Sean Flynn

Program Director, Co-Founder
Points North Institute | United States

BIO
Sean Flynn is the Program Director and Co-Founder of the Points North Institute, where he has spent the past decade leading the organization’s program development and expansion from a small-town film festival into a year-round media arts institute with global reach. He oversees the curation and design of a growing suite of filmmaker grants and fellowships, a 3-day documentary conference, an immersive media exhibition, and year-round community engagement initiatives that use documentary screenings to build public discourse. Sean received a master’s degree from MIT’s Comparative Media Studies department, where he worked as a researcher at the MIT Open Documentary Lab and wrote a thesis on interactive and participatory storytelling experiments at public interest media institutions. Sean began his filmmaking career as a producer and cinematographer on two feature-length documentaries, BEYOND BELIEF and THE LIST, which examine the consequences of America’s military interventions in the Muslim world since 9/11. Both films premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and aired on national television. In 2012, Sean was a Fulbright Senior Research Fellow in Mumbai, India, where he investigated the political economy of the emerging slum tourism industry.

Institute/ Organization Profile
The Points North Institute is a launching pad for the next generation of nonfiction storytellers. We build a unique, interdisciplinary community of filmmakers, artists, journalists, industry leaders and local audiences, forming a creative hub where stories and talent are discovered, collaborations are born, and the future of nonfiction media is shaped. Our programs include the annual Camden International Film Festival and Points North Forum, as well as a growing suite of artist development initiatives: retreats, residencies, workshops and fellowships that nurture the careers of diverse nonfiction storytellers and help them develop a stronger artistic voice.
Website:https://pointsnorthinstitute.org/