David Tappan is an award-winning director with a distinct eye for merging character-driven and high-concept storytelling. His inventive, boldly visual aesthetic is at once intimate and epic, bending genre conventions while keeping emotions grounded in nuanced characters. Combining elements of horror, sci-fi, thriller, and character drama — his films are made with the belief that genre audiences crave thought-provoking cinema.
His work spans the commercial, music video, documentary, and narrative film worlds. His work has screened at and won awards from film festivals internationally, including the Oscar-qualifying Cleveland International Film Festival. His films have been celebrated by premiere genre fests such as ScreamFest, Lund Fantastic, Boston Sci-Fi, and Comic-Con.
Tappan co-founded Level 11 Films with his sister and writing partner, Kelly Tappan. Universe 25, their flagship project, is currently winning awards on the festival circuit and has been well-reviewed by critics. It has been described as “an awe-inspiring cinematic feat” by Overly Honest Reviews (4.5/5) and “about as good as a Sci-Fi short gets” by Film Threat (9.5/10). They are currently working on the full-length feature film adaptation.
