True Walker Productions is a New York based film and media production company helmed by Lynn True and Nelson Walker, award-winning filmmakers whose work spans non-fiction production, education, and film programming. They have made numerous feature documentaries together including LUMO (PBS/P.O.V.), about a young woman’s recovery from sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo; Summer Pasture (PBS/Independent Lens, Peabody Award), which follows a nomadic family in the high grasslands of eastern Tibet; and In Transit (Tribeca Film Festival, Special Jury Prize), a documentary portrait of America as seen through the stories of passengers aboard the country’s busiest long-distance train route. Lynn and Nelson’s work has been supported by the Sundance Film Institute, IFP, International Documentary Association, ITVS, Cinereach, IDA, Film Independent, New York State Council on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts, among others.
In addition to their production work, Lynn and Nelson are the founders and programmers of Congo in Harlem, an annual film series, launched in 2009, devoted to Congolese cinema at the Maysles Documentary Center. They have taught filmmaking to students in a variety of settings, ranging from high school and college students, to youth groups in Congo, and educators in Tibet and Bhutan. Lynn and Nelson also regularly contribute work individually on other films – as Editor and Cinematographer, respectively – and they are often asked to serve as mentors to emerging filmmakers and as consultants on projects at all stages of production.
Lynn True is a documentary filmmaker/editor, and co-founder of True Walker Productions. Born in South Korea, Lynn moved to the U.S. at 6-months old with her adoptive American family. She then lived around the country, from urban centers to rural towns, Native reservations to suburban enclaves, all of which contributed to her deep curiosity around the nuances of connection and community. Lynn began her film career in the editing rooms of non-fiction television and independent films before she began directing and producing her own projects. In addition to making work with True Walker Productions, Lynn has worked extensively as a freelance editor on projects for other filmmakers and production companies; recent credits include Season 11 of Art in the 21st Century (Art21) for PBS, Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence for Hulu, and The Officials for TIME Sudios. Lynn also serves regularly as a story consultant and advisor; she has been on the team of several initiatives of the Sundance Institute, a Mentor at the Catapult and True/False Rough Cut Retreat, and on the jury of the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. Lynn graduated from Brown University with a joint degree in Urban Studies and Architecture, and lives in New York with her husband and two young sons.
lynn@truewalkerproductions.com
Nelson Walker is a documentary filmmaker/cinematographer, and co-founder of True Walker Productions. After graduating from Brown University, Nelson received his MFA with Honors in Film Directing from Columbia University, and began his career working on documentaries for Discovery Channel, History Channel and PBS’s NOVA. His first film, iThemba | Hope, made in collaboration with Keefe Murren, was about an HIV+ choir from South Africa and aired on Sundance Channel. Apart from directing/producing films with True Walker Productions, Nelson's cinematography work has appeared in many highly lauded projects including: Nam June Paik: Moon is the Oldest TV (Sundance Film Festival/PBS American Masters, Dir. Amanda Kim), Invisible Beauty (Sundance Film Festival/Hulu, Dir. Bethann Hardison & Frédéric Tcheng), The Reverend (DocNYC Audience Award, Dir. Nick Canfield), Civil War or, Who Do We Think We Are (Paramount+, Dir. Rachel Boynton), The Fight (Sundance Film Festival/Hulu, Edgeline Films), Chef Flynn (Sundance Film Festival, Dir. Cameron Yates), and Making a Murderer (Netflix). Currently, Nelson is also the Director of Development of Maysles Documentary Center, a non-profit cinema and education hub based in Harlem.
nelson@truewalkerproductions.com