Brian Padian is a filmmaker based in Portland, Oregon. Resisting convention and easy categorization, his produced projects span narrative, documentary, and experimental and include feature films (THE BLACK SEA), shorts (APOLOGY GHOST, THE BIG BLACK DARK), webseries (MICROAGGRESSIONS, MAN OF LA MANSION), and music videos. Brian recently directed and edited the short documentary GRIEF STICK and is in post-production on his second narrative feature SISTER/BROTHER. Brian's films have screened at Dances With Films, Local Sightings, McMinnville Short Film Fest, Experimental Fiction Film Festival, NYC Webfest, Vastlab Experimental, Defy Film Festival, Oregon Documentary Film Festival, Hoffman Center for the Arts, Portland State University, UP UP Books, and others. A brain tumor survivor, Brian's films are sometimes imbued with a sense of foreboding or absurdity and typically explore the symbiotic relationship of light and darkness, impermanence and death. A project grant recipient from the Regional Arts + Culture Council and recognized as a Final Draft Fellow at Stowe Story Labs, Brian holds an MFA in Screenwriting from the American Film Institute where he received the Jack Oakie Memorial Scholarship. He also holds an undergraduate degree in Film & Theater Arts from Humboldt State University, where his ethos and love of tall coastal trees was forged.
