Michael Bud is a Director, Producer and Cinematographer based in Telluride, CO and Los Angeles, CA. In 2024 Michael won a Silver Telly Award for a documentary short film Mountain Girl, about the life story of retired model and actress Diane Mahree (Manos: Hands of Fate). This project is being developed into documentary series.

Michael’s focus is finding overlooked stories, seemingly ordinary places and people with rich meaning and deep background. Visual style is heavily inspired by late 20th century Hollywood cinema.

As of 2025 Michael is working on the Rainbow Rider, documentary about an airplane once owned by John Denver and the unexpected ways the aircraft impacted lives of those connected to it.