Celine Held

Celine Held is an American and British film director, writer, and actress. Her debut feature film Topside, co-directed with her partner Logan George, premiered at the 77th Venice International Film Festival.^[2] Her short film Caroline that she co-wrote, co-directed and starred in, was nominated for the Short Film Palme d'Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.^[3] Her additional short film work has premiered at Sundance Film Festival and at South by Southwest.^[4]

Celine Held
Born	1990 (1990)[1] Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Education	New York University (BFA)
Occupation(s)	Director, writer, actress
Website	Official website

Early life and education

Held was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and is a US and UK citizen.^[5]

Career

Short films

Held and George's first short film, Mouse, premiered at South by Southwest in 2017.^[6] Held was then named among the "25 New Faces of Independent Film" in Filmmaker Magazine's annual list with her partner Logan George in 2017.^[7] Their second short film Lockdown premiered at Sundance Film Festival.^[8]

Held and George's short film Caroline was nominated for the Short Film Palme d'Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival and South by Southwest.^[9] Caroline was also short-listed for the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film at the 91st Academy Awards.^[10] Held also played the mother of the titular character in Caroline, a role that she reprised for Held and George's feature film debut Topside.

Feature Films

Held and George's first feature film Topside premiered at 77th Venice International Film Festival.^[11] Topside won the Mario Serandrei Award for Best Technical Achievement at Venice,^[12] and the jury award for Best Director at South by Southwest.^[13] Topside has been praised by critics, landing on The Hollywood Reporter's list of the 20 Best Films From the Toronto and Venice Festivals.^[14] Sheri Linden of The Hollywood Reporter said the film is "a striking debut, cinematic and affecting."^[15] Eric Kohn of Indiewire called the debut film "riveting," saying, "Logan George and Celine Held's debut is a taut mother-daughter survivor story with a breakthrough performance [at] its center."^[16]

Held has also been praised for her pivotal role in Topside, with critics calling her performance "harrowing," "unnerving," and "gutwrenching."^[17]

Held & George's research for their feature film debut Topside has been extensive. The pair created a documentary on homelessness 50 Moments, which premiered at South by Southwest.^[18] Held & George spent time in the tunnels before filming on Topside, and credit the inspiration for the film to books The Mole People: Life in the Tunnels Beneath New York City by Jennifer Toth and The Tunnel: the Underground Homeless of New York City by Margaret Morton.^[19]

Held again collaborated with George to co-direct the 2024 thriller film Caddo Lake, released as an Max exclusive.^[20] The film, originally titled Vanishings and later The Vanishings at Caddo Lake before being renamed for a final time before release, was filmed in 2021. The film stars Dylan O'Brien and Eliza Scanlen, Caddo Lake was produced by M. Night Shyamalan under his Blinding Edge Pictures banner.