Talent Guide

Tom Putnam

  • Discipline:Director, Producer, Writer
  • Program Year:Fast Track 2004, Fast Track 2010, Fast Track 2011, Producing Lab 2009

Bio

Tom Putnam’s short films and features have played over 400 film festivals and been released throughout the world.

His latest feature, the Detroit firefighting documentary Burn, won the Audience Award at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival.

He previously produced the feature documentary Marwencol, winner of 20 festival and critics awards including two Spirit Awards and Best Documentary at the SXSW Film Festival. Other documentary credits include producing and directing Red White Black & Blue, the only American film selected for Critics Week at the Locarno International Film.

Upcoming projects include the horror film Diabolical, and the Klondike gold rush thriller The Unexpected (Fast Track 2010, FIND Producers Lab) with Paul Giamatti attached to star.

His past short films include Broadcast 23, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and went on to play over 100 international festivals including the London Film Festival and Montreal’s Just For Laughs. He also wrote, produced and directed Tom Hits His Head, which has played over 200 festivals and won 15 major awards, including the Spirit of Slamdance Award at the Slamdance Film Festival. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California with degrees in Cinematic Arts and Journalism.

Current Project

Burn: One Year on the Front Lines of the Battle to Save Detroit (Documentary Feature)

Logline

Burn is a documentary about Detroit, told through the eyes of Detroit firefighters, who are on the front lines charged with the thankless task of saving a city that many have written off as dead.