Lindsey Dryden is a British film director, producer and writer.
Early life
Dryden was born in Stroud, in Gloucestershire, England. She learned to play piano as a child from her father. She studied at Goldsmiths, University of London, and was awarded a Bachelor of Arts with First Class honours. Dryden has been mentored by The National Film & Television School, Women In Film & Television, 45 Years director Andrew Haigh, and BFI Flare.
Career
Dryden began her career working on television documentaries for the BBC, Channel 4, The History Channel, Current TV and others, before moving into independent film.
Dryden has directed and produced films that have screened at numerous top international festivals, including SXSW, Sundance, Tribeca, True/False, Sheffield Doc/Fest, HotDocs, New York's Lincoln Center and the British Film Institute. Her work has been released theatrically in the UK and US, exhibited at Tate Modern and Tate Britain, streamed on Vogue.com, featured in Elle (magazine), and broadcast on Netflix, PBS, BBC and Channel 4.
Her directing credits include feature documentary Lost and Sound (SXSW, 2012), short documentary Close Your Eyes And Look At Me (True/False, 2009) and Jackie Kay: One Person Two Names, commissioned for Tate Britain's Queer British Art 2017.
For directing Lost and Sound she was nominated Best New UK Filmmaker at Open City Docs and Best Female-Directed Film at Sheffield Doc/Fest. The film went on to screen and win awards at festivals globally, including at ReelAbilities and Napa Valley Film Festival.
Dryden produced SXSW-debuting documentary series Trans In America. One of those short films, Trans In America: Texas Strong, won the Emmy for Outstanding Short Documentary on 24 September 2019 as well as a Webby Award and a Webby People's Voice Award in May 2019.
Dryden produced Sundance award-winning feature documentary Unrest (dir: Jennifer Brea), which premiered in competition at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, won a Sundance Special Jury Award, won a 2018 Independent Lens Audience Award, and was shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 2017 Oscars.
Her other producing credits include short documentary Little Ones (dir: Joanna Coates, 2013), and a verite documentary series with the ACLU about transgender civil rights (2018). She co-produced Sheffield Doc/Fest VR award-winning Unrest VR (2017), with Jennifer Brea, Arnaud Colinart and Amaury La Burthe, and in 2013 was nominated Best Producer at Underwire, a festival celebrating female filmmakers, for Little Ones. The film was developed as part of the London Borough Film Fund Challenge.
Dryden is a founding member of Queer Producers Collective and FWD-DOC, a recent Filmmaker-In-Residence at Jacob Burns Film Center in New York, and an artist-in-residence at Somerset House Studios. She frequently consults, mentors, speaks on panels and offers masterclasses, including at Sheffield Doc/Fest and Women In Film & Television. She is the 2019 Simon Relph Memorial Bursary awardee.
Filmography
- Trans In America (producer) – documentary series (2018)
- Jackie Kay: One Person, Two Names (director) – documentary short (2017) – Tate Queer British Art 2017
- Unrest (producer) – documentary feature (2017) – 2017 Sundance Film Festival
- Unrest VR (co-producer) – virtual reality experience (2017) – 2017 Tribeca Film Festival
- Tate Shots: Georgia O’Keeffe directed by Petra Collins (executive producer) – short (2018) – Vogue.com
- Tate Shots: Harun Farocki (director/producer) – documentary short (2016) – Tate Modern
- Tate Shots: Yinka Shonibare (director/producer) – documentary short (2016) – Tate Modern
- Tate Shots: Agnes Martin (director/producer) – documentary short (2016) – Tate Modern
- Tate Shots: Parviz Tanavoli (director/producer) – documentary short (2016) – Tate Modern
- Alexis Hunter: Approach To Fear (director/producer) – documentary short (2014)
- Little Ones (producer) – documentary short - 2013 Underwire Film Festival
- Lost and Sound (director/producer) – feature documentary (2012) - South By Southwest Film Festival - Winner, Special Jury Award, DORF Music Film Festival, Croatia
- RSC: Much Ado About Nothing (director/producer) - documentary short (2012) - BBC/The Space/Royal Shakespeare Company
- Making Sense of My Senses (director/producer) – documentary short (2011) - Community Channel
- TRIBES (Royal Court Theatre) (director/producer) - d/Deaf-accessible shorts (2010) - Royal Court Theatre
- Close Your Eyes and Look at Me (director/producer) – documentary short - 2009 True/False Film Festival
References
- "Planet of Snail & Lost and Sound". docgeeks.com. June 15th, 2012 by Paul Martinovic
- "Mentors Tessa Ross, Andrew Haigh and Moira Buffini Join Guiding Lights 8" Screen Training Ireland. Friday, February 10th, 2017
- "BFINETWORK @FLARE Mentorships in partnership with BAFTA: Meet the filmmakers" bfi.org.uk. March 23rd, 2018
- "Interview : Lindsey Dryden". Hearing Times, by Lizzie Ward.
- "Sundance Documentary ‘Unrest’ Set for September Release (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety, by Dave McNary, July 19th, 2017.
- "Susan Kouguell Speaks with Unrest Documentary Director Jennifer Brea and Producer Lindsey Dryden". Script Magazine, by Susan Kouguell, November 30th, 2017.
- "'Lost And Sound' Director Lindsey Dryden On What Happens To Music When You Go Deaf". The Huffington Post.
- "Poet Jackie Kay Opens Up About Accepting LGBTQ+ Identity To Celebrate New Tate Britain Exhibition". Elle.com, by Katie O'Malley, May 2nd, 2017.
- "Sheffield Doc/Fest introduces award for best female director". Real Screen. June 6, 2012 by Kevin Ritchie.
- "Disabilities Film Festival Making Big Strides". March 4, 2014, George Robinson, The Jewish Week
- "Loss, Listening, and Learning to Hear Music Again". San Francisco Classical Voice.
- "News & Documentary Emmys: 2019 Winners". The Hollywood Reporter. 24 September 2019. Retrieved 2019-12-03.
- "Goldsmiths graduate wins Emmy Award for Short Documentary". Goldlink Online. 2019-10-03. Retrieved 2019-12-03.
- "Trans in America: Texas Strong -- The Webby Awards". Retrieved 2019-12-03.
- "Graduate News: Double win at Webby Awards for 'Trans in America', produced by alumna Lindsey Dryden". Goldlink Online. 2019-05-22. Retrieved 2019-12-03.
- "unrest". www.sundance.org. Retrieved 2019-12-03.
- "Sundance Winners: 'I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore,' 'Unrest' Top Festival Awards". www.variety.org. Retrieved 2017-01-28.
- "Unrest is Independent Lens Audience Award Winner". pbs.org, June 18th, 2018.
- Pedersen, Erik (2017-12-08). "Oscars: Documentary Feature Shortlist Cuts Field To 15". Deadline. Retrieved 2017-12-11.
- "Project produced by Former WFTV mentee wins two Awards at Doc/Fest" Archived 2019-12-03 at the Wayback Machine. Women in Film & Television UK, June 15th, 2017.
- "Film London's BoBs awards celebrate short film in the capital". Pictureville, 5 September 2013
- "Creative England and BAFTA announce Lindsey Dryden as awardee of the Simon Relph Memorial Bursary". Creative England. 2019-11-22. Retrieved 2019-12-03.
- "Woodhouse wins Film London's Best of Boroughs shorts award". Screen Daily.
- "'Lost And Sound' Director Lindsey Dryden On What Happens To Music When You Go Deaf". The Huffington Post. 03/28/2012. Gazelle Emami
- "SXSW Film - Review: 'Lost and Sound' - Screens - The Austin Chronicle". austinchronicle.com.
- "DORF 2013 Awards - Dorf film festival". Retrieved 22 December 2013.