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Judith Dwan Hallet
Born
Judith Ann Dwan

1941 (age 82–83)
San Francisco, California, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
EducationSarah Lawrence College (BA)
University of California, Los Angeles
University of Utah (MA)
OccupationDocumentary filmmaker
SpouseStanley Ira Hallet
Parent(s)Robert Dwan
Lois Smith Dwan

Judith Dwan Hallet (born 1941) is an American documentary filmmaker.

Early life

Hallet was born Judith Ann Dwan in 1941 in San Francisco, California. Her father, Robert Dwan, was a radio and television producer, director and writer including for You Bet Your Life starring Groucho Marx (1947–1961).[1][2] Her mother, Lois Smith Dwan, was a restaurant critic for the Los Angeles Times.[3]

Hallet graduated in 1964 with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, where she specialized in filmmaking her senior year.[4] While a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tunisia teaching English as Second Language (1964-1966), Hallet co-directed her first hour-long documentary film in French on The Berber Villages of Southern Tunisia.[5] After returning to the United States, she did graduate studies in film at UCLA[4] and married Stanley Ira Hallet, an architect and professor of architecture.[6] She moved to Salt Lake City where she made several short documentary films with her husband. In 1971, she received a Master of Arts degree in French from the University of Utah.[4]

Filmmaking career

In 1971, Stanley Hallet accepted a Fulbright lectureship to the Department of Architecture at Kabul University in Afghanistan. While there Hallet and her husband made two documentaries, The Painted Truck and The Nomads of Badakhshan. These films are still widely shown and have become classics for the Afghan diaspora living in the United States and Europe because they depict Afghanistan before recent wars ravaged the country.[5][7][8][9]

After returning from Afghanistan, Hallet accepted a job as a documentary filmmaker and producer/reporter for KUTV, the NBC affiliate in Salt Lake City, Utah. During her 14 years at KUTV, Hallet produced over 100 short films and 25 long form documentaries. The subjects were extremely varied and included the documentaries Buckaroos, Navajo Hopi Land Dispute, and A Very Special Dance.[10][5]

After moving to Washington D.C., Hallet worked for National Geographic Television’s weekly show, National Geographic Explorer, as the Senior Producer supervising over 60 documentaries as well as producing and directing four of her own including The Life and Legend of Jane Goodall, Gauchos, and El Dorado Gold.[7][10] After leaving National Geographic in 1991, Hallet produced and directed 17 hour-long documentary films through her own company, Judith Dwan Hallet Productions, Inc. Again her films were diverse from The American Buffalo Battling Back to Witness to Hope: The Life and Times of Pope John Paul II to Moby-Dick and Lords of the Garden (on a tribe in Western Papua New Guinea).[7][10][9][11]

Numerous newspaper and magazine articles describe and review Hallet's films.[12]

Filmography

Hallet was producer and director of the following films, unless noted.[13][14]

1960s and 1970s films

1980s films

1990s films

2000s and 2010s films

Publications

General awards and recognition

Awards for specific films are in the Filmography section.

Archives

Hallet's films and videos are archived at The University of Utah, J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections.[17] Hallet's papers and journals are archived in the same Library.[18]

References

  1. ^ "Robert Dwan, 89; Directed Groucho on TV, Radio Show". Los Angeles Times. January 27, 2005.
  2. ^ Dwan, R. As Long as They're Laughing: Groucho Marx and You Bet Your Life. Baltimore, MD.: Midnight Marquee, 2000. ISBN 1-887664-36-X
  3. ^ "Lois Dwan, 91; Veteran L.A. Times Restaurant Critic". Los Angeles Times. March 19, 2005.
  4. ^ a b c Ann Jardine Bardsley, "Real Life is Story She Puts on Screen", Deseret News (Salt Lake City, Utah), May 1985.
  5. ^ a b c d "March 2015 Filmmaker of the Month - Judy Hallet: entertainment". entertainment.dc.gov. Retrieved March 6, 2024.
  6. ^ David Arnold, "Three/One/Sixty-One",National Peace Corps Association, vol.3, no. 1, Spring 1996. Accessed March 6, 2024.
  7. ^ a b c d "An Evening with Judith Dwan Hallet". National Press Club. August 14, 2014.
  8. ^ a b "Silver Circle Inductees". Capital Emmys.
  9. ^ a b "Afghanistan in Times of Peace: A Screening of the Film "Painted Trucks" | The Middle East Center at Penn". sas.upenn.edu. Retrieved March 6, 2024.
  10. ^ a b c Dwan Hallet profile, dceff.org. Accessed March 6, 2024.
  11. ^ Lords of the Garden: The Treetop People of New Guinea: A Summer Film Special: https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/22336/
  12. ^ "Articles about Judith Dwan Hallet". Judith Dwan and Stanley Hallet Productions. Retrieved March 6, 2024.
  13. ^ "Archives West: Judith Hallet independent film collection, 1967-2014". archiveswest.orbiscascade.org.
  14. ^ "Archives West: Judith D. Hallet papers, 1926-2017". archiveswest.orbiscascade.org.
  15. ^ "Women of Vision Awards". Women in Film and Video of Washington, DC.
  16. ^ "An Evening with Judith Dwan Hallet | National Press Club". www.press.org.
  17. ^ "Archives West: Judith Hallet independent film collection, 1967-2014". archiveswest.orbiscascade.org.
  18. ^ "Archives West: Judith D. Hallet papers, 1926-2017". archiveswest.orbiscascade.org.

External links

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