A.V. Rockwell is a New York-born writer-director raised in Queens who studied at NYU Tisch as a Dean’s Fellow. Early Open City Mixtape black-and-white shorts on NYC youth led to The Gospel (2016), the Alicia Keys collaborator short that earned Clio Music silver, and Feathers (2018), Tribeca/CHANEL Through Her Lens grand-prize winner acquired by Fox Searchlight after TIFF and later shown at Sundance. Her feature debut A Thousand and One (2023, Focus Features), a Harlem mother-son drama spanning the 1990s–2000s, won the Sundance U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize, Gotham Breakthrough Director Award, and Independent Spirit Best First Feature, plus a DGA first-time feature nomination. Commercially she is rostered at Prettybird (US/UK) with Somesuch listings; documented spots include the adidas Black Ambition launch film with Pharrell Williams, an Ad Council/Susan G. Komen breast-health campaign, Best Buy, Visa NFL partnership creative, the 2020 U.S. Census “Shape Your Future” spot, and a Serena Williams Super Bowl commercial. She has directed a Boomerang episode, holds Guggenheim, Sundance, and Tribeca fellowships, appeared on Filmmaker’s 25 New Faces (2019) and SHOOT’s New Directors Showcase (2017), and advises Tribeca/CHANEL Women Filmmakers and Sundance Collab.