Mentality — Mackenzie Bell

In Mentality a young professional dancer recovering from an ankle injury fights to reclaim her place onstage as determination and self-destruction become increasingly difficult to distinguish.

Mackenzie Bell is a filmmaker based in New Orleans, LA. Interested in film since the age of fourteen, Bell has found herself in film school in pursuit of a Master of Fine Arts at the University of New Orleans, graduating in May 2026. She has directed five short films, three of which combine her lifelong love for dance and her passion for filmmaking (I Dreamt I Was Going Down, Georgiana, and Mentality).

Across the different genres her films cover, her films tend to come back to a theme that relates to the human condition. In addition to writing and directing her own films, Bell has worked on different sets in crew roles spanning across departments. She has worked as a 1st Assistant Director, Director of Photography, Production Sound Mixer, and Costume Designer to name a few. With a background in videography, camerawork, lighting, and the composition of the frame is something that she appreciates and likes to focus on within her own work.