Maintaining a Mystery: The Structure of Silence and the Art of Redaction
An afternoon with filmmaker, actor, and writer Kelly McCormack
Friday, 27 November 2026, 2pm,
Seminar Room 79
All Welcome
Kelly will screen their award-winning short film How Brief that premiered at Sundance this year, inspired by the work of Connie Converse - one of music’s most enigmatic figures, and discuss their current project at Oxford Sick in Exile - a book, play, and film adapted from their ambitious entry into the boys’ club to hear how it talks (or doesn’t) about sexual violence. Kelly is a Visiting Researcher with the Oxford Centre for Life Writing, as well as an Artist in Residence with the Intersectional Humanities (TORCH), and calling for collaborators on this work in a variety of capacities. For more background on their research, see Kelly’s art installation at Fusion Arts here.
KELLY MCCORMACK is an award-winning filmmaker, director, writer, performer and musician. Their work is highly interdisciplinary with origins in classical music, experimental theatre and feminist theory. Kelly’s latest film How Brief premiered at Sundance this year, inspired by the music of Connie Converse and other women who have chosen to disappear, starring writer Tess Degenstein and Emmy Winner Tatiana Maslany. In 2024, Kelly completed their master’s degree in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Oxford, with an experimental work of autoethnography and performance art, attempting to enter the boy’s club to hear how it talks. Accompanying their dissertation, Kelly mounted the art exhibition Robes & Latin: Or, How to Get Kicked Out at Fusion Arts.
In 2021, Kelly’s feature film Sugar Daddy opened the Whistler International Film Festival, garnered a “One to Watch Award” with Variety’s Top Ten, an ACTRA Award for Best Performance, a Canadian Screen Award for Best Original Music, and was the opening night film for the Canadian Film Festival, winning Best Feature. Kelly also produced and starred in the hit CBC mockumentary series The Neddeaus of Duquesne Island. As a performer, recent credits include Eva Victor’s Sorry Baby (A24), Julio Torres’ Problemista (A24), and playing the Rockford Peaches’ shortstop in A League of Their Own (Amazon). Other recent credits include George & Tammy (Showtime), alongside Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon, Ginny & Georgia (Netflix), Letterkenny(Crave / Hulu), Killjoys (Syfy) The Expanse (Syfy). For theatre, Kelly has written, developed, and performed countless original works and was a member of Sigourney Weaver and Jim Simpson’s The Flea Theatre in New York, under the visionary direction of four-time Tony nominated Liz Swados. In 2017, Kelly helped develop the experimental opera Charlotte about the life and work of painter Charlotte Salomon directed by OBE awarded director Pamela Howard. Kelly is the executive producer of Floyder Films Inc, and is represented by UTA, Noble Caplan Abrams and LINK Entertainment.
