Kate Balsley was born into a family of artists and had an interest in cinema from a young age. In 2003, she graduated with high honors from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a BFA in film production and studies. Afterwards, she briefly lived in New York City before earning an MFA in mass communication and media arts from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale in 2009. Her narrative, documentary, experimental and animated films have been exhibited throughout the world in venues such as the Museum of the Moving Image, the Anthology Film Archives, the Milwaukee Art Museum, the ICA Boston, and the Museu de Arte Moderna in Rio de Janeiro.  She is also a screenwriter, and her short script LAIKA was a finalist in the 2020 Atlanta Film Festival Screenplay Competition. Among her awards include the Best Experimental Award from the Athens International Film and Video Festival and a Jury Award from the Black Maria Film and Video Festival. She is currently an associate professor of film at Georgia Gwinnett College near Atlanta.

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