Director Nancy Savoca was born in the Bronx, New York to Argentine and Sicilian immigrant parents. She graduated from New York University's film school, where she was awarded for her short films. Savoca and her husband, producer Richard Guay, raised private funds to shoot their first film, "True Love", the story of an Italian-American wedding in the Bronx. The film won the Grand Jury Prize at the 1989 Sundance Film Festival and Savoca was nominated for a Spirit Award as Best Director. The film was distributed by MGM/UA.
In 1991, Savoca directed "Dogfight" for Warner Bros. starring River Phoenix and Lili Taylor. The film, set in 1963, tells the story of a young Marine and the girl he takes to an "ugly date" contest.
Her third feature, "Household Saints", an adaptation of Francine Prose's mystical saga of three generations of Italian-American women, starred Tracey Ullman, Lili Taylor, Vincent D'Onofrio and Judith Malina. Released by Fine Line, the film was on the "Best Films" list of over twenty national critics. Ms. Taylor won a Spirit Award for Best Female performance and Savoca and Guay received a nomination for Best Screenplay.
Next was an original frenetic comedy, "The 24 Hour Woman", starring Oscar nominees Rosie Perez and Marianne Jean-Baptiste as well as Tony winner Patti LuPone. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 1999 and earned Ms. Savoca an American Latin Media Arts nomination for Directing.
Savoca's work in television includes the HBO production, "If These Walls Could Talk", a three-part look at abortion rights. She served as co-writer for all three segments and directed the pieces starring Demi Moore and Sissy Spacek. The film was the highest rated original movie in HBO history, received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for best television drama and for Ms. Moore's performance and, as one of the principal creators, won Savoca a Lucy Award from Women In Film for "innovation in television".
"Reno: Rebel Without A Pause- Unrestrained Reflections on September 11th", premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on September 11, 2002. It was awarded the Prize for Peace & Liberty by the city of Florence, Italy and has participated in festivals around the world. It was released theatrically in the U.S. in 2003.
"Dirt", a story about immigration and class differences in New York won Savoca Best Director at the LALatino Festival, Julieta Ortiz Best Actress in New York's La Cinema Fe and premiered on Showtime. It was nominated Best Original Screenplay from the Writer's Guild of America.
"Union Square" starring Mira Sorvino, Tammy Blanchard and Patti LuPone premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was released theatrically.
In 2019, Savoca's archives were acquired by the University of Michigan for their Film Mavericks Collection which include the works of Orson Welles, Robert Altman and her mentors, Jonathan Demme and John Sayles.
