About

David Gutnik is a Ukrainian-American writer and director. His most recent film, RULE OF TWO WALLS, a feature documentary on the war in Ukraine, was awarded a Special Jury Prize at the 2023 Tribeca Festival. The film was shortlisted for the 2024 “Truer Than Fiction” Independent Spirit Award and currently holds a 100% Rotten Tomato score.

MATERNA, David’s acclaimed debut feature film, won the awards for Best Cinematography and Best Actress at the 2020 Tribeca Festival, where David was also nominated for Best New Director. He was shortlisted for the 2021 “Someone to Watch” Independent Spirit Award for his work on the film. The film was released theatrically and digitally by Utopia Distribution in August 2021 and is streaming on Hulu.

David’s sophomore fiction feature screenplay, 40 DAYS, was 1 of 8 projects selected for the 2024 Cannes Film Festival Central Asian Co-production Workshop. The project was hailed by Screen International as one of "13 international projects in development from promising screenwriters and directors.”

David is also the editor of several renowned feature films, including Christina Choe's 2018 Sundance award-winning NANCY. He is a Sundance Institute alumnus and received his MFA in Film at Columbia, where he teaches in the Graduate Film Department.

Contact

david.gutnik@gmail.com