NONFICTION
We are an award-winning documentary production company.
Artifact launched over 20 years ago to produce documentaries, and we remain true to our roots, continuing to make artful, independent nonfiction films—and content for purpose-driven brands. Our work illuminates unique human stories and allows audiences to identify with and understand the issues that shape all of our lives.
Led by Artifact co-founder David Grabias, our collective of directors, cinematographers, editors, and producers are among the most respected in the field. We’ve garnered Academy Awards and nominations, Emmy Awards and nominations, Clios, Geminis, and awards from scores of film festivals and institutions including Sundance, Tribeca, ITVS, The Center for Asian American Media, The California Council for the Humanities, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Our films have been broadcast on PBS, A&E, FX, HBO and numerous international channels.
Originals.
Marcel Duchamp Comes to Pasadena
Produced by Artifact for the PBS series ARTBOUND, MARCEL DUCHAMP COMES TO PASADENA tells the story behind this iconic image: How Duchamp agreed to hold his first-ever career retrospective in Pasadena at a time when the city was considered a remote artistic wasteland. And how the opening night party became a defining moment for generations of Southern California artists who would go on to change the world of contemporary art.
Flightpath
An Artifact independent production, FLIGHTPATH is a meditation on death and the mourning process through the eyes of Sarah, a wildlife researcher in the California desert. Studying bird mortality rates for a wind turbine company, she grapples with her grief and relationship to the natural world while working at night—alone but for a pair of unrelenting tracking dogs.
Luso-Fornia
LUSO-FORNIA is an impressionistic vision of the relationship between humanity, nature, and spirituality in California’s Central Valley, where big agriculture has commodified the landscape and rendered it largely soulless. It is here that generations of immigrants in an isolated town turn to their Portuguese heritage to find meaning and community, holding an annual religious and cultural celebration that culminates in a “bloodless” bullfight. LUSO-FORNIA is an emotive document celebrating California’s bleak dairylands—discovering the unseen beauty of its residents’ lives and testifying to the power of a richly constructed, communal universe.
Girls Level Up
In an effort to empower girls and women to become a creative force in video games, the team at Artifact has rallied developers across the gaming industry, and educators focused on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) to participate in GIRLS LEVEL UP, Artifact’s digital documentary project that aims to transform girls who are video game consumers into video game makers. GIRLS LEVEL UP kicks off with the release of a short documentary, along with a set of seven documentary vignettes, vertical ads, community content on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and a website with resources for kids and parents.
Operation Popcorn
A feature-length documentary film for PBS. When a Vietnam War refugee who has grown up in America is solicited by a self-proclaimed arms dealer, he finds himself drawn into a dangerous game of politics and intrigue that could end with a life sentence in prison for him and the beloved leaders of his community.
Nightshift
Through intimate, first-person stories, NIGHTSHIFT explores the social context of those who work at night. Single moms working after dark so they can take care of their kids during the day. People working both a day and night shift to keep up with expenses. Or simply those with a predilection for night duty. Following individuals in cinema-vérité fashion through the course of a 24-hour period, NIGHTSHIFT gives voice to those who are seldom heard—because the rest of us are asleep—and explores the evolving nature of labor in a 24-hour economy.
