Kirby Dick

Kirby Bryan Dick, born on August 23, 1952, is an esteemed American film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor, renowned predominantly for directing documentary films. He received Academy Award nominations for Best Documentary Feature for directing Twist of Faith (2005) and The Invisible War (2012). Dick's vast career consists of exploring diverse subjects and issues, some of which have been traditionally deemed taboo such as homosexuality, sadomasochism, and sexual abuse. His work is characterized by a keen interest in secrecy, hypocrisy, and human sexuality. Dick is also an innovative filmmaker and has pioneered applying the "fair use" doctrine to appropriate copyrighted footage without the need for licenses or rights holders.

He was born in Phoenix, Arizona and educated at Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University, California Institute of Arts, and the American Film Institute. His first documentary feature, Private Practices: The Story of a Sex Surrogate (1986), enjoyed a successful festival run. Throughout his career, Dick's filmmaking approach has often involved a cinéma vérité style and he has encouraged his subjects to record their own footage, incorporating it into his films. With a career encapsulating projects like The Invisible War, The Hunting Ground, The Bleeding Edge, On the Record, Allen v. Farrow, and Not So Pretty, Dick's impact as an investigative journalist in cinema has been widely acclaimed and his films have been known to raise public awareness on important social issues.