I'm a nonfiction filmmaker based in New York City and Chicago. While Present may happen to be my last name, a focus on being present is what binds my work together. Through experimenting with form, structure, and narrative, I hope to capture the connective bonds across humanity and to the planet. My work often focuses on the intersection of issues related to climate, community, and anthropology. I often make work in and about the natural world, and through using unconventional means.
New Jersey raised, I found a love for filmmaking at a young age and attended Northwestern University's Radio/TV/Film undergraduate program. I spent several years in Chicago's emerging film community, where I worked with the Independent Film Alliance to develop programming for local university film students and industry alumni. I then returned back east to New York City where I spent time in the editorial department at nonfiction studio Words + Pictures. Now, I'm pursing an M.F.A. at Duke University's Experimental & Documentary Arts program.
My first feature - an experimental-documentary titled "American Dendrite" - premiered in 2025. It has screened at festivals across the country such as the Lighthouse International Film Festival, Chicago Underground Film Festival, the Green Film Festival of San Francisco, and won the Audience Choice Award at YoFiFest Film Festival. It's a film about the thoughts and stories of everyday Americans, connected by water and geography across Mississippi River basin, and is one of just a handful of features to ever be shot entirely on Super 8mm film. To learn more, go to www.americandendrite.com, and follow the film's journey on Instagram and Facebook, @americandendrite.
You can get in touch with me at:
adammarshallpresent (at) gmail.com
You can download a copy of my CV at this link.