Sydney Freeland facts for kids

Sydney Freeland (born October 29, 1980) is a filmmaker from the Navajo Nation. She is known for writing and directing movies and TV shows. Her film Drunktown's Finest (2014) was shown at the Sundance Film Festival and received many good reviews. Her second film, Deidra & Laney Rob a Train, also premiered at Sundance and was released on Netflix in 2017. Her movie Rez Ball came out in 2024.

Early Life and Education

Sydney Freeland was born in Gallup, New Mexico, in 1980. Her father was Navajo, and her mother was Scottish. She grew up on a Navajo reservation.

She went to the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. In 2004, she received a Fulbright scholarship. This allowed her to study indigenous people in Ecuador. Sydney has a Master of Fine Arts degree in film. She also has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in computer animation. She received scholarships from Disney in 2007 and was a Sundance Institute Native Lab fellow in 2009.

Career Highlights

Before making her first full-length movie, Drunktown's Finest, Sydney Freeland worked in different roles. She was a production assistant, a writer, and a camera intern. She worked for many media companies, including The Food Network, Walt Disney, Comedy Central, and National Geographic.

Sydney directed a short film called Hoverboard. She used a website called Kickstarter to help get money for the film. This short film was inspired by the movie Back to the Future Part II.

Her film Drunktown's Finest is a story about growing up. It explores important ideas about who you are and the challenges faced by Native American people. Sydney wrote and directed this film to help fight against unfair ideas about her home community. She also directed a digital series called Her Story. This series was about different kinds of women. It was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Form Comedy or Drama.

In 2014, Sydney Freeland was recognized as a United States Artists (USA) Fellow. This award honors talented artists in America.

On March 19, 2022, Sydney joined the team directing the superhero TV series Echo for Disney+. In 2022, she was also included in the Fast Company Queer 50 list, which highlights influential LGBTQ+ leaders.

Film and TV Work

• 2008: The Migration (Short film) - Director
• 2012: Hoverboard (Short film) - Producer, writer, director
• 2014: Drunktown's Finest - Screenwriter, director
• 2016: Her Story (Web Series) - Director
• 2017: Deidra & Laney Rob a Train - Director
• 2018–2019: Grey's Anatomy (TV series) - Director (2 episodes)
• 2018: Heathers (TV series) - Director (1 episode)
• 2019: Station 19 (TV series) - Director (1 episode)
• 2019: Chambers (TV series) - Director (1 episode)
• 2019: Tales of the City (Miniseries) - Director (1 episode)
• 2019: Fear the Walking Dead (TV series) - Director (1 episode)
• 2019: Impulse (TV series) - Director (1 episode)
• 2019: Emergence (TV series) - Director (1 episode)
• 2020: Nancy Drew (TV series) - Director (2 episodes)
• 2020: P-Valley (TV series) - Director (1 episode)
• 2020: The Wilds (TV series) - Director (1 episode)
• 2021: Rutherford Falls (TV series) - Director (4 episodes)
• 2021: Reservation Dogs (TV series) - Director (2 episodes)
• 2022: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (TV series) - Director (1 episode)
• 2024: Echo (TV series) - Executive producer, director (4 episodes)
• 2024: Rez Ball - Screenwriter, director

Awards and Nominations

Sydney Freeland has won several awards for her work:

See also

In Spanish: Sydney Freeland para niños

• List of transgender film and television directors