Get in touch
Documentary filmmaker & visual essayist

I make films about the people history forgets to write down.

Twelve years, six countries, one recurring question: what does it look like when nobody's performing for the camera? Based in Lisbon, working everywhere.

Portrait of Wren Ashby holding a camera

Selected films
& essays.

A short list from eleven years of work — features, shorts, and photo essays for outlets and independent release.

Still from The Quiet Districts

The Quiet Districts

Feature doc · 2025
Still from Above the Waterline

Above the Waterline

Short · 2024
Still from Concrete Kin

Concrete Kin

Photo essay · 2023
Still from Last Light, Valais

Last Light, Valais

Short · 2022
01 / 04
Wren Ashby holding a Lumix camera
About

I didn't set out
to make documentaries.

I set out to ask better questions than the news cycle allows — and a camera turned out to be the most honest way to sit with someone long enough for the real answer to show up.

My work has screened at Visions du Réel and IDFA, and been commissioned by outlets who mostly leave me alone to shoot it my way. That trust is the whole business model.

These days I take on two to three commissions a year, alongside my own long-form projects. If a story needs six months of trust-building before the camera comes out, I'm probably the right person to call.

11
Years shooting
6
Countries
3
Festival selections

Recent notes.

Jun 2026

On the ethics of filming grief you weren't invited to witness — and the one rule I never break.

Read the essay →
Feb 2026

Why I still shoot on a single prime lens. Constraint isn't a limitation, it's a second collaborator.

Read the essay →
Nov 2025

Six months embedded with a fishing crew taught me more about pacing a film than any edit suite.

Read the essay →
Currently booking 2027

Have a story
worth sitting with?

I read every email myself. Tell me the story, the timeline, and why it has to be told now.