Laurie Harue Sumiye

Laurie Sumiye is a Japanese-American artist, animator, and filmmaker originally from Mililani, Hawaii. She has been selected for film fellowships with Firelight Media, the Sundance Institute, Women in Film, Jackson Wild, and UnionDocs. Her short documentaries, STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE, about endangered Hawaiian birds, and OF MEMORY & LOS SURES, about a disappearing Latino neighborhood in Brooklyn, have screened at DOCNYC, BAMcinemaFest, and DOCUTAH. The latter was part of the acclaimed transmedia documentary LIVING LOS SURES, which premiered at NYFF and screened at PS1MoMA. She began her documentary career creating graphics and animation for PROJECT KASHMIR and MY BROOKLYN. A PARADISE LOST is Laurie’s first feature film, which received support from Pacific Islanders in Communications, Firelight Media, Doc Society, and Blue Mountain Center (winner of the Harriet Barlow Commons Award in 2021). She holds an MFA in Integrated Audiovisual Arts from CUNY Hunter College and a BA in Fine Arts and another in Communication from Bradley University. She studied art at the Lorenzo de Medici Institute in Italy. She has exhibited her work internationally in galleries, art fairs, and museums, and has received commissions from corporations, non-profit organizations, and private collections. Previously, she taught film as an assistant professor at the University of Hawaiʻi-West Oʻahu and is a member of IDA, BGDM, A-Doc, Women in Film, and Film Independent.