Terence Nance

Directing

Terence Nance

Born 1982-02-10 · Dallas, Texas, USA

Terence Nance (born February 10, 1982; Dallas, Texas) is an American filmmaker, writer, director, actor and musician. He is best known for his directing debut "An Oversimplification of Her Beauty" (2012), and as the creator of the avant-garde TV program "Random Acts of Flyness" (2018), which is produced by his production company MVMT and airs on HBO. Nance is in a relationship with Naima Ramos-Chapman. The two met while they interviewed him for Saint Heron, the creative agency owned by Solange Knowles. Nance was born in Dallas, Texas. He earned his MFA from New York University where he studied visual art. Nance's 2012 film "An Oversimplification of Her Beauty" incorporates an earlier short film, animation and an original score. It premiered in the Sundance Film Festival's New Frontier section in 2012 and was also screened as part of the 2012 New Directors/New Films Festival in New York. Scholar Terri Francis has described it as "...an experimental film...that recreates the unspoken space amid friendship and relationships". Starring Terence Nance himself and the girl with whom he is caught up in this difficult dance, the film shifts between reconstruction and reimagining using both animation and live action. The film was also featured at a screening as part of the Afrofuturist Film Festival at the New School on 3 May 2015. In August 2018, Nance's TV series "Random Acts of Flyness" debuted on HBO. In September 2018, Nance was announced as the director of the sequel of Space Jam, produced by Ryan Coogler. On July 16, 2019, it was announced that Nance left the project because he and "the studio/producers had different takes on the creative vision for Space Jam: A New Legacy", though he retained both screenwriting and executive producing credits. Nance also composes and performs music under the alias "Terence Etc.", composing some of the music for his "Random Acts of Flyness" series and releasing his debut EP "Things I Never Had" in January 2020. His debut full-length album "V O R T E X" was released on August 19, 2022 under the Brainfeeder label.

Acting credits

Downbeat poster
NR

Fleeing mistakes in Atlanta, Mauro crashes on his sister’s couch in Boston. He takes to bucket drumming on the streets for a way out, but can’t stop screwing things up and drawing everyone else into his own feral shortcomings.

Downbeat

2026

Piu Piu poster
NR

A restless young woman yearns to escape the confines of romance in order to find her superpower.

Piu Piu

2018

The Paris Project poster
NR

A Brooklyn based artist moves to Paris to get married and start a new life. As an old life of crime catches up to him, he enters the depths of Paris' underground art and spiritual drug scenes to settle a score.

The Paris Project

2017

African Booty Scratcher poster
NR

Prom nears and things seem to be spiraling out of control for the typically composed Isatu. In this coming of age story, West African tradition conflicts with American idealism as Isatu is forced to reassess her idea of the perfect dress.

African Booty Scratcher

2007

The Show About the Show poster
8.0

Independent Filmmaker Caveh Zahedi is trying to make a television show. He persuades BRIC TV, a Brooklyn non-profit Arts organization, to finance a television show whose premise is that every episode will be about the making of the previous episode. In the process of creating the show, everything can-and does-go wrong. The cast, a who's who of Brooklyn's independent filmmaking community, includes Alex Karpovsky, Eleonore Hendricks, Dustin Defa, and Onur Tukel.

The Show About the Show

2017

Women Who Kill poster
4.9

Morgan and Jean work well together as true crime podcasters because they didn’t work well, at all, as a couple. However, when Morgan strikes up a new relationship with the mysterious Simone, their shared interest turns into suspicion, paranoia, and fear.

Women Who Kill

2016

No artwork available
NR

A look at modern relationships and the many forms they take. Stella and Ian have an unwedding ceremony to honor what they’ve shared coming to an end. This is the catalyst for a group of 30-somethings now forced to examine their own unraveling lives and challenging dreams.

Lost & Found

2017

No artwork available
NR

Two lives intersect in a dream. We have come to explore the wreck, the thing itself, and not the myth.

The Wreck Itself

2017

Adventures of Christopher Bosh in the Multiverse poster
5.8

A true story behind the notorious Miami face-eating cannibal and how the Miami Heat won the NBA title in 2012 despite one of their star players being an interstellar prince who was called away to do battle with evil foes bent on finally making the Internet completely useless.

Adventures of Christopher Bosh in the Multiverse

2013

Guisado on Sunset poster
NR

Missed connection regret at that one late-night spot—the kind you keep playing back in your head but not quite ever remembering right, until it starts to look like something else.

Guisado on Sunset

2019

Afroprojection #1: The Sweet Atmosphere Phased at 120° and Went Blank When the Universe Collapsed poster
5.5

Afroprojection #1: The Atmosphere Phased at 120° and Went Blank When The Universe Collapsed, a proposal on parallel dimensions and black psychiatry... ‘live’ from the Merciful Allah Black Hole Theatre

Afroprojection #1: The Sweet Atmosphere Phased at 120° and Went Blank When the Universe Collapsed

2018

How Would You Feel? poster
NR

A look at the deep-seated roots of our feelings.

How Would You Feel?

2010

An Oversimplification of Her Beauty poster
5.5

A quixotic artist hypothesizes about why he feels bad when a mystery girl stands him up. The event prompts him to ask: what's the content of a momentary feeling? Is it the sum of your experiences? And perhaps more importantly, are your experiences the sum of you?

An Oversimplification of Her Beauty

2012

Behind the camera

Space Jam: A New Legacy poster
6.6

When LeBron and his young son Dom are trapped in a digital space by a rogue A.I., LeBron must get them home safe by leading Bugs, Lola Bunny and the whole gang of notoriously undisciplined Looney Tunes to victory over the A.I.'s digitized champions on the court. It's Tunes versus Goons in the highest-stakes challenge of his life.

Space Jam: A New Legacy

2021

Piu Piu poster
NR

A restless young woman yearns to escape the confines of romance in order to find her superpower.

Piu Piu

2018

Omniboat: A Fast Boat Fantasia poster
4.6

Chronicling the life of Lay'n Pipe, a 47 foot TopGun Cigarette speedboat, from its conception through the end of human civilization. It's not just a speedboat ride, it's a Miami adventure.

Omniboat: A Fast Boat Fantasia

2020

Omniboat: A Fast Boat Fantasia poster
4.6

Chronicling the life of Lay'n Pipe, a 47 foot TopGun Cigarette speedboat, from its conception through the end of human civilization. It's not just a speedboat ride, it's a Miami adventure.

Omniboat: A Fast Boat Fantasia

2020

Swimming in Your Skin Again poster
7.3

Drenched in the heat, spirit and landscape of South Florida, Swimming in Your Skin Again celebrates the spiritual feminine and coming of age. Guided by female inspirations we tour the ritual anchorages of life in and around Miami: the Catholic church, the swamp, the backyard, the water.

Swimming in Your Skin Again

2015

Swimming in Your Skin Again poster
7.3

Drenched in the heat, spirit and landscape of South Florida, Swimming in Your Skin Again celebrates the spiritual feminine and coming of age. Guided by female inspirations we tour the ritual anchorages of life in and around Miami: the Catholic church, the swamp, the backyard, the water.

Swimming in Your Skin Again

2015

Solange: When I Get Home poster
8.0

In the three years since her seminal album "A Seat at the Table", Solange has broadened her artistic reach, expanding her work to museum installations, unconventional live performances, and striking videos. With her fourth album, "When I Get Home", the singer continues to push her vision forward with an exploration of roots and their lifelong influence. In Solange's case, that's the culturally rich Houston of her childhood. Some will know these references - candy paint, the late legend DJ Screw - via the city's mid-aughts hip-hop explosion, but through Solange's lens, these same touchstones are elevated to high art.

Solange: When I Get Home

2019

The Burial of Kojo poster
6.5

A man is trapped in a mine shaft by his vengeful brother while his daughter embarks on a magical journey to rescue him.

The Burial of Kojo

2018

André 3000: New Blue Sun (Listening) poster
4.5

"I swear, I wanted to make a “visual album” but this is literally the way the wind blew me this time."

André 3000: New Blue Sun (Listening)

2023

No artwork available
NR

Everything Absolutely follows a lady out on a date with a guy. A poster, parents, and pesto all somehow find its way into this epic & intimate journey.

Everything Absolutely

2012

They Charge for the Sun poster
NR

In a dystopian future where people live nocturnally to avoid the harmful rays of the sun, a young black girl unravels the lie that has kept her and her sister in the dark.

They Charge for the Sun

2016

They Charge for the Sun poster
NR

In a dystopian future where people live nocturnally to avoid the harmful rays of the sun, a young black girl unravels the lie that has kept her and her sister in the dark.

They Charge for the Sun

2016

Pharoahe Monch - Clap (One Day) poster
NR

Short film about a police raid gone horribly wrong, featuring music by Pharoahe Monch.

Pharoahe Monch - Clap (One Day)

2011

Kamasi Washington - As Told To G/D Thyself poster
NR

The cosmic journey of sacred youth, during which pain, pleasure, and sublimation are nonnegotiable.

Kamasi Washington - As Told To G/D Thyself

2019

Native Sun poster
6.0

Mumin, a precocious young boy, makes the long trip to Accra from his home in Ghana’s rural northern region. He leaves having just experienced his mothers death, her last words to him a directive to travel to Accra and find the father he has never met. Along the journey he experiences Ghana as only a child can and in so doing expands our view of what the country is and what it will be.

Native Sun

2011

Native Sun poster
6.0

Mumin, a precocious young boy, makes the long trip to Accra from his home in Ghana’s rural northern region. He leaves having just experienced his mothers death, her last words to him a directive to travel to Accra and find the father he has never met. Along the journey he experiences Ghana as only a child can and in so doing expands our view of what the country is and what it will be.

Native Sun

2011

Beyoncé - Their Fall Our All poster
7.0

This dreamlike fusion of political thriller and science-fiction fantasia is set to original music by Beyoncé.

Beyoncé - Their Fall Our All

2014

Beyoncé - Their Fall Our All poster
7.0

This dreamlike fusion of political thriller and science-fiction fantasia is set to original music by Beyoncé.

Beyoncé - Their Fall Our All

2014

Mélissa Laveaux - Postman poster
NR

The official music video for Mélissa Laveaux's 2013 single "Postman" (from the album Dying is a Wild Night).

Mélissa Laveaux - Postman

2013

No artwork available
NR

A short film by Terence Nance made in a fine art context while he was studying visuals art.

Exorcising Rejection

2008

No artwork available
NR

The above is a performance during which I google the phrase "1 year old black boy" ascending in age to the age of 18. I allow Google's "popular searches" algorithm to predict what comes after the phrase and peruse the results based on what Google thinks I want to search for in a Black boy. The algorithm generates results based on the most popular searches so it can be theorized that the Black boys that the algorithm predicts are the Black boys we are searching for.

18 Black Boys Ages 1-18 Who Have Arrived at the Singularity and Are Thus Spiritual Machines: $6 in an Edition of $97 Quadrillion

2017

No Ward poster
6.0

No Ward is a short documentary about the forced migration of New Orleans residents to cities in Texas. The film juxtaposes the migrations that occurred as a result of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and Hurricane Gustav in 2008.

No Ward

2009

No Ward poster
6.0

No Ward is a short documentary about the forced migration of New Orleans residents to cities in Texas. The film juxtaposes the migrations that occurred as a result of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and Hurricane Gustav in 2008.

No Ward

2009

No artwork available
NR

"is a performance during which I google the phrase "1 year old black girl" ascending in age to the age of 18. I allow Google's "popular searches" algorithm to predict what comes after the phrase and peruse the results based on what Google thinks I want to search for in a Black girl. The algorithm generates results based on the most popular searches so it can be theorized that the Black girls that the algorithm predicts are the Black girls we are searching for." - Terence Nance. (https://vimeo.com/122993949)

18 Black Girls Ages 1-18 Who Have Arrived at the Singularity and are thus Spiritual Machines: $2 in an edition of $97 Quadrillion

2015