"My work documents the complex ways that human beings struggle to affirm their dignity and integrity when political and historical circumstances conspire to negate them. My goal is not only to make art, but to use art to harness the power of the senses for the well-being of people, and to bring change."

Bruno shapes poetic meditations on political struggles with the aim of evoking felt response—and action. Having served as an international relief worker in Southeast Asia during the past twenty years, she understands what it means to be a witness as both an activist and an artist. Whether focusing on the experiences of incarcerated Tibetan Buddhist nuns, on young prostitutes along the Thai-Burmese border, or on a Cambodia destroyed by the Khmer Rouge, Bruno draws upon experimental and documentary techniques, (non-linear narrative, slow motion, repetition of key images, interviews and re-enactments), in the service of searing, non-literal testimony.

“The greatest danger is believing there is a right way to make a film. Don’t get lost in imagining what a viewer wants to see. Look back at yourself. Pay close attention to your own experience. What is alive when you look through the viewfinder? What moves in you to put this sound with that image? Trust that alone. And always move in the direction of fear. The deepest truth is not far behind fear. Feel no need to justify your choices with language. This process is beyond language...in a more intuitive, complex place.”

Born 1957, Bristol, Rhode Island Lives in San Francisco 1990 M.A., Documentary Film, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California 1979 B.A., Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.

	1998	Sacrifice: The Story of Child Prostitutes from Burma
	1995	Blessed
	1993	Satya: A Prayer for the Enemy
	1990	Samsara: Death and Rebirth in Cambodia
	1987	No Fairy Tale
	1986	Maime
	1984	House of the Spirit: Perspectives on Cambodian Health Care

	1998	John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship
	1997	Rockefeller Fellowship for Intercultural Film
	1996	Goldie Award, Outstanding Local Artist, San Francisco
	1995	Shenkin Fellowship, Yale School of Art
	1992, 94, 97	Western States Regional Media Arts Fellowship

	Special Jury Award	Sundance Film Festival
	Golden Spire Award	San Francisco Film Festival
	Grand Prize	Religion Today Festival, Trento, Italy
	Best of Festival	National Educational Film Festival
	Jury Award	Oberhausen Film Festival, Germany
	Best Documentary	Silence Elles Tournent, Canada
	Silver Award	St. Petersburg Film Festival, Russia
	Crystal Heart Award	Heartland Film Festival
	Edward R. Murrow Award	American Film and Video Festival
	Best Documentary	Focus Awards
	Student Academy Award	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
	Student Emmy	Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
	Ashai Shinbu Award	Hiroshima International Film Festival, Japan

	2001	National Endowment for the Arts
	2000, 96, 93	Paul Robeson Fund
	1998	Rockefeller Foundation
	1997	Soros Documentary Fund
	1997	National Asian American Telecommunications Association

	www.brunofilms.com