Since graduating from Harvard in 1990, Nina Davenport has developed a distinct and highly-recognized career as a documentary filmmaker. She has produced a notable body of work that embraces the autobiographical aspect of documentation. Her first film Hello Photo (1994) is a poetic, cinematic essay about her travels in India and larger questions of representation and otherness. Premiering at the Rotterdam International Film festival, it received wide acclaim all over the world, including “Best Documentary” at the Melbourne Film Festival.

Always a Bridesmaid (2000) focused on her lovelife and Parallel Lines (2003), the ramifications of 9/11. Airing on Independent Lens, Operation Filmmaker (2007) explored her relationship with her complex subject, an Iraqi film student who is taken from war-torn Iraq to a Hollywood movie set.

Her latest work First Comes Love (2012) follows Davenport’s journey into motherhood. Speaking about this film, she has said: “First Comes Love comes directly out of the Harvard tradition of autobiographical film. The personal film permitted me to preserve that intimacy.” As a mentee of Harvard professors and filmmakers Robb Moss and Ross McElwee, Davenport had not simply become acquainted with the genre but had taken it on as her own—producing an original relationship with her body, her personal life, and the camera. – Wen Zhuang, Brittany Gravely