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Terrified of ending up alone and turning 30, filmmaker Nina Davenport has become obsessed with the institution of marriage and its promises of fulfillment. In Always a Bridesmaid, Nina confronts her fears from the trenches, where appropriately and ironically, she works as a wedding videographer-all the while questioning why she has complicated her own situation with a noncommittal boyfriend who is five years younger. Never shy with her camera, she cross-examines failed love interests, interrogates nervous brides, gathers advice from anyone who will listen, and captures the most private of discussions with her amiable yet aimless current sweetheart. Along the way, she entertains the idea of spending life alone, seeking the wisdom of very old women who chose not to marry, as the film becomes an insightful and humorous meditation on the human desire for connection. Ultimately, this story of one woman's attempt to navigate her love life is a document for a generation of women both freed and overwhelmed by increasing choices.
Nina Davenport received a B.A. in Visual Studies from Harvard College in 1990. Her senior thesis Slain in the Spirit, a portfolio of photographs about faith healing, received the distinction of summa cum laude and The Boston Globe's J. Edward Fitzgerald Award for Photojournalism. Upon graduating, Davenport won a Gardner Fellowship to go to India. She shot Hello Photo, her first film, entirely with a silent movie camera, applying her still photographer’s vision to filmmaking as she documented her journey through India. Hello Photo premiered at the Rotterdam International Film & Video Festival in 1996 and has played at many other festivals throughout the world, including Seattle, Chicago, Syndey, St. Petersburg, Créteil and Montreal. It garnered numerous awards as well: “Best Documentary†from Melbourne, Australia, “Best Black & White Cinematography†from Cork, Ireland, “Outstanding Independent Film†from the New England Film Festival, and the “Kodak Award†from the New York Expo, among others. It was also one of six films chosen for Southern Circuit, a tour of films throughout the southern United States. In 1996, Davenport received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to go to Mexico where she filmed Los Pericos (The Parrots), a documentary about a pair of blind street musicians. Davenport began shooting Always a Bridesmaidalso in 1996, which was funded by HBO/Cinemax and Channel Four in England and is Davenport’s first feature-length film.
