Filmmaker Lindsey stands centre frame and looks at the camera with a slight smile on her face. She has a nose piercing and long dark brown hair that falls across her blue velvet dress. In the background are tall, noble trees, shrouded by leaves.

Spotlighting human bodies and human desires in film, television and series.

Lindsey (she/her) is an Emmy® award-winning, Sundance-supported, and Oscar-shortlisted director, producer and executive producer whose work spans cinema documentary, live action and animation. Her films centre radical and rebellious bodies, with a focus on women’s, non-binary, LGBTQ+ and disabled perspectives.

Reaching millions of viewers, her feature-length and short films have been screened on Netflix, BBC, Channel 4, PBS, CondeNast’s ‘them’, New Yorker and Criterion Channel, and at festivals including Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, HotDocs, CPH:Dox and Frameline.

Following an early career in television documentary with Lambent Productions, Lion TV and Current TV, Lindsey has directed distinctive films for cinema including The Callers (2024, Frameline/New Yorker/Criterion Channel); Jackie Kay: One Person, Two Names (2017, Tate Queer British Art), feature documentary Lost and Sound (2012, SXSW); and Close Your Eyes and Look at Me (2009, True/False). 

She produced feature docs The Tallest Dwarf (SXSW/PBS, 2025) and She Looks Like Me (SXSW, 2024), the Academy Award shortlisted and Sundance Special Jury Award-winning Unrest (2017 PBS/Netflix), and the 2x Webby- and Emmy-winning Trans in America (2019 SXSW). 

Lindsey is a sought-after Consultant and Consulting Producer, most recently on notable films including Deaf President Now! (Concordia Studio/Apple TV+) directed by Nyle DiMarco and Davis Guggenheim, and Heart of Invictus (Violet Films/Netflix/Archewell Productions) directed by Orlando Von Einsiedel and produced by Joanna Natasegara.

Lindsey is a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and BAFTA, the 2025 SXSW Janet Pierson Champion Award Winner, a 2024 Concordia Fellow, a 2022 Sundance Institute Documentary Producers Lab Fellow and a BFI Flare x BAFTA alum.

She is the co-founder of FWD-Doc: Filmmakers with Disabilities, and a popular keynote speaker and guest lecturer; she’s been a guest of BAFTA, SXSW, Jacob Burns Film Center, the Oxford Women’s Leadership Development Programme at Saïd Business School, and numerous film schools.

She mentors emerging filmmakers for leading organisations including BFI Network SW, Doc Society and Ffilm Cymru Wales, and as a lecturer, academic and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, she has delivered 4* Impact Case Studies and worked with talented post-graduate and undergraduate emerging artists.

SELECTED PRESS

A portrait of a person with long dark hair, wearing a blue garment, standing in front of a tree. The image includes text: "SXSW Film & TV Awards, Lindsey Dryden, Janet Pierson Champion Award Winner." The person's social media handle is also displayed.

Indiewire SXSW 2025 Awards: Lindsey Dryden receives Janet Pierson Champion Award
 
To honor Janet Pierson, Director Emeritus of the SXSW Film & TV Festival after 15 years of leadership, a prize was created in 2023 called the Janet Pierson Champion Award. As part of IndieWire’s dedication to elevating Film & TV creators, IndieWire is proud to present the Janet Pierson Champion Award to Lindsey Dryden. 

 “This year’s winner exemplifies the spirit of a true film champion through her impressive body of work spanning award-winning productions like Unrest and Trans In America, while simultaneously advocating for greater inclusion through her leadership with FWD-Doc and commitment to disability representation. Her multifaceted career as a director, producer, and advocate demonstrates exceptional creativity and resilience, making her a powerful voice for marginalized communities and an influential catalyst for change within the broader independent film ecosystem worldwide.”