About Us

Team

LAURA DUNN

Director • Producer • Editor

Laura Dunn started making documentaries in response to her undergraduate experience at Yale University. Through a chronicle of labor strikes on campus, THE SUBTEXT OF A YALE EDUCATION examines the corporatization of higher education.

She then returned to her birthplace to make GREEN, a sobering look at environmental racism along the Mississippi River petrochemical corridor, a.k.a. “Cancer Alley”. Other work includes experimental films BABY, a personal take on population issues, and BECOME THE SKY, an ecological map of power in Texas.

Her first feature documentary, THE UNFORESEEN, executive produced by Robert Redford and Terrence Malick, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, was released theatrically and broadcast on the Sundance Channel. Her second feature, LOOK & SEE: A PORTRAIT OF WENDELL BERRY, also executive-produced by Robert Redford and Terrence Malick, and funded in part by the Sundance Documentary Film Fund, won a Special Jury Prize for Visual Design at SXSW, aired nationally on PBS’s “Independent Lens”, streamed on Netflix, and toured to over 100 rural communities.

Honors include a Rockefeller Media Arts Fellowship, Student Academy Award, Yale’s Trumbull Fine Arts Prize, International Documentary Association Pare Lorenz Grant and an Independent Spirit Truer Than Fiction Award. She lives in Chattanooga, TN with her husband and seven sons.

JEF SEWELL

Director • Design • Cinematography

Jef was born in Dallas, Texas to Doug and Sue Sewell. His family descends from the plains of the Texas panhandle. He worked as a clerk in a video rental store in high school and was dismissed from the University of Texas for poor grades.

Jef co-founded the satirical Despair.com with his twin brother Justin. Their flagship product Demotivators® became an early viral meme. Jef later co-founded Amplifier®, a vertically-integrated fulfillment company serving artists and brands.

Jef began working with Laura on 2007’s THE UNFORESEEN. In addition to fundraising and on-location work, Jef worked with PROLOGUE FILMS to produce the film’s opening/closing titles.  He also designed THE UNFORESEEN's many motion graphics sequences. For his contributions, Jef was nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Graphics & Animation at the inaugural Cinema Eye Awards.

Jef produced, co-directed & visually designed Two Birds Film’s next feature, LOOK & SEE: A PORTRAIT OF WENDELL BERRY. Jef’s work on that film was recognized by SXSW with a Special Jury Prize for Visual Design. 

Support

Our filmmaking is supported by the generosity of individuals and organizations

  • Our largest funding source comes from the generous grants of individuals and arts & activism-minded non-profits & foundations. Donations made through our fiscal-sponsor are tax-deductible. To learn more about supporting our work via grants, please contact us.

  • We rely on crowdfunding-campaigns like Kickstarter to raise funds from individuals. These campaigns usually are “milestone” raises that enable us to bring a project across a specific goal line. We create rewards for these backers which range from streaming copies of a film to a full credit in the final film.

  • Two Birds maintains our own direct-distribution. We self-manage an OTT channel to enable direct streaming of rentals and sales. We also sell physical media (Blu-Rays & DVDs) with an online store and rely on a third-party logistics company for order fulfillment.

  • We sell exhibition-ready editions to Universities, K-12 and Public Libraries that convey limited rights to screen our films in classrooms and special events. Education editions of LOOK & SEE include a beautiful study guide to ease classroom discussion.

  • We also earn a very small royalty stream on THE UNFORESEEN. (Less than <0.5% of income.) This comes from Apple TV and Mubi sales and rentals. (When you rent/buy our films directly from us, we earn much more.)

  • Jef & Laura maintain day jobs. Jef works for a specialty-logistics provider that he founded in 2000. Laura teaches film courses at a public university.