ABOUT

Tim Travers Hawkins is an Emmy-nominated director known for creative non-fiction films that  generate cultural impact, exploring the big ideas of our times through intimate human stories, with strong cinematic atmospheres and a twist of the uncanny.

 

Across a body of work spanning feature films, interactive art, award-winning investigative journalism, as well as music videos, animated shorts and video games, he has gained a reputation for telling compelling stories that move, provoke and unsettle - never shying away from nuance, complexity and speaking truth to power.

 

His latest feature, American Zoo (2026) begins with the discovery of a lost film archive in the ruins of an abandoned zoo in Upstate New York and uncovers a Nazi-sponsored plot to resurrect extinct animals. It opened at Tribeca Film Festival 2026, where it received a special Jury Mention for editing.

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His debut feature XY Chelsea (2019) followed Wikileaks whistleblower and cultural lighting rod Chelsea Manning as she fought for her freedom. It was nominated for two News & Documentary Emmys.

 

His work has been released theatrically in cinemas around the world, on cable and streamers such as Netflix, HBO Max, Showtime and Paramount+, played at top film festivals including Tribeca, SXSW, London BFI Film Festival, Sheffield Doc/Fest, IDFA, Ji.hlava and Visions du Reel, and  received numerous awards including the a One World Media Award, a CinemaEye Honor, a DIG Award, the Amnesty International Human Rights Cinema Award, and a nomination for the Cinema for Peace Award.

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His career has been supported and nurtured by visionary producers and filmmakers such as Julia Nottingham, Mandy Chang and Laura Poitras; awarded funding by Sundance Institue, BFI and BERTHA; produced by Pulse Films, Dorothy St Pictures, Fifth Season, Topic Studios, Field of Vision and many more.

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