman to direct a live action, fully stereoscopic 3D feature film, Dead Before Dawn 3D. Her success at TIFF and with her two preceding films, 88 and Dead Before Dawn 3D, led to her signing with Verve.Mullen was sought out for comment when the study, Women in View on Screen, concluded Canadian women mostly get to sit in the director's chair on small film and TV projects, while men get the big-budget projects.She has also commented on the perspective that women bring to filmmaking behind the lens: "Women have this vulnerability and connection to a depth of emotions that I can see and feel in certain moments of truth in the films we create. To me, the female gaze is transparency – the veil between audience and filmmaker is thin, and that allows people in more." She is also sought out for her perspective on "the female gaze" in movies.She grew up in Niagara Falls, Ontario, and now lives in Los Angeles. She was added to the Niagara Falls Arts and Culture Wall of Fame in 2016.