Please answer the following question: Facts: - imagesize: 150px - death place: madison , wisconsin , united states - death date: october 20 , 2004 - birth date: 1952 - name: nietzchka keene - image: nietzchka_keene . jpg - birth place: boston , massachusetts , united states Based on these bullet points, write a short biography describing the life of nietzchka keene .
A:
professor nietzchka keene -lrb- 1952 -- 2004 -rrb- was an american film director and writer best known for '' the juniper tree '' , a feature film shot in iceland , and starring the icelandic singer bjork in her first film role .she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the spring of 2004 and died , aged 52 , on october 20 , 2004 .she taught film making and editing in the university of wisconsin -- madison until her death .she was born in 1952 and raised near boston , massachusetts .she received her ba in 1975 in germanic linguistics at the university of massachusetts amherst , and her master of fine arts in film production from the university of california at los angeles in 1979 .while at ucla she served as a research assistant in old icelandic language and linguistics under dr. jesse byock .nietzchka worked in various capacities in the film industry in los angeles while attending graduate school , including positions as a recordist for a sound studio , a dialogue editor in a post-production house , a projectionist , and a re-recording mixer at ucla .she produced three short films as a graduate student -- '' friends '' -lrb- 1977 -rrb- , '' still '' -lrb- 1978 -rrb- and '' hinterland '' -lrb- 1983 -rrb- .in 1986 after returning from her fulbright year she wrote the script for '' the juniper tree '' and returned to shoot the film in 1987 on location in iceland .it was the first film to star the well-known singer and actress bjork , in the role of a young child in a story based on a fairy tale from the brothers grimm .she won a verna fields memorial scholarship from ucla in 1987 for editing '' the juniper tree '' , completing it in 1989 .it has been screened in more than 23 festivals and invitational events around the world , including the sundance film festival , the harvard film archive , and the art institute of chicago .it won the prix du public at the festival des films des femmes de montreal in 1990 and the first prize for first film at the troia international film festival in troia ,...