Film Maker

Shawn Batey, an award-winning filmmaker, has over 15 years experience as a producer, filmmaker, and writer of documentary films and videos.

Third World Newsreel is the distributor of Changing Face of Harlem as well as two other of her films: “Hair-Tage”, a cultural documentary on dreadlocks, and “Through My Eyes”, an interpretation of September 11th from the perspective of Latino and African-American Youth. Her additional credits include “60+”, a musical documentary of an all-female senior citizen band, “Making the World Feel Better, the P.S. 230 Mural Project” and “Tree Fever”, a quirky look at Christmas tree sellers in Upper Manhattan.

Her works have been utilized with schools nationwide and have screened in numerous festivals. In 2004, she was selected to participate as an Observer at The Toronto Documentary Forum.

Shawn was chosen to participate in the 2006 Working Films Residency at Mass Moca. She was elected as a Mellon Learning Associate at Bates College where she directed a workshop in film development and pre-production. In the 2007 Harlem Open Artist Studio Tour she incorporated elements of “Changing Face of Harlem” into a multimedia installation.

Changing Face of Harlem was chosen as an official selection for The San Diego Black Film Festival, The San Francisco Black Film Festival, Big Muddy Film Festival, Reel Sisters Film Festival, and numerous other festivals and conferences nationwide. The film has also screened at Maysles Cinema, Anthology Archives, and CUNY Gotham Center.

Shawn Batey has been invited to serve on several panels citywide to speak about the topic of her film at the CUNY City College Symposium on Gentrification, Columbia University – Paul Robeson Conference, and CUNY Hunter College – Harlem Gentrification Panel. Additionally, Shawn is the 2007 recipient of Roy Dean New York City Film Grant.