Lucy Walker: Life Like Reality

“I love using documentary films to take the viewer on a journey to a world they’re not physically in. Film is the most impactful way I can give audiences that life like experience.” —Lucy Walker

Celebrate the career of award-winning film and virtual reality director Lucy Walker this November with a retrospective of her work and a dialogue. The retrospective will showcase her directorial achievements, including Waste Land (2010), The Crash Reel (2013), Countdown to Zero (2010), and an evening of her short documentary films. A master of her craft, Walker captures sublime turning points in people’s lives when they must push past impossibility and “dare to be honest,” conjuring that most human need to connect. As a documentary filmmaker, Walker’s distinctive character-focused narratives and embrace of virtual reality technology to transport audiences has bolstered her status as a visionary within the field of nonfiction filmmaking.

Walker began her career by directing a musical while studying at Oxford University. It wasn’t until she received a Fulbright scholarship to study at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts that she began working in moving image. During this time, she supported herself by working as a DJ and musician, skills she later tapped to create the soundtrack to her film about Amish youth, Devil’s Playground (2002).

She has received awards for her work at the Sundance Film Festival, the SXSW Film Festival, the Vancouver International Film Festival, Telluride Mountainfilm, the São Paulo International Film Festival, and the Stockholm Film Festival, among others. Her films have been nominated for two Oscars, seven Emmys, an Independent Spirit Award for Best Feature, and a Gotham Award for Best Documentary.

All films are screened in the Walker Cinema. Unless otherwise noted, tickets are $10 ($8 Walker members, students, and seniors).