Neil Barrett Selected as the DC Film Office September Filmmaker of the Month

Thursday, September 1, 2011

The District of Columbia Office of Motion Picture and Television Development is pleased to announce Neil Barrett, award-winning documentary filmmaker and director of photography, as its September 2011 Filmmaker of the Month. Neil Barrett is a British director of photography who has worked on more than 30 broadcast documentary films for National Geographic, BBC, PBS, Discovery, The History Channel, NBC, ABC and CNN.

With an academic background in visual anthropology, Neil enjoys focusing on films that explore the paradoxes of cultural difference. In 2010, he served as the director of photography for a PBS “Independent lens” documentary entitled The Woodmans, a portrait of a family of artists pushing the limits of creative parenting. The film was a featured documentary at the Silverdocs Film Festival and won the Tribeca Film Festival’s “Best US Documentary” category. Additionally, Neil served as the director of photography for a Showtime documentary entitled The Other City, which explored the growing AIDS crisis in the District of Columbia and was also featured at the Tribeca and Silverdocs film festivals. Both films, along with his ESPN Films feature documentary Kicking it (2008), have been released theatrically in the United States.

Neil also enjoys working in the nonprofit sector based in Washington, DC. He frequently shoots PSAs and fundraising films for many large NGO organizations. Clients include the ONE campaign, Women for Women international, The US Peace Corps, The Roosevelt Foundation and the Lyndon Johnson Foundation.

His work has won several awards including a Columbia Dupont award for excellence in journalism, the Edward R. Murrow award for a documentary on the civil war in Liberia, four Cine Golden Eagle Awards, and an Emmy nomination.

Neil lives in Ward 3 of the District of Columbia.

The DC Film Office launched the Filmmaker of the Month initiative to feature a District-based filmmaker who exemplifies the vast amount of talent and creativity based here in the nation’s capital. The Filmmaker of the Month initiative is part of its mission to elevate the national and international profile of the city’s most talented filmmakers. Previous filmmakers honored include Money Matters director Ryan Richmond, The West Wing producer Jonathan Zurer, Jezebel Filmworks founder Ada Babino, Orange Juice in Bishop’s Garden web series creator Otessa Ghadar, and People Past and Present: Hillsdale creator Tendani Mpulubusi El.

You can visit the Filmmaker of the Month section to learn more about Neil and previous Filmmaker of the Month recipients.