Nathaniel Hansen

Nathaniel Hansen is an American documentary filmmaker.

His independent film work includes short and feature-length films, including Spearhunter, The Collection, ''Expired!

Food Waste in America, The Elders, From the Heart, Hollow, The Recall: Reframed, and All the Presidents’ Heads''.

Hansen was born in Portland, Oregon, attended Tigard High School, and graduated from BYU-Hawaii in 2001 with a bachelor's degree in Cultural Studies and Humanities and an associate degree in theatre.

In 2004 Hansen completed a master's degree in Visual Media Art from Emerson College and later returned to complete a Visual Arts MFA in 2011.

From 2009 to 2011, while enrolled in further graduate studies at Emerson College, Hansen produced a series of short documentary films featuring “familiar strangers” or personalities he would regularly encounter in his commuting travels around downtown Boston.

Pat Bartevian, the elderly woman featured in the second film and the most widely viewed in the series, served as the inspiration for his feature-length documentary film The Elders.

After a successful 2010 kickstarter campaign, Hansen was contacted by Take Action Hollywood!, a non-profit organization founded by Maria Menounos.

The organization made both a financial contribution and an in-kind equipment rental donation and Menounos is listed in the film's opening title sequence as a producer.

In 2012–2013, Hansen worked as one of the producers on Elaine McMillion Sheldon’s interactive documentary, Hollow.

The Elders had its premiere at the 2013 Independent Film Festival Boston and was highlighted by Boston Globe film critic Peter Keough as “must see” and “remarkable.” Hansen was featured in Boston Globe Magazine as one of six artists to watch during the festival.

The project won a Peabody Award and was nominated for a national Emmy in 2014.

In 2014, Hansen collaborated with Boston-based filmmakers Adam Roffman and Luke Poling, as cinematographer and editor for their short documentary Spearhunter. In 2015 Spearhunter would go on to premiere at SXSW, and would be recognized as one of Vimeo's Staff Picks, and covered extensively in the press.

Hansen and filmmaker Rebecca Richman Cohen and her production company Racing Horse Productions, have collaborated on 5 documentary films since 2015, including the feature film Weed & Wine, and the MSNBC Peacock short documentary The Recall: Reframed, with Richman Cohen directing and producing, and Hansen filming, producing, and editing.

Hansen and Roffman would collaborate again in 2016 and 2017, with Roffman producing/directing and Hansen filming/editing two short documentary films, All the Presidents' Heads and The Collection.

While both films would enjoy extensive film festival runs, The Collection would premiere at SXSW and was seen by producer and Alamo Drafthouse owner Tim League, who would go on to purchase the collection of letterpress blocks featured in the short documentary.