Kari Skogland


Kari Skogland is a Canadian film director, screenwriter and producer. In 2016, she co-founded independent production company Mad Rabbit.

Private life

Born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Kari Skogland is married. She has two daughters.

Career

Skogland started as an editor. Then she moved on to directing, starting with award-winning television commercials and music videos. Then she became a director of television shows, beginning with an episode of 1994's Dead at 21 and five episodes of 1996's Traders. Traders was nominated for several Geminis including Best Director, and won Best Series.
Her first film, The Size of Watermelons won the Silver Award at WorldFest Houston. Her CBC film White Lies was nominated for several Geminis and an International Emmy and won a Tout Ecran. She also directed 50 Dead Men Walking starring Sir Ben Kingsley, Jim Sturgess and Rose McGowan in March 2009. She directed episodes of Boardwalk Empire, The Borgias and in 2014 the miniseries Sons of Liberty and episodes of the History Channel's Vikings. In 2017 and 2018, she directed several memorable episodes of Hulu's original series, The Handmaid's Tale, including the Season 1 finale. She described her process for directing the show as, "Communication, curiosity and being open to an outcome that is different from what I have planned."
Skogland has spoken out about the glass ceiling for women directors in the film industry. Speaking about the production of The Handmaid's Tale in 2018, she said, "People say they can’t find female directors, but the reason for that is there’s no access, no entry point. They don’t appear overnight—you have to create a space where they can grow and be discovered."

Filmography