A graduate of the American Film Institute, I am a documentary director, producer and editor whose work has aired on PBS series such as Independent Lens and has been seen at film festivals around the world, including Sundance, SXSW, New Directors, New Films and DOC NYC.

My 2013 directing debut THE HILL, about the demolition of an African-American neighborhood in New Haven, CT, premiered on the PBS series America Reframed and won best documentary at Greenpoint Film Festival.

My 2014 film SCHOOL’S OUT, about a forest kindergarten in Switzerland, premiered on the PBS series Natural Heroes, won best short at several festivals, and was written about on Slate.com, in The Atlantic, and in National Geographic. With screenings at over 100 film festivals and public screenings around the world, SCHOOL’S OUT sparked a movement among early childhood educators to set up their own versions of an outdoor kindergarten. There are now over 250 forest kindergartens in the U.S.

My recent feature documentary MISSING IN BROOKS COUNTY premiered in fall of 2020 at Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, has won 11 awards since and received funding from ITVS and is Executive Produced by Abigail Disney. The film was released theatrically this past summer and will air on the PBS series Independent Lens in January 2022.

I spent the spring of 2019 on a Fulbright Scholarship in Toronto working on the documentary SAFE HAVEN about U.S. war resisters seeking asylum in Canada and the award-winning short film SOLEDAD about an asylum case. Both films are currently screening at film festivals in North America.

Some of my other films about the Southwest are the award-winning TEACHING IN ARIZONA (2018) and THE CLEANERS. (2017).

I have taught filmmaking at Yale University, Wesleyan University, Colorado College and Trinity College and currently teach at the School of Theatre, Film and Television, the Human Rights Practice Program and the James E. Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona.
I am a member of the film collective New Day Films.

Links
Apple TV (iTunes) in the U.S. : https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/missing-in-brooks-county/umc.cmc.5bnccj1evebuqd9yrt97l2u2z

Only the 1 hour version is available internationally: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/movie/missing-in-brooks-county/id1577162619

PBS’ Independent Lens in US: https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/documentaries/missing-in-brooks-county/

Article in the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/20/us-immigration-checkpoint-falfurrias-station-texas-documentary

Also, you can check out my documentary The People of Brixton, on Kwelitv here: https://www.kweli.tv/programs/the-people-of-brixton

Damien Swaby Social Media Links:

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/filmmaker_damien_swaby/

Twitter
https://twitter.com/DamienSwaby?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Website
http://filmmakingconversations.com/

If you enjoy listening to Filmmaking Conversations with Damien Swaby, I would love a coffee. Podcasting is thirsty work https://ko-fi.com/damienswaby