Lindsey Dryden: The Story of a Story-teller

In 2020, the film industry still lacks in diversity. Filmmaker Lindsey Dryden provides a platform and voice for those who feel as though they aren’t seen.

“I think that film is good no matter what the Oscars think.” Lindsey Dryden oozes strength and self-belief, with an ‘I don’t care what people think of me’ attitude, yet she is polite and passionate, with warm grin which doesn’t often leave her face. Dressed head to toe in black with a vibrant, turquoise scarf and long brown hair, she radiates a natural story-teller energy.

Originally a researcher on whale watching boats in the Canary Islands, Lindsey started her career in TV before moving into film production after falling in love with independent cinema when she attended Goldsmiths, University of London: “I wanted to tell stories about people who were perhaps perceived as different, unusual, weird or odd and I wanted to tell those stories because I felt those people had value.” A documentary Lindsey produced called ‘Trans in America’ about a young, transgender girl recently won an Emmy award for ‘Outstanding Short Documentary’.

Lindsey with Kai Shappley, a young transgender girl featured in 'Trans in America'

Her proudest film is ‘Unrest’, a feature documentary which was Oscar shortlisted but didn’t win: “Money never comes into it, that’s not what I’m interested in – not a great business model,” she adds, smiling, “You have to get to that point where if you win an award or don’t win an award, you still know how you feel about that piece of work.” The documentary tackled the subject of chronic fatigue syndrome, an illness which many women were not taken seriously about,  “The number of people that [film] affected means a huge amount to me because the people who had that illness themselves felt seen,” ‘Unrest’ premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2017 and became available to view on Netflix in January 2018 and received an incredible reception, “We were able to drive a change in that medical professionals, politicians even, thought about that illness. To have impact in that way is really meaningful.”

As someone who loves to tell stories, the reaction to the story is what Lindsey looks forwards to most, “American audiences are fun because they’re very expressive,” She states, sharing how she loves knowing that a story she’s told has had an impact, “They might gasp, or they might cry - I love that!” She has an infectious chuckle that radiates a mischievous aura. Sharing a film for the first time is a scary process; she says, “It’s always about doing your research.” She spoke about how as a filmmaker you should have empathy and sensitivity, and you may not always get it right, but being respectful of a person’s situation will always help you start on the right foot and gain trust.

‘Unrest’ was made available for virtual reality, and although this is a proud achievement, Lindsey also expressed how she felt this kind of technology can sometimes make stories inaccessible to a lot of people because of the cost: “I’m deaf, my balance is shit, I don’t have a reliable internet connection as my house is in the middle of nowhere and all my technology is crap; if you can make a VR technology that works for me then it will work for anyone.” She lets out her signature giggle, eyebrows raised.

It's clear to see that Lindsey has a fiery passion for film and telling powerful stories, she is a warm person with a sense of fun of spontaneity, which I can see in her star tattoo that she explains through laughter she got when she was very young, “I wanted to prove to myself that it was absolutely fine to make a permanent mistake on my own body, and I was right!” She admits that it is terrible and that is why she loves it so much. She owes her successful career to her persistence and desire to tell unique stories and states that awards ‘really help’ when it comes to people taking you seriously as a woman in film, however, it doesn’t always come down to shiny awards, but confidence, self-belief and being mentally strong, as she chuckles, “I think therapy helps!”