Lucy Walker

Directing

Lucy Walker

Born 1970-01-01 · London, England, UK

Lucy Walker (born 1970; London) is an British documentary film director. She has directed the feature documentaries Devil's Playground (2002), Blindsight (2006), Waste Land (2010), Countdown to Zero (2010), The Crash Reel (2013), Buena Vista Social Club: Adios (2017), Bring Your Own Brigade (2021), and Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa (2023). She has also directed the short films The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom (2011) and The Lion's Mouth Opens (2014). Waste Land was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject).

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa poster
7.6

A Nepali mountaineer risks everything on a record-breaking Mount Everest climb to secure a brighter future for her daughters.

Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa

2024

Waste Land poster
7.6

An uplifting feature documentary highlighting the transformative power of art and the beauty of the human spirit. Top-selling contemporary artist Vik Muniz takes us on an emotional journey from Jardim Gramacho, the world's largest landfill on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, to the heights of international art stardom. Vik collaborates with the brilliant catadores, pickers of recyclable materials, true Shakespearean characters who live and work in the garbage quoting Machiavelli and showing us how to recycle ourselves.

Waste Land

2010

Waste Land poster
7.6

An uplifting feature documentary highlighting the transformative power of art and the beauty of the human spirit. Top-selling contemporary artist Vik Muniz takes us on an emotional journey from Jardim Gramacho, the world's largest landfill on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, to the heights of international art stardom. Vik collaborates with the brilliant catadores, pickers of recyclable materials, true Shakespearean characters who live and work in the garbage quoting Machiavelli and showing us how to recycle ourselves.

Waste Land

2010

Blindsight poster
6.8

Six blind Tibetan teenagers climb the Lhakpa-Ri peak of Mount Everest, led by seven-summit blind mountain-climber Erik Weihenmayer.

Blindsight

2006

Why Did You Kill Me? poster
5.9

The line between justice and revenge blurs when a devastated family uses social media to track down the people who killed 24-year-old Crystal Theobald.

Why Did You Kill Me?

2021

Countdown to Zero poster
6.3

Although the Cold War is behind us, the threat of nuclear disaster remains very real. Director Lucy Walker discusses the invention of the atomic bomb and brings the story into the present day, examining the possibility of nuclear calamity under the categories of "Madness," "Accident" and "Miscalculation." With narration by Gary Oldman, the film includes a hypothetical sequence of a nuclear explosion in New York City's Times Square, timed to coincide with the New Year's Eve countdown.

Countdown to Zero

2010

Countdown to Zero poster
6.3

Although the Cold War is behind us, the threat of nuclear disaster remains very real. Director Lucy Walker discusses the invention of the atomic bomb and brings the story into the present day, examining the possibility of nuclear calamity under the categories of "Madness," "Accident" and "Miscalculation." With narration by Gary Oldman, the film includes a hypothetical sequence of a nuclear explosion in New York City's Times Square, timed to coincide with the New Year's Eve countdown.

Countdown to Zero

2010

Buena Vista Social Club: Adios poster
7.3

In 1996, Cuban bandleader Juan de Marcos Gonzalez, British producer Nick Gold, and American guitarist Ry Cooder convened in Havana to produce a Cuban-Malian collaboration. When the Malians couldn’t get visas, the team turned their attention to reviving a forgotten generation of legendary son cubano musicians and formed an on-the-fly ensemble: the Buena Vista Social Club. Two decades since that fateful first session, we catch up to these master musicians, as they reflect on the magical unfolding of their lives—from humble origins to the evolution and surprising revival of their careers, all against the backdrop of Cuba’s dramatic history. Brimming with unseen concert, rehearsal, and archival footage, this film is an emotional, shimmering celebration of music’s power to transcend age, ideologies, and class, and to connect us to each other through our souls.

Buena Vista Social Club: Adios

2017

The Lion's Mouth Opens poster
8.0

A documentary on filmmaker Marianna Palka, as she confronts her risk of Huntington's Disease.

The Lion's Mouth Opens

2014

The Lion's Mouth Opens poster
8.0

A documentary on filmmaker Marianna Palka, as she confronts her risk of Huntington's Disease.

The Lion's Mouth Opens

2014

The Crash Reel poster
7.3

The Crash Reel tells the story of a sport and the risks that athletes face in reaching the pinnacle of their profession. This is Kevin Pearce’s story, a celebrated snowboarder who sustained a brain injury in a trick gone wrong and who now aims, against all the odds, to get back on the snow.

The Crash Reel

2013

The Crash Reel poster
7.3

The Crash Reel tells the story of a sport and the risks that athletes face in reaching the pinnacle of their profession. This is Kevin Pearce’s story, a celebrated snowboarder who sustained a brain injury in a trick gone wrong and who now aims, against all the odds, to get back on the snow.

The Crash Reel

2013

The Crash Reel poster
7.3

The Crash Reel tells the story of a sport and the risks that athletes face in reaching the pinnacle of their profession. This is Kevin Pearce’s story, a celebrated snowboarder who sustained a brain injury in a trick gone wrong and who now aims, against all the odds, to get back on the snow.

The Crash Reel

2013

Bring Your Own Brigade poster
9.0

An investigation into our landscape's hidden fire stories and on-the-ground experiences of firefighters and residents struggling through deadly fires.

Bring Your Own Brigade

2021

Bring Your Own Brigade poster
9.0

An investigation into our landscape's hidden fire stories and on-the-ground experiences of firefighters and residents struggling through deadly fires.

Bring Your Own Brigade

2021

Bring Your Own Brigade poster
9.0

An investigation into our landscape's hidden fire stories and on-the-ground experiences of firefighters and residents struggling through deadly fires.

Bring Your Own Brigade

2021

Focus Forward: Short Films, Big Ideas poster
NR

Focus Forward: Short Films, Big Ideas is an award-winning series of 30 three-minute stories about innovators—people who are reshaping the world through act or invention—directed by the world's most celebrated documentary filmmakers.

Focus Forward: Short Films, Big Ideas

2012

The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom poster
6.9

On 11 March 2011, an earthquake caused a tsunami to hit the Tōhoku (Northeast) region of Japan. In this film, survivors of the tsunami rebuild as cherry blossom season begins. The film is a stunning visual haiku about the ephemeral nature of life–and of the healing power of Japan's most beloved flower.

The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom

2011

The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom poster
6.9

On 11 March 2011, an earthquake caused a tsunami to hit the Tōhoku (Northeast) region of Japan. In this film, survivors of the tsunami rebuild as cherry blossom season begins. The film is a stunning visual haiku about the ephemeral nature of life–and of the healing power of Japan's most beloved flower.

The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom

2011

Devil's Playground poster
6.6

The Devil's Playground is a fascinating and moving documentary about a little-known aspect of Amish life. Amish are not permitted to join the church until their late teens, and have to do so of their own volition. The film explores Rumspringa, wherein young Amish are given the opportunity to explore the "English" way of life.

Devil's Playground

2002

Of Night and Light: The Story of Iboga and Ibogaine poster
NR

Tells the astounding unknown story of what might be the aha scientific breakthrough moment of our generation: ibogaine.

Of Night and Light: The Story of Iboga and Ibogaine

2023

Of Night and Light: The Story of Iboga and Ibogaine poster
NR

Tells the astounding unknown story of what might be the aha scientific breakthrough moment of our generation: ibogaine.

Of Night and Light: The Story of Iboga and Ibogaine

2023

Blue's Clues: Blue's Birthday poster
8.5

It's Blue's birthday and you're invited to the party! Your pre-schooler will help Steve with all the preparations, and will play Blue's Clues to help Steve figure out just what Blue wants for her birthday present. In "never before-shown-scenes," kids teach Steve the "Birthday Candle Dance." When the party's over, they join Steve in opening a mystery present from... GUESS WHO?

Blue's Clues: Blue's Birthday

1998

No artwork available
NR

A tribute to the distinguished reign of one of Britain's longest-serving Olympians.

The Rein of Mary King

2013