Ian Cheney is an American documentary

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...

, and producer.

Early life and education

Cheney grew up in Massachusetts and Maine, attended

The Mountain School Milton Academy (also known as Milton) is a highly selective, coeducational, independent preparatory, boarding and day school in Milton, Massachusetts consisting of a grade 9–12 Upper School and a grade K–8 Lower School. Boarding is offered ...

, a semester school for high school juniors, and graduated from

Milton Academy Milton Academy (also known as Milton) is a highly selective, coeducational, independent preparatory, boarding and day school in Milton, Massachusetts consisting of a grade 9–12 Upper School and a grade K–8 Lower School. Boarding is offered ...

in 1998. Cheney received bachelor's and master's degrees from Yale University in 2002 and 2003.

Career

He shared a

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

in 2008 for '' King Corn'', which he co-produced and starred in. In 2011 he and longtime collaborator Curt Ellis received the 17th Annual

Heinz Award The Heinz Awards are individual achievement honors given annually by the Heinz Family Foundation. The Heinz Awards each year recognize outstanding individuals for their innovative contributions in three areas: the Arts, the Economy and the Enviro ...

with special focus on the environment, becoming the youngest recipients to receive the

. Cheney received an Emmy nomination in 2013 for his film '' The City Dark'', which aired on PBS' POV. Cheney's 2018 film, ''The Most Unknown'', was released in theaters in May, then on Netflix in 25 languages in the summer, and finally posted in nine individual episodes in YouTube. Cheney runs Wicked Delicate Films, a documentary film production company based in Maine.Wicked Delicate Films
/ref> He is a co-founder and former member of the board of directors of the

FoodCorps FoodCorps is an American non-profit organization whose mission is to work with communities to "connect kids to healthy food in school." FoodCorps places service members in limited-resource communities where they spend a year working with teachers ...

non-profit organization. He is the brother of poet

Colin Cheney Colin Cheney (born 1978 Boston, Massachusetts) is an American poet. His debut collection, ''Here Be Monsters'', was selected for the National Poetry Series in 2009. His work has appeared in many publications including ''American Poetry Review, Cr ...

. His most recent film ''The Long Coast'' premiered at a virtual version of the

Camden International Film Festival The Camden International Film Festival, stylized as CIFF, is an annual documentary film festival based in Camden, Rockport, and Rockland, Maine, in the United States that takes place on the last weekend in September. Created in 2005 by Benjamin ...

in October 2020.

Filmography

*'' King Corn'' (2007), Co-creator, Co-producer, Cinematographer, Writer *''The Greening of Southie'' (2009), Director, Editor *''Truck Farm'' (2011), Director *'' The City Dark'' (2012), Director *''The Melungeons'' (2013), Director *''

The Search for General Tso ''The Search for General Tso'' is a documentary film that premiered at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival. It was directed by Ian Cheney and produced by Amanda Murray and Jennifer 8. Lee. Sundance Selects acquired it in December 2014, and was released ...

'' (2014), Director *''Bluespace'' (2015), Director *''The Smog of the Sea'' (2017), Director *'' The Most Unknown'' (2018), Director *''The Emoji Story'' (2019), Director *''Thirteen Ways'' (2019), Director *''Picture a Scientist'' (2020), Director *''The Long Coast'' (2020), Director

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cheney, Ian Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American documentary filmmakers American film producers American cinematographers Peabody Award winners Yale University alumni Milton Academy alumni