Catherine Andre is a writer/director. Working across genres from tragedies to romantic thrillers and subversive rom-coms, Catherine is dedicated to telling female-centered love stories through powerful performances. She is a Directing Fellow (MFA) at the American Film Institute, Class of 2025.
After studying film directing and directing four shorts at Interlochen Arts Academy, Catherine started directing plays at Princeton University. She received research grants to study theatrical auteurship in Europe and brought this visual and performance style back to her work as a freelance director in New York City. She assisted Off-Broadway and directed new and classical plays until she won a Fulbright grant and moved to Europe to explore Shakespeare as a vehicle for cultural exchange. Catherine assisted legendary directors Andrei Șerban, Silviu Purcărete, and Robert Woodruff, learning how to create visceral performances.
After winning additional Fulbright funding, Catherine put these methods into practice in her own radical, feminist Shakespeare productions while partnering with playwrights to develop new work. Directing performances in languages she did not speak pushed Catherine to use gesture and emotion to tell stories beyond words, which became a cornerstone of her directing practice across mediums.
During the pandemic, Catherine pivoted to making “virtual plays,” most notably Good Night, My Love, an hour-long, one-shot/one-take performance streamed live from the actress’s apartment that was funded by Scholastic. In 2022, she completed FAMU International’s one-year intensive course in narrative directing. After a few years of freelancing as a filmmaker in the UK and Prague, Catherine relocated to Los Angeles for the American Film Institute’s MFA, where she has co-written/directed four narrative shorts and penned a feature-length romantic-comedy thriller.