About Me:
I’m a film, TV, and documentary writer-producer-director. Started working in location sound, picture editing, and indie production in 1990s Atlanta; moved to Los Angeles in 2002; co-located in Beijing since 2013, with an emphasis on developing cross-cultural entertainment business opportunities. As of 2023, am based in Paris and focused on a diverse range of projects with strong global appeal.
Producer, International Troublemakers:
Currently prepping Paris-based feature MY FAVORITE SEASON, producing a doc about US-China relations, developing other projects, and ignoring social media.
Founder, Malkuth Pictures:
ONE SHOT
Feature film
Paris, France
Written by & to be Directed by Brendan Davis
“When a lesbian couple struggles to conceive, their best friend and her husband agree to an unconventional arrangement that leads them all down an emotionally complicated path to parenthood.”
More information: view on Coverfly.
“The Unwinding”
Written & Directed by Brendan Davis
London, England
Short film (TRT 25:00)
Produced by Roger King for 200 Media Ltd, UK and Brendan Davis, Susan Qin Davis, and Naeem Seirafi for Malkuth Pictures. Executive Producer: Stan Ruszkowski, Ruszkowski Entertainment.
Winner: Best Picture, 2023 Multi Dimension Independent Film Festival; Honorable Mention, 2023 Vienna International Film Awards; Official Selection, 2023 Cinematography & Photography Awards; Finalist, 2023 New York Cinematography Awards, 2023 European Cinematography Awards.
“Chinagirl”
Written & Created By Brendan Davis
1-hr drama series
Finalist, 2021 Oaxaca Film Fest; Quarterfinalist, Screencraft TV Pilot Script Competition 2023; Quarterfinalist, Los Angeles International Screenplay Awards, 2023
Pilot script and pitch deck available upon request. Currently being re-developed as a feature film set in Paris.
A struggling American entrepreneur enlists a compromised young woman to help him expand his business into China, with unintended global consequences.
CHINAGIRL is a one hour character-driven drama set at the intersection of family dysfunction and geopolitics.
Jason Harris is an ambitious young businessman who’s trying to close a life-changing deal between a New Zealand vineyard and a Chinese investment firm. But personally, he’s a mess. As if surviving the pandemic while caring for his ailing father wasn't hard enough, the recurring nightmares and physical scars he bears from his abusive childhood still affect his relationships - and judgement - today.
Amy Overman works part-time as Jason’s researcher and translator for the Chinese deal while attending grad school, but their personal relationship is complicated. As we meet them, Jason is figuring out that he wants more, while Amy realizes that she needs Jason’s help with a much bigger problem of her own - one with life or death consequences...
Amy is deeply connected to mysterious figures back in China. We discover that her deceased father was more than a diplomat, and Amy inherited his friends and their problems as well as custody of lots of their money. To save her extended family, she’ll have to risk not only Jason’s dream, but the future and freedom of everyone involved, too.
Etcetera:
I’ve previously been a moderator or panelist for events produced by Horasis (horasis.org), most recently making the case for a UBI in the US at the 2021 Horasis Extraordinary Meeting.
And I’m also a reformed podcast host-producer, 300+ hours including -
Creator / Co-Founder / Host / EP, “How China Works” podcast (w / me and co-host / EP Yingying Li). Previously: “If I Knew You Better”, “Big Fish in the Middle Kingdom” (all shows retired, but the archives are up forever)
Please CONTACT ME via the form here if you find you’d like to. Cheers.
Bio:
Brendan Davis is an American writer-director-producer based in France. Co-located between Los Angeles, Beijing, and Paris, he's written and directed documentaries and short films, produced indie features and Chinese TV series, and developed or consulted on projects in France, China, Canada, Italy, and New Zealand.
Davis has been a producer on films premiering, competing, or winning at Sundance HK, Toronto, Berlin, and other festivals (DEADGIRL, BORN TO DANCE, LIFE WITH FIONA, "Metamorphosis"). In 2013 Davis produced the first Los Angeles-based season of Chinese TV hit "Jia Pian You Yue", aka "The Best", featuring Stan Lee, Justin Lin, M. Night Shyamalan, Sean Astin, and others. In 2018 he wrote and directed the documentary “Yibin: An Elemental Journey” for CCTV. In 2019 he and director Eric Raine completed a 5-year journey making feature documentary CRAZYHOT, about the world of ultra hot chile peppers. Davis is currently in development on Paris-based feature film MY FAVORITE SEASON and in production on feature documentary MAO/NIXON, which focuses on the clandestine, behind-the-scenes true story of how the historic Mao-Nixon Summit came to be, with director Larry Sullivan and his company International Troublemakers. Davis is also actively developing feature film THE BISHOP’S MAN, adapted from the best-selling novel by Lynden MacIntyre and to be directed by acclaimed filmmaker Babak Payami (752 IS NOT A NUMBER, SECRET BALLOT). In April 2023 he wrote and directed short film “The Unwinding” in London, produced by Roger King. He is also the writer-creator of TV pilot “Chinagirl”, currently being adapted into a feature film for him direct, as well as ONE SHOT, both set in Paris.
He is a former Producing faculty member at the New York Film Academy in Los Angeles, was Chairman of Adamas Film International in Beijing, and has guest lectured at the Beijing Film Academy.
In addition to his film efforts, Davis co-created and hosted the "How China Works" podcast and consultancy with Yingying Li. Davis has made many public and media appearances discussing the intersection of China and Hollywood and has been a frequent speaker and consultant regarding general East-West issues.
Davis’ 2019 public engagements included live “How China Works” events with Yingying Li in Beijing as well as at Stanford University, the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, and at Onepiece Work in downtown San Francisco. He moderated a panel at the 2019 Horasis China Meeting in Las Vegas on “The Future of China’s Belt & Road Initiative” and was set to moderate a panel at the Horasis Global Meeting in Cascais, Portugal in 2020 on the topic of “Fulfillment” that was cancelled due to COVID-19. Before leaving China, he was a live-stream guest on “China Plus America”’s web TV show as the subject of a 90-minute feature interview and was a guest host on China Radio International’s top program “Round Table”. On June 22, 2020, Davis moderated a live panel discussion at the virtual Horasis India Meeting on the topic of “India’s March Into Modernism”, with leading experts from India’s politics, economics, tech, women’s rights, and public health sectors. On July 26, 2020 he returned to “China Plus America”, this time remotely from Los Angeles. On October 1, 2020, Davis moderated a panel at the virtual Horasis Extraordinary Meeting on the topic of "Populism versus Multilateralism".
In December 2019, Davis was recognized as a Distinguished Foreign Expert by the Beijing Global Talent Exchange Association and appointed to serve as an advisor to the organization through 2024.
Links:
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0204272/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendandavis/
Horasis: https://horasis.org
