Shelly Niro

Born in Niagara Falls, New York, Shelley Niro is a member of the Mohawk Nation, Iroquois Confederacy, Turtle Clan, Six Nations Reserve. As the screenwriter, director, and producer of her latest film Honey Moccasin, Niro utilized the framework of storytelling and collective memory with an emphasis on humor. An acclaimed piece both nationally and internationally, Moccasin won Best Feature at the Red Earth Festival in Oklahoma City 1998, along with Best Actress, Best Actor, and Best Director. At the Dreamspeakers Festival1998, in Edmonton, Alberta Canada, Honey Moccasin was awarded Best Experimental work.

In 1992 Niro co-produced, along with Anna Gronau, It Starts With a Whisper, a short bestowing several awards. In conjunction with her visual arts awards, Niro was a fellow at the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institute (1997) and was acclaimed by the the New York State Historical Association for her exhibit Where We Stand, Contemporary Haudenosaunee Artists.

Recently completing a Masters of Fine Art at the University of Western Ontario, Niro's thesis contended with the re-discovery and re-addressing of basic myths, legends and history of the Iroquois people. Her research resulted in an intensive study of the Diaspora of the Mohawk Nation.

Niro continues to serve on juries, panels, and committees. She is currently writing a new screenplay, Kissed By Lightning.

Honey Moccasin
A film by Shelley Niro, 1998, 47 min., Color
This all-Native production, by director Shelley Niro (Mohawk), is part of the Smoke Signals new wave of films that examine Native identity in the 1990...

It Starts With a Whisper
A film by Shelly Niro and Anna Gronau, 1993, 28 min., Color
IT STARTS WITH A WHISPER follows a young woman who has grown up on a Reserve and her decision about which path to follow in life. Guided by her ances...