ABOUT
Born and raised in the woods outside Portland, OR, Sarah Wells is a documentary filmmaker based in the Bay Area and Oregon. She is drawn to working-class characters and stories, approaching subjects with honesty and humor to get to the heart of things. Recently awarded "Filmmaker to Watch" for her documentary My Dad Gets a Smartphone at the Eastern Oregon Film Festival (22), she is currently developing CAMERA PEOPLE, a participatory documentary series filmed by ordinary San Francisco residents.
Between documentary projects, she can be found in the camera department enjoying her time as a cinematographer, camera operator, and camera assistant. She has shot pieces for VICE, Sephora, Now This, AJ+, and Billboard Music. As a camera assistant, she has worked on projects for Google, Slack, Apple, Paypal, and others.
FESTIVALS & AWARDS
“My Dad Gets a Smartphone”
2023 Tacoma Film Festival - Tacoma, WA
2023 Porto Femme International Film Festival - Porto, PT
2023 Lisboa Indie Film festival - Lisbon, PT
2023 Leiria Film Festival - Leiria, PT
2023 Cinalfama Lisbon Screening and Awards - Lisbon, PT
2022 Programmer's Choice/Filmmaker to Watch Eastern Oregon Film Festival
2022 Best Micro Doc Oregon Short Film Festival - Portland, OR
2022 Best Documentary SF City Shorts Film Festival - San Francisco, CA
2022 Finalist Oregon Documentary Film Festival - Portland, OR
2022 Official Selection Montreal Independent Film Festival - Montreal, CAN
CONTACT
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
2023 "Dreams to Remember" - dir Latajh Weaver
2023 Under The Same Sun Festival - dir Erika Chong Shuch
2023 New Day - for Feld Advertising - commercial
2023 "Glenn Stultz - Out My Window" - short doc
2023 "Hat Matter" - dir Latajh Weaver - visual poem
2023 BAYCAT - branded doc
2023 Sara Camhaji - performance art documentation
2022 SAP DataBrix for Mopix Creative - corporate
2022 Mipso @Tiny Telephone Recording Studios - short musical doc
2022 PACKARD FOUNDATION for BAYCAT - corporate
2022 CHANGE.ORG - short doc
2022 AMIGOS for BAYCAT - nonprofit doc
2022 IZZY for BAYCAT - nonprofit doc
2022 Brainchild Production - campaign ad
2022 Space Banquet - music video
2021 BILLBOARD MUSIC - MXMTOON - branded doc
2021 ALFA SHOES Dir Catherine Cavanaugh - branded doc
2021 “PARAMITA” Dir Kirthi Nath - short doc
2021 “SOONER THAN YOU LEARN” Dir Luciano Sprovieri - music video
2021 CHASE BANK: JOE SASTO for 16over90 Production - corporate
2021 SARAH IANNARONE - Dir Lincoln Michael - campaign ad
2021 “GRAVITY POP UP: TYLER HOLMES” - performance documentation
2021 “SF IS A UNIONTOWN” - short doc
2020 “MY NAME IS LAI” Dir Lucy Saephan - short doc
2020 “GEN Z & ELECTIONS” VICE News - short doc
2020 “DONOR SIBLINGS” VICE News - short doc
2020 “FASHION ACTIVIST” VICE News - short doc
2020 “BRUCE FRANKS JR” for AJ+ - short doc
2020 NOW THIS - branded doc
2020 TALL WOOD INSTITUTE for Oregon State University - commercial
2020 THE MOMENTARY Dir Erika Chong Shuch - creative performance documentation
2020 “WE BELONG TO SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL” for Sephora - branded doc
2019 “WE BELONG TO SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL” for Sephora - branded doc
2019 “SEPHORA COLLECTION” for Sephora - commercial
2019 “INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY” for Sephora - commercial
2019 “20 YEARS OF BEAUTY” for Sephora - commercial
2019 QUEERLING PITCH Dir Latajh Weaver - narrative pilot pitch
2019 “FIRST THINGS FIRST” DIR ERIKA CHONG SHUCH
2019 “FOR YOU” Dir Erika Chong Shuch - creative performance documentation
2019 “THEATERTHEATER!” Dir Erika Chong Shuch - creative performance documentation
2018 “BEHIND THE STRIPES WITH BRYCE RIDER” for Sephora - branded doc
2018 “ZAHRA NOORBAKHSH” - short doc
2017 “LADIES OF NORGE VILLAGE” Dir James Lee - short doc
CAM OP
2023 Cooley - Tech Panel - DP Sarah Jaffee
2023 SAP Tech Ed - For Mopix Creative
2023 SOFI - commercial - DP Kevork Demirjian
2023 TWILIO - DP Sarah Jaffe - commercial
2023 UCSF - DP Matt Beardsley - branded doc
2023 For You, the Welcoming - event coverage
2023 Planned Parenthood - branded doc - DP Andrés Gallegos
2023 FELD Advertising - commercial
2023 Park Hotel - tech panel coverage
2023 The Night Beats Music vid - DP Andy Hoffman
2022 Michael Mina Restaurant Group for Mopix Creative - commercial
2022 Cota Capital for Mopix Creative - commercial
2022 Golden State Warriors for BAYCAT - commercial
2022 New Relic Productions - commercial
2022 The Kitchen SF for Jacob Blumberg - performance documentation
2022 Backyard Bluegrass for Jacob Blumberg - performance documentation
2021 Counterpulse for Chani Bockwinkel - performance documentation
2021 The Innocence Project for Mopix Creative - commercial
2021 UC Berkeley Endowment - DP Sarah Jaffe - commercial
2021 “This Ain’t Portlandia” - DP Lincoln Michael - documentary feature
2021 Autodesk - for SlowClap Production - commercial
2021 “CoolRun” - for A Typical Day Production - commercial
2021 Innersense Beauty - DP Tyler Wilson - commercial
2020 The Warriors Women’s Empowerment for BAYCAT - commercial
2019 Clean Beauty for Sephora - commercial
2019 Blue Shield for SlowClap Production - commercial
2019 Press Release for SlowClap Production - commercial
2018 Behind the Stripes with Gloria for Sephora - commercial
2018 Behind the Stripes with Amy for Sephora - commercial
1st ASSISTANT CAMERA
2023 SLACK - DP Sarah Jaffe
2023 PAYPAL - DP Sarah Jaffe
2023 Mommy's Bliss - DP Ryan Thomas - commercial
2023 RESIDENT HOME - DP Andy Hoffman - commercial
2023 ESPN - DP Andrés Gallegos - doc
2022 AMAZON MUSIC - LOS TIGRES - DP Andy Hoffman - commercial
2022 NATURE VALLEY - DP Cole Graham - commercial
2022 HEINZ - DP Ken Brown - commercial
2022 GOOGLE - DP Andy Hoffman - commercial
2022 APPLE - DP Andy Hoffman - commercial
2022 L’Oreal & Chef Crenn - DP Sarah Jaffe - commercial
2022 NewDay USA - DP Sarah Jaffe - commercial
2022 PLANNED PARENTHOOD - DP Andrés Gallegos - branded doc
2022 INSTACART - DP Sarah Jaffe - commercial
2022 TEE PUBLIC - DP Sarah Jaffe - commercial
2022 SUNBASKET - DP Sarah Jaffe - commercial
2022 WING - DP Brett Simms - commercial
2022 PAGER for Emotion Studios - DP Sarah Jaffe - commercial
2022 Restoration Hardware - DP Ken Brown - commercial
2022 “COMPANION” - DP Sarah Jaffe - narrative short
2022 WHOLE FOODS - DP Ken Brown - commercial
2022 “PROJECTIONS” - DP Sarah Jaffe - commercial
2022 Drum Theory - DP Andy Hoffman - commercial
2022 “Armatura” for Drum and Lace - DP Andy Hoffman - music video
2022 Naytronix - DP Sarah Jaffe - music video
2022 “Morning After” - DP Sarah Jaffe - narrative short
2022 Ghost Story x Verkada - DP Sarah Jaffe - commercial
2021 SALESFORCE - DP Peggy Peralta - commercial
2021 WISH - DP Andy Hoffman - commercial
2021 “Kaneko’s Owl” - DP Andrés Gallegos - narrative feature
2021 ROBINHOOD - DP Sarah Jaffe - commercial
2021 Rubicon Bakery - DP Matt Beardsley - nonprofit
2021 Near Future - DP Sarah Jaffe - commercial
2021 JOHN DEERE TRACTORS - DP Matt Beardsley - commercial
2021 South Bay Architecture - DP Caleb Heller - branded doc
2021 SHAPERMINT - DP Sarah Jaffe - commercial
2021 Fords Martini Life - DP Sarah Jaffe - commercial
2021 Nowness - DP Sarah Jaffe - dance video
2021 “Train Tracks” - DP Sarah Jaffe - narrative short
2021 “Kiana” DP Sarah Jaffe - narrative short
2020 “Stay in My Lane” S.I.A.T. - DP Sarah Jaffe - music video
2020 “Aubergine” DP Sarah Jaffe - narrative short
2020 “I JUST WANNA DANCE” - DP Sarah Jaffe - dance video
2020 Stronger California - DP Elysia Liaw - campaign ad
2019 “The Child” - DP Favienne Howsepiene - narrative short
2019 “Book Clubbing”- DP Sarah Jaffe - narrative short
2019 “Your Band” King Willow - DP Sarah Jaffe - music video
2019 “Oleanders” - DP Sarah Jaffe - narrative short
2019 “Appetite” - DP Sarah Jaffe - narrative short
2019 Nike Spec - DP Sarah Jaffe - commercial
2018 “Cycles” - DP Sarah Jaffe - web series
2nd ASSISTANT CAMERA
2022 ADIDAS Adi Club - DP Micheal Enos - commercial
EDUCATION
2022-present KINO DOC - Lisbon, Portugal
2022 Berkeley Advanced Media Institute - visual storytelling course
2022 City College of San Francisco, focus in documentary
2021 NW Documentary Center - finding story course - Portland, OR
2017-2018 Berkeley City College, Multimedia Arts, focus in video production
2007-2011 University of San Francisco, BA in Design, minor in Islamic Studies