Nicole Betancourt
Film Producer, Director, and Strategist
New York City, New York
Nicole’s work is driven by a search for new ways to use images and stories to connect people to each other and to nature. She does this through documentaries, video art, and community building projects.
Nicole was the Producer, Director, and Videographer for “Before You Go” (HBO), a documentary that won an Emmy-award and a Golden Spire at the San Francisco International Film Festival about her father who died of AIDS in 1993. She was Producer and Videographer for “90 MILES” (POV/PBS), which won Best Documentary at both New York Latino International Film Festival and at Festival de Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano in Cuba.
She has created many short videos for distribution online or for advocacy screenings. She directed and edited “Healing Rebel” an educational film about neuroplasticity, and “Sing The Water Song,” a short film created in collaboration with Native American grandmothers including Grandma Nancy. Her previous shorts include “Changing Course” about Hurricane Mitch and farming in Central America and two salsa music videos with Jose Conde to motivate Latinos to vote. She produced short video series for Efran Films including “Influencers and Innovation”, an eighteen-part series for Huffington Post, and “ALIVE”, an award-winning six-part series for The Weather Channel.
Nicole was granted a Food and Community Fellowship (funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation) to found the company Parent Earth and create a video series (70 shorts) that educate parents about healthy food and food systems. Prior to that, she was the Creative Director and then Executive Director of MediaRights, a nonprofit organization dedicated to media for social change and the award-wining Media That Matters Film Festival.
Her video artwork includes Video Designer and Producer for “Milk-n-Honey,” a multimedia play at 3LD in New York, and Video Artist on “Partes de Agua,” a collaborative multi-media installation in Mexico. She is currently collaborating with her husband Bray Poor, an award winning sound designer, to develop “The Unfixing” a video and sound art installation. They did a pilot version of the installation at The Electric Ladybug Garden, New York City urban garden.
Her creative projects have earned her an Emmy Award, many festival awards, two fellowships and recognition from The New York Times, Variety, and The Oprah Winfrey Show. Her work has led to thousands of community events and discussions and she has spoken on panels and conducted workshops for numerous institutions, including the Sundance International Film Festival, Independent Feature Project, Ford Foundation and Columbia University. She is a Sustainability Leaders Network Fellow and has served on juries and panels for film institutions and competitions including the Emmy awards and New York State Council of the Arts. Nicole also served as Vice President of Membership for the board of New York Women in Film and Television.
She is currently in post production on “Patterns”, a feature documentary.
Selected Videos
THE UNFIXING: theunfixing.com
Sing The Water Song: https://vimeo.com/
90 Miles: https://www.amazon.com/
Updated July 2022.