Change Your Image
jill-176
Jill’s screenplay, See Jane Fight was a finalist for the Athena Lab, the Writer's Lab, a semi-finalist for the Final Draft, Big Break Competition and the Austin FF competition. Jill was selected to be a fellow in the Middlebury Script Lab.
Morley produced and directed the documentary Fight Like A Girl, about women using boxing to fight their demons and empower themselves, which received honors for best documentary at the American Documentary Film Festival, Artemis Film Festival and the Other Venice Film Festival. In addition to being acknowledged by the World Boxing Council, her critically acclaimed 2001 documentary Stripped, ran theatrically in New York and LA, internationally and was showcased on Sundance TV.
Her production work has included shooting “behind the scenes” videos for David La Chapelle and John Byrne, creating radio documentaries for This American Life and serving as a producer/correspondent for Michael Moore’s documentary series The Awful Truth. She also worked as a producer for a segment on Vice, Playboy and as a researcher for Davis Guggenheim.
The play, True Confessions of a Go-Go Girl, which she wrote and performed was featured in Women Playwrights: The Best Plays of 1998, ran Off Broadway, was performed across the country and was made into a Lifetime Movie of the Week. A contributing writer to many periodicals including; The Village Voice, Bust Magazine,” and The New York Press as well as several anthologies. She is an official USA boxing coach and National Golden Gloves champion.
Reviews
Zemene (2014)
Poetic Inspiring Film!
Zemene radiates off the screen in this film.
Melissa Donovan captures Zemene's vibrant spirit and heart throughout this film. It is so well done, beautifully photographed and the story so rich, it comes together like visual poetry.
While Zemene may have been considered "deformed" and in her culture, not worthy of living a full life, it is incredible to see such a bright spirit beaming out of her. Because of this spirit, she was able to endure the bullying, the poverty, and the unlikelihood of ever getting treatment.
The fact that the director was there when she met Dr. Rick was serendipity.
It is rare to see the kind of compassion and incredible character transformation in such an organic way. I feel privileged to have witnessed this beautiful experience and hope to see more documentaries from Donovan.
Fight Like a Girl (2013)
"A Daring Piece of Filmmaking" - The Desert Local News
"Fight Like A Girl" (82 minutes – USA), written, directed, and starring Jill Morley, is a gritty, first person, narrative, feature documentary film that revolves around the relatively unknown world of female boxing. It's a daring piece of filmmaking that is beautifully photographed and artfully directed and edited. The women profiled in this interesting documentary film share common life histories and traumas that lend both emotional wallops and poignant moments as the featured boxers share their rationales for entering a world usually reserved for men. Laila Ali, daughter of Muhammad Ali, is profiled as a coach and mentor and a promoter of female boxing. "Fight Like A Girl" is a compelling movie that took five years to make. The result is a film from a talented and lovely female auteur writer/director (there isn't a trace of a scar or blemish resulting from her hours spent fighting in the ring), who most certainly has a future in the movie business if she so chooses. -- Jack Lyons