Agnes Peel-McGregor
WRITER |DIRECTOR
BIO
Agnes is an award-winning writer, director, editor and producer based in Los Angeles, USA.
Her short films have been described by critics as: ‘immersive and full of visual spectacle’; ‘stylish and imaginative’ and Agnes as a filmmaker, who is 'capable of grappling with genre mutations and high standard storytelling'. Agnes's films have screened at some of the top film festivals around the world, garnering multiple awards and nominations.
In 2014, Agnes directed a revenge thriller - a short play titled WALKING SHADOW, which won 1st place (the Judge's Choice Award) in the Wildcards Section of Short and Sweet Theatre Sydney - the biggest little play festival in the world.
The same year, her short film MILKMAID - a psychological thriller, was awarded by the Honorary OSCAR® recipient DAVID LYNCH (Twin Peaks; Mulholland Drive; Wild at Heart; Blue Velvet; Elephant Man) garnering her a full scholarship to attend his Master of Fine Arts in Film in the USA, where she was mentored by the world renowned film director. MILKMAID went on to win multiple awards and nominations at film festivals around the world.
Agnes's latest film LAST TREE STANDING - a 30 min. dystopian fantasy premiered at SITGES International Fantastic Film Festival - being only one of five shorts directed by a woman in Official Competition. To date, the film has won thirty awards on the festival circuit worldwide and from professional Guilds and Associations, including multiple wins for Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay. The film was in consideration for the 2020 OSCARS® Short Film Awards.
While undertaking her screenwriting studies at UCLA, Agnes’s feature length screenplay ELLIOT was nominated for the Nate Wilson Joie de Vivre Award (an award presented to the screenwriting student whose screenplay is selected as best of the year).
In 2018, Agnes was selected by the Directors and Editors Guild of New Zealand (DEGNZ) to participate in their Women Filmmakers Incubator - a one year program honouring female directors, who 'show real promise in moving rapidly towards their first major projects'.
Later that year, she received a Talent Development Grant from the New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC) towards writing the feature length screenplay PLATO'S CAVE, which is a social satire.
In 2021, Agnes wrote a TV pilot for a limited series titled SHADOWODD - a supernatural, dystopian thriller that expands upon her two award winning shorts. The screenplay was selected as a finalist in an international story lab sponsored by HBO and the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Her latest feature length screenplay - a mind-bending psychological horror titled STORM has beed selected as the finalist in Stowe Story Labs which will take place in Vermont (USA) in the second half of 2023.
In 2022, Agnes was granted an EB-1A visa - a green card for foreign nationals who demonstrate extraordinary ability in the arts based on sustained national and international acclaim and she has recently moved to Los Angeles.
She is currently developing her feature film debiut and a short film for a New Zealand based company which will be a part of a feature film anthology.