Cecilia Seaward is a NY-based interdisciplinary artist with roots in Finland and Sweden. She trained in classical ballet from an early age and went on to attend the Boston Conservatory for dance. She danced with ballet and contemporary companies in Boston and Rhode Island before moving to NYC. She has appeared on television shows including American Odyssey, Law and Order, FBI:Most Wanted, and Difficult People.
She directed two short experimental films, Recollect (2016) and Sacred Geometry (2018) which were screened at festivals including Video Art Miden, Ibrida Festival in Italy, the Kinitras Choreography Lab in Greece, and the Crossroads Festival at SFMOMA.
Cecilia also directed the short thriller Porcelain Doll (2019) which won Best Thriller at the International Short Film Awards in 2021 as well as a Bronze Selection at the World London Film Festival.
In response to the pandemic in 2020, Cecilia morphed into Quarantine Betty, an instagram “star” who she then profiled in the mockumentary Betty Coxworth: Untucked (2021). Cecilia’s performance in Betty Coxworth: Untucked was awarded with an Honorable Mention for Female Performance from the London Web Fest in 2021 and the film was deemed a finalist at Beyond The Curve Film Festival, Independent Shorts Awards, Paris International Short Festival, among others.
Cecilia holds a B.A. in Philosophy from UMass, Boston and an M.A. in Global Film and Television from the University of Hertfordshire, UK.
Cecilia took part in Instabili Vaganti’s Rags of Memory work session in Bologna in 2018 and has been collaborating with Anna Dora Dorno and Nicola Pianzola on Beyond Borders since the pandemic began. She is delighted to be working together in person after much virtual collaboration.
