Lucy Walker

Artist, Athlete, Buddhist, Explorer, Filmmaker, Photographer, World traveler, Writer/Editor

Lucy Walker is a film director who has won two Emmys, won a Peabody and has twice been nominated for an Academy Award. She has won over one hundred other major awards and have been six career retrospectives of her films (at the Paris Theater in NYC, at Minneapolis Walker Art Center, at the British Film Institute, in Montana, in Washington DC, and in Zagreb). She is renowned for creating riveting, character-driven films which deliver emotionally and narratively. The Hollywood reporter has praised her “unique ability to connect with audiences” and Variety called her “the new Errol Morris”. Her film Waste Land is ranked on IMDb as the tenth best reviewed movie (not just documentary) of all time. Her latest film, Mountain Queen (2024), about Lhakpa Sherpa, the first Nepali woman to summit Everest who at the start of the movie is washing dishes at a Whole Foods in Connecticut and decides she must return to Everest for her struggling daughters. The film won an Emmy and a Peabody Award and won an Audience Award at Toronto Film Festival where it was acquired by Netflix for worldwide distribution. Also on Netflix is How To Change Your Mind (2023), a massively successful series about psychedelic science which Lucy adapted for the screen from the book by Michael Pollan. Other feature-length docs directed by Lucy include: - you-have-to-see-it-to-believe-it The Crash Reel (2013), Emmy-winning, about Olympic hopeful snowboarder Kevin Pearce return to his beloved sport sustaining a traumatic brain alongside his brother with Down Syndrome - Bring Your Own Brigade (2022), a deep journey into the causes of deadly wild fires burning in California. It was included in the top ten movies (not just documentaries) of 2022 by both New York Times film critics and last year was recognized for its impact since, tragically, it so accurately anticipated and explained the 2025 Los Angeles fires - Buena Vista Social Club Adios (2015) about Cuba’s extraordinary all-star musicians - Waste Land (2010), about artist Vik Muniz’s collaboration with recycling “catadores” in the world’s largest garbage dump in Rio de Janeiro, Oscar-nominated (Best Documentary), Sundance-and-Berlin-winning. - Countdown to Zero (2010), about nuclear weapons, which contributed to the discussion leading to the ratification of the new START treaty, which screened in Official Selection at Cannes - and at TED:) - Blindsight (2006), Berlin-winning, about the first blind man to summit Everest, Erik Weihenmeyer, and his ensuing dramatic follow-up climb with blind Tibetan students and their blind teacher Sabriye Tenberken - Devil’s Playground (2002), about Amish young people going through their experimental “rumspringa” period, nominated for three Emmys and an Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary. - and short films, notably: -The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom (2012), about the 2011 Japanese tsunami earthquake disaster and the healing power of nature. Nominated for an Oscar and winner Best Short at Sundance - The Lion’s Mouth Opens (2014) about an astounding young woman taking her friends along as she gets tested for Huntington’s Disease. Nominated for an Emmy and winner of the Cinema Eye for Best Short Documentary. - David Hockney In The Now, about the artist, commissioned by LACMA and included and screened in their permanent collection - Oh, What A Beautiful City, about a day in the life of a NYC outdoor swimming pool - A Bridge Poem, commissioned for TEDWomen:) She executive produced Ram Dass, Going Home, and she produced Why Did You Kill Me?, both of which are on Netflix. She is currently creating new projects on various subjects, including the therapeutic psychedelic ibogaine and the science of interspecies communication. For her advertising work she has been awarded three Cannes Lions, two Clios, and two Association of Independent Commercial Producers awards, among other awards, for clients including Google, Intel, Listerine, Liberty Mutual, Proctor & Gamble, Qualcomm, American Express, and Ralph Lauren. “Girl Emojis” which she directed for #LikeAGirl, was credited by the emoji Unicode Consortium of precipitating their major gender and diversity rethink of emojis in 2016. Lucy has also directed several pieces of virtual reality. Including Sundance favorite A History of Cuban Dance (2016) Lucy grew up in London, England and attended New College, Oxford University, where she graduated with first class honors in English Language and Literature and directed theater before winning a Fulbright Scholarship to attend the Graduate Film Program at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. There she earned an MFA while supporting herself as a successful DJ and musician, featured on the cover of The Wire magazine. Her first job was directing twenty episodes of Nickelodeon’s Blue’s Clues, for which she was twice nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Directing. She also curated TEDxVeniceBeach, including talks by Moby, Diane von Furstenburg, Franklin Leonard and Agnes Varda.

everything all the time pretty much

"Creative people live exemplary lives. They show how joyful and interesting complex symbolic activity is. They have struggled through marshes of ignorance, deserts of disinterest, and have found themselves on the other side of the known." - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

cuba, dancing, documentary, film, literature, meditation, music, poetry, psychedelics, sleep, travel, trees, uk, virtual reality, wine

I have attended several mainstage TED conferences and in 2017 I took over curating and organizing TEDxVeniceBeach. Our event was a wild success, with speakers including Agnes Varda, Moby, and Diane von Furstenberg,

Ah but I’m British. So I’m definitely not going to tell you anything I’m good at. I’m unfortunately terrible at singing.