Films — Kristina Budelis

It Looks Like a Desert... (PBS)

For PBS, I pitched, co-directed, and produced this short documentary about Lencois Maranhenses, which is the best performing video in the Untold Earth series at over 3.8M organic views.

It Looks Like a Desert. But It Has Thousands of Lakes

For PBS, I pitched, produced, and co-directed this doc nature short with 3.8M+ organic views—by far the best-performing video in the two-season series of Untold Earth.

Moving Monuments

Moving Monuments: A Robotic Drum Machine Built From Salvaged Materials From Toronto

For Atlas Obscura in partnership with the city of Toronto, I EP’d this video about Moving Monuments—a towering, robotic percussion sculpture made from repurposed materials gathered across Toronto. Designed by kinetic sound artist Danny Shaddick (creator of the Robot Orchestra) and brought to life with the lyrical voice of JUNO Award-winning rapper Shad, this piece transforms everyday motion, the chime of a subway door, the hum of machines, and the clatter of steel into a living, breathing soundscape.

What if the sound of a city wasn’t just background but music waiting to be heard?

Tall Tales with True Queens

Tall Tales with True Queens is a short documentary about the controversial event series Drag Queen Story Hour which I produced, co-shot, and co-directed with Leandro Badalotti on a truly shoestring budget. It premiered at the 2020 Tribeca International Film Festival and was a selection for Oscar-qualifying HSDFF; it was also acquired by Peacock for a short run. You can watch it here.

Tall Tales with True Queens

Biden Victory Video

I was proud to produce and direct a short segment of this video celebrating Joe Biden’s presidential victory. The video was covered in The New York Times and received hundreds of millions of views across platforms.

President-elect Joe Biden & Vice President-elect Kamala Harris | America The Beautiful

Cat-astrophe (The New Yorker)

Very fun short doc I pitched, produced, and co-directed (with Leandro Badalotti) about the oh-so-viral “lawyer cat.” This was acquired and published by The New Yorker. It was also an official selection at HSDFF festival—an Oscar-qualifying festival. We directed and shot this film remotely during the pandemic in ~2 weeks on a shoestring budget…and we managed to TRACK DOWN THE CAT!

That Zoom Call with the Lawyer-Cat, Explained | The New Yorker

How combat veterans and rescued wolves help each other heal (NBC)

I pitched and produced this short doc for NBC / The Today Show, focused on how combat veterans and rescued wolves help each other heal.

Lockwood Animal Rescue Center in California offers a therapeutic work environment for former military personnel and a forever home to wolves, wolf dogs and other animals in formerly perilous situations.

Watch here.

Book Trailer for Shteyngart's Lake Success

Be recruited by Ben Stiller and Gary Shteyngart! | Book Trailer for Lake Success

I produced, directed, and edited this ook trailer for Gary Shteyngart’s Lake Success featuring Ben Stiller as a hedge fund bro.

Theo Jansen's Wind-Powered Sculptures

I edited and produced this video featuring Theo Jansen's mystical wind-powered sculptures, which got over 1million views and was the first video ever to be the most-viewed item on NewYorker.com

Book trailer for Shteyngart's Little Failure

I directed, produced and edited this trailer for Gary Shteyngart's book trailer for Little Failure. The trailer featured James Franco, Rashida Jones, and Jonathan Franzen, and was featured on Buzzfeed, NewYorker.com, Slate, Salon, and GQ.