DIRECTOR, PRODUCER, EDITOR
David E. Simpson has crafted award-winning films for twenty-five years. As a producer, director and editor he plies his trade in the belief that a well-told story can move viewers’ hearts and minds regarding crucial, human issues.

David co-produced and directed When Billy Broke His Head, a documentary about disability culture that won the Sundance Film Festival’s “Freedom of Expression Award,” along with major prizes at dozens of other festivals. He recently co-produced and edited Forgiving Dr. Mengele, about an Auschwitz survivor’s controversial campaign of forgiveness, which won the 2006 Slamdance Grand Jury Prize for documentaries. David directed Refrigerator Mothers, about a generation of mothers who raised autistic children under the shadow of professionally-promoted mother-blame. The film won top honors at the Florida, Indiana, and Sedona film festivals and aired on the PBS series P.O.V. David produced and directed Halsted Street, USA, a multi-award-winning snapshot of America through the prism of one multi-cultural street. His experimental narrative, Dante’s Dream, a re-working of Dante’s cosmology, earned five 1st-Place festival awards.

When not producing-directing his own work, David edits long-form documentaries. His credits include Kartemquin Films’ recent Terra Incognita: Mapping Stem Cell Research, which aired on PBS’ Independent Lens; the PBS/Kartemquin series The New Americans; the Emmy-nominated NOVA: Mysterious Crash of Flight 201; Frontline/Marian Marzynski’s Shtetl (grand prix, Cinema du Reel); Kartemquin Films’ 5 Girls and Vietnam Long Time Coming; and an episode of The People's Century for BBC/PBS.