Kris Swanberg

Kris Williams was an independent filmmaker and actress whose 2015 dramedy "Unexpected" premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. A native of Virginia, Williams always set her sights on becoming a filmmaker. She enrolled at the film program at Southern Illinois University in 1999, where she would meet fellow aspiring filmmaker, and future husband, Joe Swanberg. At SIU, Williams and Swanberg were part of a close-knit group of filmmakers that met each week to discuss their ongoing projects, as well as offer each other support. After graduation in 2003, however, she found that the built-in support system offered by the university was now absent. So, it was her then-boyfriend, Swanberg, who decided to make his debut film, "Kissing on the Mouth," in 2004 using several of their friends from college. Williams starred in the film, thus landing her first ever credited screen role. Inspired by Swanberg, Williams began writing and directing the dramatic web series, "Young American Bodies" (Nerve.com 2006). It was during this time that, in between writing and directing various projects, Williams also worked a day job as a school teacher in Chicago. However, when she was laid off from her job after the recession of 2008, Williams decided to devote herself to filmmaking. In 2009 she wrote, directed and starred in her feature debut, "It Was Great, But I Was Ready to Come Home." The experience of making the film instilled Williams with the confidence to make the dramatic thriller "Empire Builder" in 2012, which was screened at the 48th Annual Chicago International Film Festival. For her third feature, Williams utilized her real life experiences as a school teacher to write and direct "Unexpected." The film, about a teacher and student that become pregnant at the same time, had its world premiere at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.