Director, Writer and Producer at AFIN

Biography

RTS Nominated Filmmaker David Whitney, born in 1978, began his career directing TV commercials, winning a Silver Award at the New York Film & Video Festival in 2005. He also directed broadcast documentaries for Sky TV in Afghanistan and Russia before moving into drama with his short film Taken Out, which led to his nomination for Best New Director at the Rushes Soho Shorts Film Festival. He was also a finalist at the BBC New Filmmaker Award and the film was screened on BBC3. David then directed several episodes of the BBC drama Doctors and helmed an episode of Dream Team for Sky TV. In 2008 he made George’s Day for The UK Film Council, starring renowned actor Michael Byrne. The film won the award for Best Short Film at The Time Film Festival, was nominated for best film at The Rushes Soho Shorts and was selected for LA Shorts, The New York Short Film Festival and many more. David’s debut feature film Kandahar Break, filmed in Pakistan and Tunisia, was released by eOne Entertainment in the US and by Revolver in the UK. It was also acquired by Netflix. A thriller set in Taliban ruled Afghanistan, the film won the awards for Best Film at the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival, The Newport International Film Festival and The Thrillspy Film Festival, and was also selected for the international festivals in Mannheim, Bratislava, Kiev, Glasgow and many more. His short film/documentary The Line of Freedom, shot near Dubai, was selected for the Gulf Film Festival, whilst his next short, Summer’s Gift, won a best film award at The Kino Film Festival. He has also directed four episodes of the BBC1 drama Moving On for Executive Producer Jimmy McGovern, and his first episode was nominated for an RTS Award. David’s latest work is the feature documentary Killing Escobar for the BBC and Screen Scotland, which premieres at the Glasgow Film Festival in March 2021.