- A seasoned documentary producer, writer and editor, and a passionate storyteller, Shirley Thompson is best known for the documentaries she has edited and/or produced, including Promesa (2024), Baseball Behind Barbed Wire (2023), The Last Rodeo (2022), Savvy (2020), Finding Kukan (2016), Winning Girl (2014), Pidgin: the Voice of Hawaii (2008), Special Circumstances (2006), Surfing for Life (2000) & It's Elementary (1996).
Many of the films she has worked on have received major funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. These films have garnered major awards, screened at film festivals around the world and broadcast nationally on public television.
She co-produced Reel Wahine of Hawaii, a series of short films portraying top women filmmakers. She directed six of the 30 films, featuring producer/director Alison Week, cinematographer Shaneika Aguilar, director Zoe Eisenberg, producer Heather Giugni, camerawoman Victoria Keith and producer Myrna Kamae. The series was produced in collaboration with Hawaii Women in Filmmaking and was honored with a Northern California Emmy Award.
A New Orleans native who lived and worked in San Francisco and Dallas, she has been based in Honolulu, Hawaii since 2010. Shirley is a proud member of the New Day Films collective since 1993. As a Latina and a daughter of immigrants, she is committed to filmmaking that builds bridges across cultures and communities.
- IMDb mini biography by: Shirley Thompson
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