David Usui
David Usui
Japanese American
Affiliations
Links to Work
Bio
David Usui is an award-winning New York-based filmmaker, whose work is rooted in an observational, intimate, character-driven approach. His latest feature, Been Here Stay Here, follows a Christian fishing community on Virginia’s Tangier Island as they face the slow disappearance of their home. The film premiered at IDFA and has screened at festivals including DCEFF, Docaviv, AFS Doc Days, Martha’s Vineyard, Annapolis, and Princeton.
He co-directed In Transit alongside the legendary filmmaker Albert Maysles—a lyrical portrait of travelers aboard Amtrak’s Empire Builder—which won the Special Jury Prize for Best Feature Documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival. His earlier cinematography and directorial work has appeared on PBS, ITVS, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and VICE.
In 2009, he co-founded Lost & Found Films, a production company that crafts visually rich and emotionally grounded nonfiction films. He studied philosophy and human ecology at Western Washington University and later taught documentary filmmaking as an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.
He works as a director, producer, cinematographer, editor, and story consultant.
Projects
Been Here Stay Here
On a remote island in the Chesapeake Bay, a deeply rooted Christian fishing community grapples with the quiet erosion of their land and their traditions. Their centuries-old way of life, sustained by faith and the rhythms of the bay, is now at a poignant crossroads—one that may force them from the only home they’ve ever known.
In Transit
In Transit is an immersive documentary that travels aboard Amtrak’s Empire Builder, the busiest long-distance rail route in America, where strangers from vastly different walks of life find themselves sharing a rare stretch of unhurried time together. Filmed in the tradition of direct cinema, the film unfolds through intimate conversations, chance encounters and quiet moments of reflection as passengers reveal their hopes, fears, losses and dreams.
