For over 37 years, filmmaker and media educator Dave Davidson has made numerous award-winning documentaries with Hudson West Productions. Dave is also Professor Emeritus at The City College of New York (CUNY), where he was the founding director of MFA Program in Film Production – the first of its kind at an affordable public university.

 Dave recently completed the one-hour documentary “Cinema and Sanctuary”, which tells the largely overlooked story of America’s first documentary film school, which attracted the giants of early documentary film including Robert Flaherty, Leo Hurwitz, Hans Richter, John Grierson and Joris Ivens. After its premiere at The Lincoln Center Cinema, the film was featured at The Americas Film Festival NY.

 Dave was Co-Director and Co-Producer, with his Hudson West partner Amber Edwards, on the feature documentary “Vince Giordano–There’s a Future in the Past”, a “Critic’s Pick” of The New York Times that had successful theatrical runs in New York and Los Angeles.

 In 2016 Dave completed “A Gesture and a Word”, which follows the brilliant singer/songwriter Rob Morsberger during his final 18 months after being diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. The film celebrates the power of art as Morsberger, facing “The Great Whatever”, embarks on an astounding creative run that results in four insightful albums recorded with his friends Jon Herington (Steely Dan), Marshall Crenshaw, Brad Roberts (Crash Test Dummies) and Suzzy Roche - all of whom appear in the film. “A Gesture and a Word” premiered at The Ashland Independent Film Festival, won “Audience Award for Best Picture” at The Richmond International Film Festival and was feature at The Macon Int. Film Festival.

 In 2013 Dave directed “Hans Richter: Everything Turns—Everything Revolves”, a profile of the iconic DADAist and experimental filmmaker that premiered at the LA County Museum of Art, followed by screenings at The National Gallery of Art in Washington, FIFA-Montreal, The Pompidou – Metz and The Gropius Bau in Berlin. In 2015, Dave received an NEA Art Works grant, to create “Rescoring Richter”, a transmedia project inspired by the documentary, that invites contemporary musicians to compose new sound environments for Richter’s avant-garde, films from the 1920s and ’30s. (www.rescoringrichter.com).

 For PBS, Dave directed “A Place Out of Time—The Bordentown School” (2010), about the elite all-black school that flourished for 70 years during the Jim Crow era. Narrated by Ruby Dee, the film was nationally broadcast in May 2010 and won The Christopher Award. Davidson’s other PBS documentaries include “Cissy Houston—Sweet Inspiration”(1988) and “The Dancing Man—Peg Leg Bates”(1991).  

 He was Co-Producer and Director of Photography for “Michael Feinstein’s American Songbook”, a 9-part PBS series (2010 to 2013) that was directed by his Hudson West partner, Amber Edwards.

 Dave’s numerous awards and honors include an American Film Institute Independent Filmmaker Grant, an Emmy Award, The NEA Mid-Atlantic Artist Fellowship, Pioneer of The Arts from The Black Experimental Theatre and Outstanding Artist Award from The New Jersey Arts Council, as well as numerous awards at international film festivals. Dave founded Hudson West Productions in 1985 and currently serves as president.