Judith Dwan Hallet
Judith Dwan Hallet is an American documentary filmmaker who made 32 films covering people and events around the world during her 45 year career.
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. Her mother, Lois Smith Dwan, was a restaurant critic for the Los Angeles Times.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. While a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tunisia teaching English as Second Language, Hallet co-directed her first hour-long documentary film in French on The Berber Villages of Southern Tunisia. After returning to the United States, she did graduate studies in film at UCLA and married Stanley Ira Hallet, an architect and professor of architecture. 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.
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.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 as a member of the EXTRA team 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.
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.
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.
Numerous newspaper and magazine articles describe and review Hallet's films.
Filmography
Hallet was producer and director of the following films, unless noted.1960s and 1970s films
- Berber Villages of Southern Tunisia
- The Painted Truck
- The Nomads of Badakhshan Finalist at American Film Festival
- The Longest War
- I Love to be Happy First place at International Festival of Women's Films ; Finalist at American Film Festival
- Polygamy, Prospering in Exile
- Sure I can Dance Finalist at American Film Festival
- Her Honor the Judge: Riva Beck Besone Second place at Denver International Film Festival
- A Very Special Dance First place NATPE IRIS award ; First place at Denver International Film Festival ; Finalist at American Film Festival
1980s films
- The Navajo Hopi Land Dispute: On the Verge of War Nominated for Rocky Mountain EMMY
- Love and the Mentally Handicapped: Special Love Nominated for Rocky Mountain EMMY ; First place NAPTE IRIS award
- Street People: Faces of the Street Nominated for Rocky Mountain EMMY ; First place at Utah Film & Video Festival
- A Life of Crime Gold Award at International Film & TV Festival of New York ; Special Jury Award at San Francisco International Film Festival
- The Mormons: Living in Zion Red Ribbon at American Film Festival
- The Buckaroos Rocky Mountain EMMY ; Second place NAPTE IRIS award
- The Last Stand of the Tarahumaras Second place NAPTE IRIS award
- El Dorado Gold Produced for National Geographic Television, Explorer; Gold award at Houston International Film Festival
1990s films
- The Life and Legend of Jane Goodall: My Life With the Chimpanzees
- Gauchos
- Battle for the Great Plains
- An American Reunion Inauguration
- Lords of the Garden: Tree House People Cannibal Justice
- Murphy Oil. A Story of Leadership and Innovation
- Moby-Dick
Produced for Guggenheim Productions; Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary
- American Buffalo Battling Back, Spirit of a Nation
- Stealing Time: The New Science of Aging. Turning Back the Clock
2000s and 2010s films
- Building Big: Dams Produced for WGBH/NOVA & aired on PBS, George Peabody Award
- Witness to Hope. The Life of Karol Wojtyla, Pope John Paul II Aired on PBS, Special Jury Gold Award, Houston International Film Festival, Platinum Best of Show for Directing and Gold Award for Documentary, Aurora Awards
- The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde Produced for Cronkite Ward TV for Discovery Communications, aired on The Learning Channel; Golden Eagle Award at CINE Film & Video Festival, Platinum Award at Houston International Film Festival
- John Kluge: The Will to Make a Difference
- ''Tale of the Tongs''
Publications
- Discovering Tunisian Cuisine. Co-authored with Raoudha Guellali Ben Taarit and Hasna Trabelsi. Spirit of Place/Spirit of Design, 2019..
- From Groucho to Gauchos: Adventures of a Documentary Filmmaker. Spirit of Place/Spirit of Design, 2022..
General awards and recognition
Awards for specific films are in the Filmography section.- Woman of Vision Award for Creative Excellence, 1995, Women in Film & Video, Washington DC
- Mayor’s Art Award for Excellence in an Artistic Discipline, 2001, Washington DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities
- Emmy for Outstanding Contribution to the Profession in the Last 25 years, 2008, The National Capital Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
- Around the World on Film with Judy Dwan Hallet, 2013, Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.
- An Evening with Judith Dwan Hallet, 2013, National Press Club, Washington, D.C.
- March Filmmaker of the Month Award, 2015, District of Columbia Office of Motion Picture & Television Development
- Women of Impact Award for Lifetime Achievement, 2023,
- Utah Documentary Association, 2024, Salt Lake City, Utah