Don Thompson is an American producer, filmmaker and playwright. He is most notable for the film ''Clouds'', the Sundance award-winning documentary ''Tibet in Song'', and the plays ''L.A. Book of the Dead'', ''Tibet Does Not Exist'' and ''Democracy: A Work in Progress''.

Education and career

Thompson attended

UCLA Film School The UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television (UCLA TFT), is one of the 12 schools within the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) located in Los Angeles, California. Its creation was groundbreaking in that it was the first time a leadi ...

, and was mentored by Richard Walter, Chair of UCLA’s screenwriting program. While at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

, Thompson developed a full-length screen play that was a finalist in the Samuel Goldwyn screenwriting awards.Neff, Mike
"An Interview with Don Thompson."
''Solpix''

Playwriting

Thompson’s first major creative success was the anti-war play ''L.A. Book of the Dead'' which was first performed at the

Ensemble Studio Theatre The Ensemble Studio Theatre (EST) is a non-profit membership-based developmental theatre located in Hell's Kitchen, New York City. It has a dual mission of nurturing individual theatre artists and developing new American plays. Overview The En ...

, Los Angeles, in 1982 (director Renee Tadlock). ''L.A. Book of the Dead'' was revived in 1987 by the Rough Theater Company, and continued to be performed as a reader’s theater piece throughout the 1990s. In 1995, his play ''Tibet Does Not Exist'' was first performed at the

Gene Frankel Eugene V. Frankel (December 23, 1919 – April 20, 2005) was an American actor, theater director, and acting teacher especially notable in the founding of the off-Broadway scene. Frankel served in the Army during World War II in entertainment and ...

theater in New York City and later,

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

(1997) by the Theater for Human Rights."Don Thompson."
nextPix website The play was also performed at Oregon Stage Works in 2005 and revived at Nicu’s Spoon Theater in New York City in 2009."TIBET DOES NOT EXIST Runs At Spoon Theatre"
''BroadwayWorld''. March 10, 2009 The play was published in paperback in 1998 with a foreword by

Robert Thurman Robert Alexander Farrar Thurman (born August 3, 1941) is an American Buddhist author and academic who has written, edited, and translated several books on Tibetan Buddhism. He was the Je Tsongkhapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at ...

and the

Dalai Lama Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current Dal ...

. Thompson has also developed two plays through the Maryland Ensemble Theater, ''Democracy: A Work in Progress'' (2004) and ''The God of this World'' (2015).Coleman, Kate
"Maryland Ensemble Theater explores meaning of democracy"
''Herald Mail''. Sept. 30, 2004"Maryland Ensemble Theatre to Stage THE GOD OF THIS WORLD Reading"
''BroadwayWorld''. March 11, 2014"Maryland Ensemble Theatre's METLab Festival of New Work Set for next month"
''BroadwayWorld''. June 12, 2015 ''The God of this World'' was published by Indie Theater Now in 2016 and included in ITN's ''Plays and Playwrights 2017'' anthology."Announcing Plays and Playwrights 2017"
''Indie Theater Now''. December 5, 2016

Filmmaking and Producing

In 1999, Thompson produced, directed and wrote his first feature film, ''Clouds'', based on a screenplay he developed while at UCLA. The film won awards, including Best New Director at the

Brooklyn Film Festival The Brooklyn Film Festival (BFF), prior to 2011 called the Brooklyn International Film Festival (BiFF) is an independent film festival held every June in Brooklyn, New York. Started by Marco Ursino, Susan Mackell, Abe Schrager, and Mario Pegoraro ...

, a Feature Film award at the New York Independent Film Festival, and Juror’s Choice for Narrative Feature at the

Brooklyn Arts Council Film and Video Festival The BAC International Film and Video Festival is an independent film festival held in the borough of Brooklyn in New York City sponsored by the Brooklyn Arts Council. Established in 1966, the festival is the longest running event of its kind in B ...

."Clouds"
Brooklyn Film Festival

William Arntz William Arntz is an American film director and producer, best known for directing '' What the Bleep Do We Know?'' Filmography * 1980 – Producer, Writer, Director, '' Beat the Deva'' * 2000 – Producer, '' Clouds'' (producer) * 2004 – Produce ...

was a producer on the project, and also a co-producer of Thompson’s play, ''Tibet Does Not Exist''. In 2000, Thompson founded, with partner Diana Takata, the production company nextPix. Notable of the nextPix projects is the Sundance award-winning documentary ''

Tibet in Song ''Tibet in Song'' is a 2009 documentary film written, produced, and directed by Ngawang Choephel. The film celebrates traditional Tibetan folk music while depicting the past fifty years of Chinese rule in Tibet, including Ngawang's experience as a ...

'', directed by former political prisoner of conscience Ngawang Choephel. Thompson was a producer on the film. Since ''Tibet in Song'', Thompson has been affiliated with other notable films as a producer, including ''

Ned Rifle ''Ned Rifle'' is a 2014 American drama film written and directed by Hal Hartley. It is the third and final film in a trilogy following characters introduced in Hartley's 1997 film '' Henry Fool'' and 2006 sequel '' Fay Grim''. ''Ned Rifle'' star ...

'' (2015), ''Railway Children'' (2016), and '' Yomeddine'' (2018). ''Ned Rifle'' won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the

65th Berlin International Film Festival The 65th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 5 to 15 February 2015, with American film director Darren Aronofsky as the President of the Jury. German film director Wim Wenders was presented with the Honorary Golden Bear. The ...

, and ''Railway Children'' was nominated for the 2017 ICFT UNESCO Gandhi Prize for film at the

International Film Festival of India The International Film Festival of India (IFFI), founded in 1952, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. Held annually, currently in the state of Goa, on the western coast of the country, the festival aims at providing a common pla ...

."Internet Movie Database"
/ref>
''Business Standard''. Nov 24, 2017 ''Yomeddine'' won the

François Chalais Prize The François Chalais Prize ( French: ''Prix François Chalais'') is awarded at two main events, the Cannes Film Festival (since 1997) and the Young Reporters' Awards (since 1999). It was created to pay tribute to French journalist and film histor ...

at the

2018 Cannes Film Festival The 71st annual Cannes Film Festival was held from 8 to 19 May 2018. Australian actress Cate Blanchett acted as President of the Jury. The Japanese film ''Shoplifters'', directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, won the Palme d'Or. Asghar Farhadi's psycho ...

where it screened in competition for the

Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

."Egyptian director's debut feature honored at Cannes"
''AL Monitor''. May 21, 2018

Essays

After 2002, Thompson also became active as an Internet essayist. In collaboration with Michael Neff of WebDelSol Thompson and Neff published two separate anthologies of essays through

Del Sol Press Del Sol Press is a publishing company founded by Michael Neff in 2002. The first book published by them was a revision of Michael Brodsky's 1978 novel, ''Detour''. Since that time Del Sol Press has gone on to publish work by Nin Andrews, David ...

, ''Your Life Is A Movie'' (2006) and ''A World Without War'' (2012).Thompson, D.R. ''A World Without War'' Del Sol Press (February 6, 2012)

Filmography

* ''2000'' – ''Clouds'' ''(producer/director/writer - with

)'' * ''2001 – Singing the Bones (co-producer - dir
Gordon Halloran
'' * ''2009 –

(co-producer - dir. Ngawang Choephel)'' * ''2013 –

Bringing Tibet Home ''Bringing Tibet Home'' (in Tibetan: ཕ་ས་བུ་ཐུག in Korean: 아버지의 땅 in Chinese: 夢土) is a 2013 documentary film produced and directed by Tibetan filmmaker Tenzin Tsetan Choklay about Tibetan contemporary Artist Te ...

(associate producer - dir.

Tenzin Tsetan Choklay Tenzin Tsetan Choklay is a Tibetan filmmaker. He was born to Tibetan refugees in India, and was raised in Dharamshala where he was a student at Tibetan Children's Village. He then graduated at Punjab University, Chandigarh, Punjab University in C ...

artist

Tenzing Rigdol Tenzing Rigdol (born 16 January 1982 in Kathmandu, Nepal) is a contemporary Tibetan artist and activist. Biography Tenzing Rigdol was born 16 January 1982 in Kathmandu, Nepal. He is chiefly known for his contemporary pieces although he is also t ...

)'' * ''2015 –

(executive producer - dir.

Hal Hartley Hal Hartley (born November 3, 1959) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and composer who became a key figure in the American independent film movement of the 1980s and '90s. He is best known for his films '' The Unbelievable T ...

)'' * ''2016 – ''Railway Children'' (co-producer - dir
Prithvi Konanur
'' * ''2018 – Yomeddine (associate producer - dir. Abu Bakr Shawky)'' * ''2019 – This Little Land of Mines (executive producer - dir
Erin McGoff
'' * ''2020 – Signs of a Rebel Buddha (producer/director/writer) * ''2020 – Unapologetic (co-executive producer - dir
Ashley O'Shay
'' * ''2021 – The Universality of It All (executive producer - dir
Andrés Bronnimann
'' * ''2023 – Tathagata (executive producer - dir

''

Plays

* ''1982 – L.A. Book of the Dead'' (premiered at

Los Angeles
* ''1983 – The Wood Rose'' (performed at

Los Angeles
* ''1985 –

Dune Messiah ''Dune Messiah'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Frank Herbert, the second in his ''Dune'' series of six novels. A sequel to ''Dune'' (1965), it was originally serialized in ''Galaxy'' magazine in 1969, and then published by Putnam ...

'' (adapted from the novel by

Frank Herbert Franklin Patrick Herbert Jr. (October 8, 1920February 11, 1986) was an American science fiction author best known for the 1965 novel '' Dune'' and its five sequels. Though he became famous for his novels, he also wrote short stories and worked a ...

; performed a
SMC Theatre
* ''1995 – Tibet Does Not Exist'' (premiered in New York at

Theatre in 1995;

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

in 1997 a
TPAC
Nicu's Spoon in 2009) * ''2004 – Democracy: A Work in Progress'' (premiered at Maryland Ensemble Theatre Main Stage) * ''2015 – The God of this World'' (developed and premiered at Maryland Ensemble Theatre Main Stage)

References

External links

* Don Thompson at th
Internet Movie Database

Official Website

''Tibet in Song'' on Facebook

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Don Living people Film producers from California 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights 1956 births