Bryan Single is a documentary filmmaker and storyteller.
He is currently co-directing and editing HEART OF RESILIENCE, a story which follows the unprecedented journey of two international artists down the Congo River in Africa, one of the most exploited, oppressed, and dangerous regions of the world, as they symbiotically envision and paint large-scale murals together with local Congolese communities.
Prior to Heart of Resilience, from 2015 to 2018 he traveled throughout Tibet, China, Bhutan, and India to produce and direct THANGKA: VISIONS OF TIBET in collaboration with China’s Hua Mei Tiger Pictures and the Suning Corporation. The experimental documentary explores the outer, inner, and secret traditions of the scrolled paintings in Tibetan Buddhism known as thangka. The project’s creative collaboration with author and anthropologist Dr. Ian A. Baker also inspired a fictional screenplay (with a feature-film in development) entitled The Magic Circle.
From 2006 to 2009, he was invited into the heart of war-torn Uganda by the Rachele Rehabilitation Center, where he filmed and directed the award-winning CHILDREN OF WAR (2010), a documentary following a group of child soldiers as they exit the battlefield, enter the rehabilitation center, and begin a process of recovery and renewal. The film’s evocative scenes of peace-building and returning home in the aftermath of war inspired an unprecedented collaboration with the United Nations and bestowed the movie the honor of a ‘World Premiere’ in the historic UN General Assembly Hall in New York City, the first event of its kind. Children of War has also galvanized audiences in the European Parliament, the Hague, the US Institute of Peace, the International Red Cross, Konzerthaus Opera House in Berlin, Le Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, and the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, and has been celebrated in honor of global luminaries such as Sérgio Vieira de Mello (United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights) and Armin T. Wegner (photographer of the Armenian Genocide during WW1). The film is archived in the library collections of academic institutions around the world, where it continues to be screened.
To further maximize the social impact of Children of War, Bryan was honored to collaborate with a Ugandan trauma counselor named Jane Ekayu and co-found CHILDREN OF PEACE, a nonprofit organization in Uganda which empowers former child soldiers (both boys and girls) through programs in psycho-social support, physical therapy, education, art and music therapy, yoga, vocational and agricultural training, and international advocacy. During this time Bryan also served a titular role on the Honorary Artists Board of Advisors for the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation, and as an ally of the Cinema for Peace Foundation in Berlin, which supports film-based projects addressing global humanitarian and environmental issues.
In 2001 and 2002, in collaboration with Mexican torera and poet Rosita Morales and acclaimed flamenco-gitano singer Jesus Montoya, he produced and directed SHADOWS OF THE SUN, an experimental story following a matador who transmigrates through the glory-haunted world of the corrida de toros in Spain.
Over the years Bryan has also collaborated on numerous documentaries as a cinematographer and cameraman, including Big River Man (2009), which was awarded Best Cinematography at Sundance Film Festival and broadcast on the Discovery Channel, God in America (2010), a television series for PBS Frontline, and Students of Consequence (2008) for Edutopia, the George Lucas Educational Foundation. He received his precursory education in filmmaking at California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles, and through internships at 20th Century Fox Studios for producer Lynda Obst during the development of the science-fiction film Contact (1997), and for director Michael Mann during the production of the film The Insider (1999), which starred Al Pacino and Russell Crowe and was nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture.
