BIO
Bill Morrison (Director)
"Morrison's world is one of the most breathtaking and haltingly disturbing cinematic realms of our time".
- Glenn Kenny, RogerEbert.com, October 20, 2014
Bill Morrison is an Academy Award-nominated filmmaker who has been called “the poet laureate of lost films” (New York Times, 9/21/2021). He has premiered feature-length documentary films at the New York, Sundance, Telluride and Venice film festivals. Decasia (2002) was the first film of the 21st century to be named to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry. Dawson City: Frozen Time (2016) has been listed as one of the best films of the decade (2010s) by the Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, and Vanity Fair, among others. His most recent film, Incident (2023) won the Best Short Film Award from International Documentary Association in 2023, the Cinema Eye Honors for Outstanding Nonfiction Short, and was nominated for an Academy Award in Documentary Short in 2025.
Decasia (2002), with music by Michael Gordon, was the first film of the 21st century to be selected to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry.
Spark of Being (2010) a collaboration with trumpeter/composer Dave Douglas, won the Los Angeles Film Critics Award for Best Independent Film of 2011.
The Miners’ Hymns (2011). a collaboration with the composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, was described as one of “the best and most beautiful films of the year” by the Huffington Post.
The Great Flood (2013), a collaboration with composer / guitarist Bill Frisell, won the Smithsonian Ingenuity Award of 2014 for historical scholarship.
Dawson City: Frozen Time (2016), with music by Alex Somers, won numerous awards including a Critics’ Choice Award for the most innovative documentary, was named the best documentary of the year by the Boston Society of Film Critics, was included on over 100 critics’ lists of the best films of 2017, and numerous lists of the best films of the decade.
Incident (2023), produced by Bill Morrison and Jamie Kalven, and based on the inverstigative journalism of Jamie Kalven, won the Best Short Film Award from International Documentary Association in 2023, the Cinema Eye Honors for Outstanding Nonfiction Short, and was nominated for an Academy Award in Documentary Short in 2025.
Along with those mentioned above, Morrison has collaborated with the some of the most celebrated musicians and composers of our time, including John Adams, William Basinski, Maya Beiser, Gavin Bryars, Dave Douglas, Philip Glass, Vijay Iyer, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Kronos Quartet, David Lang, Steve Reich and Julia Wolfe, among many others.
Bill Morrison is an Academy Award-nominated filmmaker who has been called “the poet laureate of lost films” (New York Times, 9/21/2021). He has premiered feature-length documentary films at the New York, Sundance, Telluride and Venice film festivals. Decasia (2002) was the first film of the 21st century to be named to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry. Dawson City: Frozen Time (2016) has been listed as one of the best films of the decade (2010s) by the Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, and Vanity Fair, among others. His most recent film, Incident (2023) won the Best Short Film Award from International Documentary Association in 2023, the Cinema Eye Honors for Outstanding Nonfiction Short, and was nominated for an Academy Award in Documentary Short in 2025.
Decasia (2002), with music by Michael Gordon, was the first film of the 21st century to be selected to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry.
Spark of Being (2010) a collaboration with trumpeter/composer Dave Douglas, won the Los Angeles Film Critics Award for Best Independent Film of 2011.
The Miners’ Hymns (2011). a collaboration with the composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, was described as one of “the best and most beautiful films of the year” by the Huffington Post.
The Great Flood (2013), a collaboration with composer / guitarist Bill Frisell, won the Smithsonian Ingenuity Award of 2014 for historical scholarship.
Dawson City: Frozen Time (2016), with music by Alex Somers, won numerous awards including a Critics’ Choice Award for the most innovative documentary, was named the best documentary of the year by the Boston Society of Film Critics, was included on over 100 critics’ lists of the best films of 2017, and numerous lists of the best films of the decade.
Incident (2023), produced by Bill Morrison and Jamie Kalven, and based on the inverstigative journalism of Jamie Kalven, won the Best Short Film Award from International Documentary Association in 2023, the Cinema Eye Honors for Outstanding Nonfiction Short, and was nominated for an Academy Award in Documentary Short in 2025.
Along with those mentioned above, Morrison has collaborated with the some of the most celebrated musicians and composers of our time, including John Adams, William Basinski, Maya Beiser, Gavin Bryars, Dave Douglas, Philip Glass, Vijay Iyer, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Kronos Quartet, David Lang, Steve Reich and Julia Wolfe, among many others.
SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY
Incident
(2023, 30 min, color, HD)
Her Violet Kiss
(2021, 5 min, color, HD)
let me come in
(2021, 11 min, color, HD)
The Village Detective: a song cycle
(2021, 81 min, B/W & color, 4K)
Wild Girl
(2021, 6 min, color, 4K)
Buried News
(2021, 12 min, B/W, 2K)
Curly's Thanksgiving
(2020, 12 min, color, DV)
Sunken Films
(2020. 11 min, B/W & color, HD)
Curly Takes a Bath by the Sea
(2020, 5 min, color, DV)
Cinematograph
(2018, 3 min, B/W, 4K)
Electricity
(2018, 30 min, B/W & color, 2K)
The Unchanging Sea
(2018, 30 min, B/W & color, 2K)
The Letter
(2018, 13 min, B/W & color, 2K)
Weaving
(2018, 6 min, B/W, HD)
Dawson City: Postscript
(2017, 10 min, B/W & color, 2K)
Dawson City: Frozen Time
(2016, 120 min, B/W & color, 2K)
Niver vs Walls
(2016, 17 min, B/W & color, HD)
Little Orphant Annie
(2016, 7 min, color, 2K)
The Dockworker’s Dream
(2016, 17 min, B/W, HD)
Gene Takes A Drink
(2015, 6 min, color, SD)
Back to the Soil
(2014, 18 min, B/W, HD)
Beyond Zero: 1914-1918
(2014, 40 min, B/W & color, HD)
Incident
(2023, 30 min, color, HD)
Her Violet Kiss
(2021, 5 min, color, HD)
let me come in
(2021, 11 min, color, HD)
The Village Detective: a song cycle
(2021, 81 min, B/W & color, 4K)
Wild Girl
(2021, 6 min, color, 4K)
Buried News
(2021, 12 min, B/W, 2K)
Curly's Thanksgiving
(2020, 12 min, color, DV)
Sunken Films
(2020. 11 min, B/W & color, HD)
Curly Takes a Bath by the Sea
(2020, 5 min, color, DV)
Cinematograph
(2018, 3 min, B/W, 4K)
Electricity
(2018, 30 min, B/W & color, 2K)
The Unchanging Sea
(2018, 30 min, B/W & color, 2K)
The Letter
(2018, 13 min, B/W & color, 2K)
Weaving
(2018, 6 min, B/W, HD)
Dawson City: Postscript
(2017, 10 min, B/W & color, 2K)
Dawson City: Frozen Time
(2016, 120 min, B/W & color, 2K)
Niver vs Walls
(2016, 17 min, B/W & color, HD)
Little Orphant Annie
(2016, 7 min, color, 2K)
The Dockworker’s Dream
(2016, 17 min, B/W, HD)
Gene Takes A Drink
(2015, 6 min, color, SD)
Back to the Soil
(2014, 18 min, B/W, HD)
Beyond Zero: 1914-1918
(2014, 40 min, B/W & color, HD)
All Vows
(2013, 10 min, B/W & color, HD)
(2013, 10 min, B/W & color, HD)
The Great Flood
(2013, 78 min, B/W, HD)
Re:Awakenings
(2013, 18 min, B/W & color, HD)
Just Ancient Loops
(2012, 26 min, B/W & color, HD)
(2013, 78 min, B/W, HD)
Re:Awakenings
(2013, 18 min, B/W & color, HD)
Just Ancient Loops
(2012, 26 min, B/W & color, HD)
Tributes - Pulse
(2011, 65 min, B/W & color, HD)
The Miners' Hymns
(2011, 52 min, B/W & color, HD)
Spark of Being
(2010, 68 min, B/W & color, DVD)
Release
(2010, 13 min, B/W, HD)
Every Stop On The F Train
(2008, 5 min, color, DVD)
Dystopia
(2008, 30 min, B/W & color, DVD)
Fuel
(2007, 25 min, color, DVD)
Who By Water
(2007, 18 min, B/W. DVD)
Porch
(2006, 9 min, color, DVD)
The Highwater Trilogy
(2006, 31 min, B/W, 35mm)
Outerborough
(2005, 8 min, B/W, 35mm)
Gotham
(2004, 25 min, B/W & color, DVD)
Light Is Calling
(2004, 8 min, color, 35mm)
The Mesmerist
(2003, 16 min, color, 35mm)
East River
(2003, 5 min, color, DVD)
Decasia
(2002, 67 min, B/W, 35mm)
Trinity
(2000, 12 min, B/W, 35mm)
Ghost Trip
(2000, 23 min, B/W, 35mm)
City Walk
(1999, 6 min, B/W, 16mm)
The Film of Her
(1996, 12 min, B/W, 35mm)
Nemo
(1995, 6 min, B/W, 16mm)
The Death Train
(1993, 17 min, B/W, 16mm)
Footprints
(1992, 6 min, B/W & color,16mm)
(2011, 65 min, B/W & color, HD)
The Miners' Hymns
(2011, 52 min, B/W & color, HD)
Spark of Being
(2010, 68 min, B/W & color, DVD)
Release
(2010, 13 min, B/W, HD)
Every Stop On The F Train
(2008, 5 min, color, DVD)
Dystopia
(2008, 30 min, B/W & color, DVD)
Fuel
(2007, 25 min, color, DVD)
Who By Water
(2007, 18 min, B/W. DVD)
Porch
(2006, 9 min, color, DVD)
The Highwater Trilogy
(2006, 31 min, B/W, 35mm)
Outerborough
(2005, 8 min, B/W, 35mm)
Gotham
(2004, 25 min, B/W & color, DVD)
Light Is Calling
(2004, 8 min, color, 35mm)
The Mesmerist
(2003, 16 min, color, 35mm)
East River
(2003, 5 min, color, DVD)
Decasia
(2002, 67 min, B/W, 35mm)
Trinity
(2000, 12 min, B/W, 35mm)
Ghost Trip
(2000, 23 min, B/W, 35mm)
City Walk
(1999, 6 min, B/W, 16mm)
The Film of Her
(1996, 12 min, B/W, 35mm)
Nemo
(1995, 6 min, B/W, 16mm)
The Death Train
(1993, 17 min, B/W, 16mm)
Footprints
(1992, 6 min, B/W & color,16mm)
