Kristina Budelis

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.

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.

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!

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.

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

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.