Filmmakers and Producers

Shawn Batey

Shawn Batey an award-winning filmmaker has over eight years experience as a producer, director, and writer of documentary films and videos. Shawn is a native of St. Louis who currently resides in New York City.

Her directorial credits include HAIR-TAGE, a cultural documentary on dreadlocks, 60+, a musical documentary of an all-female senior citizen steel drum band, and THROUGH MY EYES, an interpretation of September 11th from the perspective of Latino and African-American youth. Additionally, Shawn has produced an educational video promoting cultural diversity through the arts after the tragedies of September 11th as a project for School District 14 in Brooklyn, New York.

Her interest in documentary filmmaking brought her to New York City in 1997 when she was accepted into the Film and Video Production Workshop at Third World Newsreel, a progressive media arts organization that provides distribution, production, and training. Her films have screened in numerous festivals in the US and Canada including Vues D' Afrique, The Black Harvest Film Festival, Women in the Director's Chair, The Silver Images Film Festival and at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Shawn recently completed, CHANGING FACE OF HARLEM, which focuses on the current revitalization of Harlem from a perspective of residents and small business owners. She has been invited to serve on several panels city-wide and speak on the topic of gentrification including CUNY City College Symposium on Gentrification, Columbia University - Paul Robeson Conference, and CUNY Hunter College - Harlem Gentrification Panel.

For over ten years, Shawn has worked as a freelance Props Assistant and Set Dresser for television, commercials, and feature films. Credits include "G", "Roll Bounce", "Miracle's Boys", "Chicago Hope", "The Awful Truth", "Love Jones", and "Serendipity".

AVAILABLE FROM TWN

Changing Face of Harlem
Shawn Batey
Producer: Shawn Batey & Shaun Jaffier
2014, 62 min., Color, US
Told through the personal accounts of residents, business owners, politicians and real estate developers, CHANGING FACE OF HARLEM explores the drastic transformation of this historic neighborhood over a ten year span. The film tackles the pressing issues of class and cultural preservation as the nei...

Hair-tage
Shawn Batey
Producer: Third World Newsreel Workshop
1997, 10 min., Color, US
This short documentary examines the decisions involved in growing and wearing dreadlocks in African-American communities. Through interviews and playful camerawork, Batey explores the motivations and experiences--political, spiritual and fashionable--of folks who lock their hair....

Through My Eyes
Shawn Batey
Producer: Third World Newsreel
2001, 10 min., Color, US
A group of NYC school children assembled in the weeks following September 11th express a wide range of emotions, thoughts and criticisms of the new world in which they now find themselves. A revealing examination of how media representations are reconstructed to take on different meanings by childre...

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