Courtney Hunt

Courtney Hunt
Born	1964 (age 52–53) Memphis, Tennessee
Occupation	Film director, screenwriter
Spouse(s)	Donald Harwood
Children	1

Courtney Hunt (born in 1964) is an American director and screenwriter. Her debut feature film, Frozen River, won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

Hunt was raised in Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee by a single mother. Hunt followed her mother's educational path by attending law school at Northeastern University. She then graduated in 1994 from New York's Columbia University in film when she realized law was not an interest for her. Even though law was not a field she would be going into, it gave her a new perspective on the world. In an interview with Film Catcher on YouTube, Hunt stated that law school gave her the opportunity and experience of attending co-op jobs that allowed her to work for a federal judge and a criminal defence firm. Her husband would give her murder appeals from which she learned about dialogue and point of view from the transcripts which built onto her knowledge of film and how to write screenplays. Shortly after graduating from her film class, Hunt began to write and develop the story for her film Frozen River, by researching the Mohawk people.

Hunt directed and wrote the screenplay for Frozen River, a film starring Melissa Leo and Misty Upham in 2008.Frozen River was originally a short film and it first premiered in 2004 at the New York Film Festival. She then turned Frozen River into a feature-length film. It was nominated in 2009 at the 81st Academy Awards, and it was also nominated for the 24th Independent Spirit Awards. It won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

Hunt is a film screenwriter and director, but she also wants to be seen as a director for hire so that filmmakers could see her in control of both aspects.

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